EXETER, NH — As Jon Huntsman campaigns in New Hampshire for votes one handshake at a time, the pro-Huntsman Super PAC Our Destiny has purchased $218,000 of air time in the Granite State labeling Mitt Romney a “chameleon.”
It is the first TV ad of the cycle to single out and criticize Romney, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.
The ad, which will appear in both New Hampshire and the greater Boston area, attempts to paint a narrative that Huntsman and Romney are the “two serious candidates” left in the race.
“Two serious candidates remain. One willing to say anything; be anything. One who can actually do the job,” the narrator says in the ad. “Stop the chameleon, vote Jon Huntsman.”
The new spot coincidentally aligns with Huntsman’s new — and more aggressive — verbal jabs at both Romney and Ron Paul in the past two weeks.
Last night in Wolfeboro — the New Hampshire town where Romney owns a vacation home — Huntsman called Romney “establishment.” Two weeks ago, he also named the former Massachusetts governor a “serial flip-flopper.”
“You know the establishment wants to tell you that we’ve already got somebody chosen in Gov. Romney. I say nonsense,” Huntsman bellowed to an audience of more than 200 last night in what is considered Romney country. “The last thing this country needs is a status quo president at a time when change is so desperately required.”
In the past, Huntsman has told NBC News he is grateful for any outside support. Operating on a shoe-string budget with little fundraising, Huntsman consolidated his campaign from a multi-state strategy to just New Hampshire this fall.