If he does this right he could be positioned very strongly for 2016.
How? To do so he has to actually perform well in some races. All the MSM adoration in the world won't matter much if he can't
at least break 20% in NH and win somewhere. The best example would be also rans from 08 like Huckabee, or at a much lower threshold level would be Wesley Clark in 04. I can't imagine Huntsman doing anywhere as well as Huckabee, and I have great difficulty seeing how he even breaks out of the pack to win anywhere and place a few respectable second place finishes elsewhere.
He's simply too moderate and too Mormon for the national GOP primaries, and with Romney already filling that void this wasn't the year to run.