Days after Herman Cain’s campaign released an online video that had much of the political world confused, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s daughters took to YouTube with their own version of the now-controversial “smoking” ad.
Last week, Cain’s campaign unveiled a minute-long video with chief of staff Mark Block giving his case for the businessman-turned-politician in the 2012 Republican primary. At the end, Block took a long drag from a cigarette. The ad got an instant reaction, with some saying it was a subliminal message.
“The fact that Mark Block is a smoker is his choice and how that little piece at the end came about, I don’t know, but we certainly did not expect this reaction,” Cain said on The Michael Berry Show.
The ad has since been parodied across the web, but Friday’s was perhaps the most interesting. Huntsman’s daughters—Liddy, Abby and Mary Anne, all in their early 20s—donned fake glasses and mustaches and stated their own case for Huntsman, a former governor and ambassador, who has hovered in the single digits in recent polls. At the end they replaced the cigarettes with bubbles.
It’s not the first time that the sons and daughters of politicians have gotten on the campaign trail to help out. In 2008, Chelsea Clinton and Meghan McCain were both regulars on the trail, stumping for their parents.
Huntsman’s three daughters have been making a name for themselves on Twitter at @Jon2012girls, tweeting photos from the campaign trail and reasons why they think their dad should be president. As of Friday, they had more than 5,000 followers.
Huntsman’s sons-in-law also jumped into the Twittersphere with @Jon2012boys but have been less successful in getting people to follow them. They currently have just over 350 fans. Update: Er, make that prospective sons-in-law—the girls are not married, and @Jon2012boys are three bachelors who would very much like to change that.
