Like any astute GOP candidate, Huntsman happily paid lip service to the Tea Party, calling it a “classical case of a spontaneous uprising of people who are fed up.” But one telling moment made its way through the haze of rhetoric. Attempting to draw a more candid answer from him, I challenged his assertion that populist movements like the Tea Party are “healthy” for democracy: “But don’t you run the risk of a given party not being able to nominate candidates who are willing to work with the other…”

Huntsman raised his right index finger before I could finish the question and interjected: “But that’s temporary.”

It was the only time in our interview that he interrupted me, and it was clear that he had given the subject a great deal of thought. “Our politics in America go in cycles,” he explained. “And the cycles have to complete one iteration before they give rise to an alternative. And what we’re experiencing today will give rise to an alternative. And the alternative will likely be a response to people who are perceived to have gone too far.”