TheEye has been known to gamble on various things (always badly on poker – come round and bet against me to see how bad I am*) and one passion is politics – US as well as UK.

Well this one didn’t pay off. £100 at 200-1 for Utah Governor Jon Huntsman to become the GOP nominee for the next Presidential ticket. He had all the right tick-boxes…wishy washy liberal, Christian badge on his lapel, running a state with its economy going down the toilet, attractive wife and tolerates gays but most definitely isn’t one himself. Can give a great speech that he hasn’t scripted or believed a word of too.

£100 you bloody bastard. That’s 5 f****ng bottles of Merlot I’m short of now.

To get to the point (too late: Ed) several Utah media outlets report tonight that he will step down and accept Barack Hussein Obama’s nomination as US ambassador to China.

To quote from a news agency:

Governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr. will resign and accept an appointment as ambassador to China, ABC 4 has confirmed.

A press conference has been called for Saturday morning at the White House to announce the appointment.

The appointment will most likely mean that Gary Herbert will become Utah’s next governor. Since Huntsman has only served a few months into his second term, a special election will most likely be called in 2010.

The U.S. Senate will have to confirm the appointment.

No wonder he’s been avoiding Republican Party meetings recently.

Hmmpf. One hundred folding stuff put down and then he buggers off to China. There’s my gratitude for a long-odds good payday disappearing rapidly in to the distance.

* TheEye is not accepting any legal liability for the accuracy of this statement which may or may not be true.