Huntsman Raises Eyebrows With Speech to GOP Environmental Group - Coral Davenport and Beth Reinhard - NationalJournal.com

...his keynote speech on Thursday to an environmental group that backs cap-and-trade regulations reviled by most in his party is drawing even bigger double-takes.
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What timing. As the tea party wing of the GOP fights for smaller government, as gridlock on Capitol Hill over the debt ceiling pushes the government toward default, Huntsman will address the politically moderate Republicans for Environmental Protection in Washington.

“There’s no conceivable way you can make sense of this and an announced desire to be the Republican nominee,” said Michael McKenna, a GOP strategist who specializes in environmental and energy policy. “It’s almost like he’s intentionally pissing off some very large chunk of the party.”

Huntsman’s appearance at the second annual Teddy Roosevelt Dinner is also a reminder that as Utah governor he was the chief architect of the Western Climate Initiative, a regional cap-and-trade program. As a presidential candidate, Huntsman has renounced cap and trade.
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Introducing Huntsman will be Rep. David Reichert, R-Wash., one of only eight Republicans who voted in favor of a Democrat-authored cap-and-trade bill in 2009. Former Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C., who says his support of climate change policy cost him his job in 2010, is also planning to attend. Inglis is now marshalling resources around a future campaign to lobby his former GOP colleagues to act on climate change.

Among the groups who have purchased tables at the sold-out event are General Electric, Duke Energy, and Exelon—all of whom worked closely with House and Senate Democrats to craft cap-and-trade bills between 2008 and 2010.