Huntsman: Help Wanted

The timing might make you wonder. On the day President Obama's re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee have announced a major fundraising haul, Republican Jon Huntsman's campaign is advertising for interns.

This message went out this morning from the campaign's official Twitter account: "Jon2012HQ: Interested in being an intern for our campaign? Check out the HBlog and see how you can join Generation-H." It links to a description with this promise, "You may have heard that interning for political campaigns equates to long hours and boring work. Generation H is doing things a little differently. Huntsman interns will be in the heart of the day-to-day activities of the campaign." Future campaign whiz kids are wanted in early voting states of New Hampshire, South Carolina and of course, at headquarters in Florida.

It's not an all-shoestring operation. The Huntsman campaign has confirmed plans for "donor appreciation" events in Utah this weekend. Guests will be treated to a Friday night reception at the mountaintop, Deer Valley estate of the governor's parents. It's no shack, sized at 22,000 square feet and sitting on 63 acres (it's for sale by the way). The candidate's father Jon M. Huntsman founded the family business Huntsman Corporation, which is a multi-billion dollar, international global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals (and one of Jon Junior's former employers).

Saturday includes a breakfast with Huntsman and his wife Mary Kaye. Then invitees will get to sit in on a campaign update and strategy session that's slated to run about two hours. The campaign is staying mum on what level of commitment it takes for this kind of access, but if previous reports are any clue, you'd probably have to be H1 level (the highest) which means bringing in $100,000. Before this, high dollar contributors had the opportunity to ride on the chartered jet when Huntsman traveled from New Jersey to New Hampshire after his formal announcement last month.