Huntsman Forms PAC

Politico reports:

Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman took his first step toward a presidential run Tuesday, creating a federal political action committee that will allow him to travel and raise money in the weeks before he’s expected to formally announce a bid. 

Moving swiftly since his return to Washington from Beijing Friday, Huntsman filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee to begin “H PAC.” In the event he runs, the organization will be the last placeholder before he announces a full-blown campaign. 

“This is a paperwork step,” said spokesman Tim Miller. “He’s doing the organizational things required by campaign finance law. When he wants to make an announcement he will make an announcement.” 

That will likely come by early summer, after the Republican former Utah governor has visited early primary states and conferred at length with his family and the small circle of advisers who have been laying the groundwork for his run since the start of the year. 

All signs suggest that he’ll go forward with a bid. 

Since his resignation became official on Sunday, and he was no longer constrained by law from practicing politics, Huntsman has been shuttling between closed-door meetings in his new Kalorama home and on Capitol Hill. 

He and his family met with a handful of his aides-in-waiting at his home on Sunday, sitting down with some of them for the first time, and the former ambassador has split the last two days between meeting with congressional Republicans on the Hill and talking to potential strategists and fundraisers. 

Huntsman is still mulling where he’ll base his eventual campaign, but a group of his advisers have descended on Washington this week from all over the country. In town are advisers John Weaver, Fred Davis, and Susie Wiles, as well as likely press aides Matt David, Jake Suski and Miller.