In 2009, then-Utah Governor Jon Huntsman was reportedly offered the Ambassadorship to China by President Obama. He was originally going to accept, but his advisors managed to convince him at the last minute to decline the offer.
Because of this, he was able to use his Governorship as a springboard to the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012, painting himself as the only sane man in the picture. That November, he and former Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle defeated President Obama and Vice President Biden in the general.
Would Huntsman have been able to pull this off had he still accepted the Ambassadorship? Could he have still upset Mitt Romney in the Republican primary?