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Hunter on campaign swing through Florida


SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES

3:25 a.m. February 3, 2007

SAN DIEGO – Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, is scheduled to meet with Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., the general chairman of the Republican National Committee, Saturday in Orlando as he continues a four-day swing through Florida in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Hunter is also scheduled to attend a cookout in the Panhandle town of Lamont, near Tallahassee.

“We've invited him because we think he would be a remarkable presidential candidate and we want to introduce him to those people who can make a difference and get behind him,” former Florida state Rep. Randy Johnson, one of the cookout's hosts, told City News Service.

To Johnson, Hunter is not “someone everyone's talking about, but he's one of those guys that when people get to know and understand his role and how remarkable an asset he's been to the president of the United States with respect to giving him good advice, sometimes advice he might not like to hear,” they'll support.

“History has proven Duncan Hunter right on a myriad of issues,” said Johnson, a former Navy pilot who described himself as a “big fan” of Hunter.

Hunter began his trip to Florida Thursday by giving a speech in Jacksonville Thursday and attending receptions with area business leaders and veterans. Hunter spoke to a meeting of the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy in Amelia Island yesterday, again on the topic of “Peace Through Strength,” echoing a phrase and concept made popular by former President Ronald Reagan.

Hunter has based his campaign on support for a strong military and the war in Iraq, including President Bush's call to add more than 21,000 troops; opposition to illegal immigration and cracking down on nations, such as China, that are hurting American manufacturing with unfair trade policies.

Hunter, 58, was elected to the House in 1980 and re-elected every two years since. He was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee from 2003 until the Democratic takeover of the House earlier this month, overseeing a $532 billion defense budget.

Hunter has billed himself as the most conservative Republican presidential candidate, which he said gives him a chance for victory despite low name recognition. In addition to having to overcome low name recognition and being at 1 percent in several polls among Republican presidential hopefuls, Hunter will also have to overcome history to be elected president. No sitting member of the House has been elected president since Republican James A. Garfield in 1880.

“He's very much a long shot,” Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a former head of research for the Republican National Committee, told USA Today. “He sees a niche for a social conservative with a strong defense background. He's putting a steel beam on the beach and hoping lightning will strike.”