On May 3, 2011, Huntsman announced his intentions to file a political action committee with the Federal Election Commission (named "H-PAC").

"[5] Huntsman aggressively touted himself as a fiscal conservative, pledging considerable business and personal tax cuts[6][7] as well as a foreign policy moderate, calling for a decrease in defense spending and withdrawal from Afghanistan, while increasing pressure on Iran and support for Israel.

[8] Huntsman announced his withdrawal from the race on January 16, 2012, prior to the South Carolina primary and endorsed eventual nominee Mitt Romney.

[13][14][15] On May 3, after having left his post as Ambassador and returned to the United States, Huntsman formed an official fundraising political action committee, building on the efforts of the previously established Horizon PAC.

[17] Huntsman has been described as "a conservative technocrat-optimist with moderate positions who was willing to work substantively with President Barack Obama" by Huffington Post political reporter, Jason Linkins.

[18] As Governor, Huntsman listed economic development, health-care reform, education, and energy security as his top priorities.

Huntsman oversaw large tax cuts and advocated reorganizing the way that services were distributed so that the government would not become overwhelmed by the state's fast growing population.

Huntsman also proposed a plan to reform health-care, mainly through the private sector, by using tax breaks and negotiation to keep prices down.

[22] In 2007, in response to the problem of global warming, Huntsman signed the Western Climate Initiative, by which Utah joined with other governments in agreeing to pursue targets for reduced production of greenhouse gases.

"[23] On foreign policy, Huntsman has repeatedly stated: "We need to continue working closely with China to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program."

[24] On August 31, Huntsman made a major policy announcement, calling for, amongst other things such as more aggressive action on completing free trade agreements, a tax policy modeled on the Simpson-Bowles plan, specifically: elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax, elimination of taxes on capital gains and dividends, elimination of all deductions and credits, in favor of significantly lower general rates, with brackets of 8, 14 and 23 percent, and lowering the general corporate rate from 35 to 25%.

"[32] In the lead-up to his official announcement, Huntsman gained attention for his campaign's unconventional TV ads, produced by veteran GOP strategist Fred Davis III, featuring a lone motocross rider traveling through rugged terrain as music plays in the background, while facts about Huntsman appear on the screen.

Conyers Davis, who worked with former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and David Cameron's Conservative Party was hired as campaign operations director.

[44] Randy Schriver and Steve Bogden served as Huntsman's respective chief foreign policy and economic advisors.

Before his entry into the race, Huntsman was adamant about avoiding self-financing a campaign, stating "Unless you can raise it legitimately, you're not going to win".

[53][54] With no obligation to do so due to his late entry into the race, the Huntsman Campaign agreed not to file FEC paperwork for the Second Quarter of 2011 ending on June 30, 2011, as reported by the ABC.

[58] In interviews following his apparent centrist attacks on Perry and Bachmann,[59] Huntsman reiterated a "center right" position.

[66] Elion was replaced by Sarah Crawford Stewart, who had served as state-director of Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's New Hampshire campaign before he suspended his bid after the Ames Straw Poll.

[67] Huntsman received a major endorsement in late-September 2011 from Tom Ridge, former Governor of Pennsylvania and Secretary of Homeland Security under George W.

After the endorsement and a series of campaign events in New Hampshire, a Suffolk University poll showed Huntsman in third place in New Hampshire with 10% of likely voters, behind Mitt Romney (41%) and Ron Paul (14%) and ahead of Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin (who had not yet declared an intention of running) and Newt Gingrich among others.

The Keene Sentinel and the Valley News, both endorsed Huntsman on December 18 over neighboring Governor and front-runner in the state Mitt Romney.

[73] Huntsman increased his presence in the state as the year closed, as the pro-Huntsman "Our Destiny" PAC began to increase ad buys in the state[74] A Boston Globe poll released in late December had Huntsman polling in double digits, drawing 11% versus 17% for Gingrich and Paul.

He told McCain "I don't care if you support Romney, that's great – but just to have given me the dignity of waiting until after the New Hampshire primary."

[92] At the end of the GOP primaries, Huntsman placed fifth out of the ten candidates, with a total of 83,173 popular votes and 1 delegate at the Republican National Convention.

[93] A month after dropping out of the race, Huntsman suggested there was a need for a third party in America, stating that "the real issues [were] not being addressed, and it's time that we put forward an alternative vision."