Jon Huntsman to tie himself to Ronald Reagan in presidential kickoff

Declaring the nation is at a critical juncture, Jon Huntsman will tie himself to Ronald Reagan as he launches his campaign for the presidency Tuesday.

The former Utah governor and ambassador to China, in an announcement speech in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, is expected to warn that for the first time in America’s history, the next generation will inherit a weaker nation than the one before it.

“This is totally unacceptable and totally un-American,” he is to say, according to excerpts of his remarks released by his campaign.

Photos: Potential 2012 GOP candidates

Without making the “hard decisions that are necessary to avert disaster,” Huntsman is to say, all federal revenues will go toward entitlement and debt-service spending. Then, “we’ll sink deeper in debt to pay for everything else.”

“Our influence in the world will wane. Our security will be more precarious. The 21st century then will be known as the end of the American century. We can’t accept this, and we won’t,” he will say, according to the excerpts.

Huntsman won’t offer specific policy prescriptions. Aides promise those will come, but that the announcement is more about setting the tone for his campaign and introducing him to American voters.

That process began with an unusual multi-week rollout. Short videos posted to his website show a man riding his motorcycle through scenic Utah, with vague one-line messages such as “The candidate for president who rides motocross to relax.” On his Facebook page Monday, dozens of photos from throughout his life were posted.

“In order to beat the president, we’re going to have to beat him at his own game. And that involves being big and being bigger than the president,” a campaign aide said Monday of the buildup. “We’re introducing a fresh candidate; we’re introducing an outsider to a lot of the country. … The ramp-up is part of our effort to introduce him and his unique background.”

In his scheduled speech at Liberty State Park in New Jersey, Huntsman is to remind voters that President Reagan launched his general election campaign in 1980 from the same spot, “in an earlier time of trouble and worry.”

“He assured us we could ‘make America great again,’ and under his leadership we did. I stand in his shadow as well as the shadow of this magnificent monument to our liberty,” he is expected to say.

After his announcement, Huntsman is to travel to New Hampshire. Other stops this week are planned in South Carolina, Florida, Utah and Nevada.