Political Intelligence’ political potpourri

Chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party reportedly didn't mince words today as he criticized the presidential candidacy of Republican Jon Huntsman, who until this spring was U.S. ambassador to China.

"Here's a guy who had his lips firmly planted on the president's butt three months ago and now is speaking ill out of 'em, out of those same lips," Dick Harpootlian is quoted as saying, according to Politico. "Can you trust a guy who turns this quickly? He is somebody who apparently will say whatever it takes to get elected."

Huntsman, a former Utah governor, has described his stint in the Obama administration as service to the United States. He is campaigning in South Carolina, which hosts one of the nation's early presidential primaries, today and tomorrow.

Romney’s record can under scrutiny in a Los Angeles Times story noting that while he was governor, Massachusetts had the 47th worst job creation record in the country. Now, Romney is making his potential for job creation the central element of his pitch to replace President Obama.

“When you look at absolute increases in job creation, Utah led the way in United States in terms of job creation,” Huntsman said. “That compared and contrasted with certain other states like say, Massachusetts that I’ll just pull out randomly; not first, but 47th.”

In the Times piece, the Romney camp noted he entered office confronting a budget crisis. He not only addressed it, but the 5.6 percent unemployment rate in effect when he started as governor fell to 4.7 percent by the time he left.

(The national rate is now 9.2 percent, though in Massachusetts it is 7.6 percent.)

By contrast, the unemployment rate in Utah rose from 4.5 percent in 2005, when Huntsman took office, to 7.4 percent in August 2009, when he resigned to become US ambassador to China.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul credited her boss with creating 50,000 jobs as governor and added in a statement to the Globe, “In four years as governor of one state, Mitt Romney created more net jobs than President Obama has as president.