Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, Republican strategist Mark McKinnon and Philadelphia pundit Michael Smerconish agree on one thing: Jon Huntsman could rise to the top in New Hampshire’s primary.

Huntsman has the tools to succeed. But he hasn’t caught fire with primary voters, hovering around 8 percent in national polls.

First, Huntsman is no less conservative than the current front-runners. His record as governor on several key issues, Red State’s Erick Erickson wrote this week, “is more conservative than [Newt] Gingrich and [Mitt] Romney combined.”

Second, Huntsman has more foreign policy expertise than the rest of the field. He served as ambassador to Singapore and China. This diplomatic experience, along with executive experience as a former two-term governor of Utah, allow Huntsman to argue that he is the most well-rounded candidate.

Third, Huntsman has earned impressive endorsements: former Gov. Tom Ridge, R-Pa., the first Homeland Security chief; South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (the first statewide official there to make an endorsement); the family of South Carolina’s late Gov. Carroll Campbell; and Jeb Bush’s oldest son, Jeb Jr. A half-dozen New Hampshire state legislators also endorsed him. While endorsements don’t always translate into electoral success, these could indicate that Huntsman’s candidacy should be taken seriously.

Finally, Huntsman cuts into the two top candidates’ main selling points. Like Gingrich, he is intelligent and can articulate policy. But Gingrich has sharp edges that could boomerang against him over the course of the general election.

Like Romney, Huntsman has broad appeal to the political center. However, Huntsman may be the more likable of the two, and he comes across as more genuine.

Huntsman also confronts his LDS faith better than Romney — an issue that makes some in the conservative base wary of Romney. Huntsman told Newsweek that his wife, Mary Kaye, had been Episcopalian, their daughters went to Catholic school, and that they “bind” together these backgrounds.

People in Utah, from both sides of the aisle, say they respected Huntsman as their governor. He’s praised for getting results while being “reasonable.”

This natural, broad appeal once caused President Obama’s senior adviser, David Plouffe, to say that the thought of facing Huntsman in 2012 made him “a wee bit queasy.”

Independents in New Hampshire are permitted to vote in the party primaries. If they are drawn to Huntsman, it could help make up the difference.

If the GOP wants to win the White House, Huntsman may be a better bet than Gingrich or Romney. To succeed, he’ll need to convince the party’s base that he is as conservative as his rivals.

Adam Silbert, an attorney, was a deputy field organizer for the 2008 Obama campaign in Pennsylvania.