Update 5:40 p.m.: Jon Huntsman's other daughter Abby is also denying that her father is speaking at the convention, and while she's at it, is denying that her grandfather provided Sen. Harry Reid with rumors about Mitt Romney's taxes. A very economical tweet!
To clear the air,
— Abby Huntsman (@HuntsmanAbby) August 10, 2012@jonhuntsman is not speaking at the DNC Convention, I am not a Democrat, & Jon Sr. is not Harry Reid's source.#deeprumors
Original article. In a rumor receiving a lot of push back, Breitbart.com's Mike Flynn claims that former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has accepted a speaking slot at next month's Democratic convention, citing an anonymous "high-ranking Republican official." Almost immediately, Huntsman's daughter Liddy denied the report via her unverified Twitter account, tweeting "My dad speaking at the DNC convention? Come on guys, ya'll can think of a better rumor. #RomneyVP #notinthislifetime." Flynn's report was followed by guffaws from conservatives on Twitter, noting that Huntsman already endorsed Romney after he suspended his presidential bid earlier this year.
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The speculative excitement over which GOP member would appear at the Democrat's Charlotte convention in September began in earnest this morning after Politico's Mike Allen reported that Democrats plan on enlisting "several" Republicans to speak at the convention. Whoever speaks is likely to be a somewhat disgruntled Republican as the move would surely anger the party's leadership. Allen cited names such as Sens. John Warner and Chuck Hagel, and others such as Outside the Beltway's James Joyner floated the idea of Huntsman and Buddy Roemer. (We've got a collection of other potential GOP turncoats here.)
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Clearly, the report is coming second hand or third hand as Flynn notes that "the information came to me from a very high-ranking Republican official who assured me the information came from 'very credible sources.'" Of course, it also comes as Huntsman's father, Jon Huntsman, Sr. called for Romney to release more of his tax returns, which no one saw coming. For what it's worth, The Huffington Post's Sam Stein, who's pretty plugged into high-ranking Democrats, noted push back from sources close to DNC planners.
This Huntsman speaking at DNC story is GREAT Friday fodder but everyone close to the planning is waiving people away from it.
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) August 10, 2012