fosters.com
By RONI REINO
rreino@fosters.com
Friday, January 6, 2012

DURHAM — While touring around the Seacoast, presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman said concern about illegal immigration is low.

"Nobody is coming across the border anymore," he said while speaking at Goss International in Durham. "We've screwed up the economy. There are no jobs."

During his "Restoring Trust" tour, Huntsman addressed questions before a crowd of about 150 employees. He said on the topic of illegal immigration, the border should be secured, but the goal should be focusing on creating American jobs in manufacturing.

Employees at the commercial printing press manufacturing company inquired how the former Utah governor thinks he can bring these jobs to Americans and who will take them.


John Huff/Staff photographer Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman takes a tour of Goss International with his wife, Mary Kaye, and CEO Jochen Meissner at their Durham facility Thursday during a campaigning tour of the Seacoast

Huntsman said the country has many citizens looking for jobs. When he was governor of Utah, he said the state was seeing its college graduates leaving, looking for opportunity elsewhere.

"We found that we had too many college grads leaving," he said. "We weren't getting our investment in our marketplace."

America needs to start exporting to fix its economic deficit, he said. Manufacturing would jump start the economy and move the country forward.

One Goss International employee questioned his stance, saying although it seems like a great plan, wouldn't making cuts be a faster, more effective way to fix the country's debt problems?

Huntsman said he would take a look at Social Security and the Department of Defense. Most importantly, though, he said he would consider cutting employees at the federal level.

"If your revenue isn't coming in, you've got to cut," he said.

A focus on green energy options, and stressing the use of natural gas, would help alleviate the problems facing many American wallets.

Comparing the gas industry to broadcast television in the 1970s, he said it's time the monopoly changes. He said Americans need more affordable transportation fuel options.

Following his trip at Goss International, Huntsman made a stop in Portsmouth where business leaders and media packed into a room on the third floor of the One New Hampshire Avenue building at Pease International Tradeport. The luncheon, hosted by Huntsman supporter Renee Reidel, allowed area voters the opportunity to ask Huntsman questions firsthand.

Asked what Huntsman expects the country to sacrifice to get out of the debt they are in, he responded there is a need to balance the books.

"We are in a hole," he said of the economy. "This is not who we are. We are a bunch of blue sky, optimistic people. We have to find solutions going forward."

He continued, saying the American people need to reach out to their neighbors and help each other.

"We need to pull together as Americans," he said.


John Huff/Staff photographer Presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman takes questions and concerns from Goss International employees following a tour of their Durham facility Thursday as he tours the Seacoast region before Tuesday's

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