Huntsman Campaign Press Release - Records Matter

The American people are looking for a candidate that can point to more than slogans or speeches. They're looking for a candidate that can point to results...Jon is not running away from his record. He is running on his record.

Records matter. With 14 million unemployed and millions more so dispirited they've given up looking, the American people are looking for a candidate that can point to more than slogans or speeches. They're looking for a candidate that can point to results.

Jon has begun drawing contrasts between the job creation records he and fellow former governor Mitt Romney cultivated in office, telling a South Carolina audience last night Utah registered first in the nation in job creation while Massachusetts ranked 47th.

"When you look at the absolute increases in job creation, Utah led the way in the United States in terms of job creation. That, compared and contrasted with certain other states like Massachusetts, which I will just pull out randomly, not first, but 47th."

The Romney campaign responded today to the remarks, calling the economic markers at the time Romney left office a "dramatic turnaround" from the conditions he first saw at inauguration.

"Mitt Romney created nearly 50,000 jobs as governor of Massachusetts and led his state to one of the most dramatic job market turnarounds in the country," a Romney campaign spokesman told CNN.

By some measure, they're right: In Romney's inaugural year, the Bay State ranked dead last in job creation. After his dramatic turnaround, though, the state shot up a whole three spots. That's fourth from last! (The only states in worse condition were two found in the rustbelt -- Ohio and Michigan -- and one devastated by Hurricane Katrina.)

Looking closer, the Massachusetts job growth record, as calculated by The Wall Street Journal's Market Watch, was 0.9 percent, falling far behind "other high skill, high-wage, knowledge economy states like New York (2.7%), California (4.7%) and North Carolina (7.6%)." The national average for that period was more than 5 percent.

And as a recent National Review analysis of federal labor statistics found: "Among the crowd who governed primarily during the 2000s, Huntsman has the best record. During his 2005 to 2009 tenure as governor of Utah, the number of jobs grew by 5.9 percent."

Jon is not running away from his record. He is running on his record.