A review of the media coverage of President Barack Obama's announcement to name Utah Gov. and rising Republican star Jon Huntsman Jr. as U.S. ambassador to China shows that little, if any, attention was paid to Huntsman's faith. That is as it should be.

In the main story about the announcement, The New York Times only made a passing reference to Huntsman learning Mandarin Chinese as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan, as did an Agence France Presse report, German news site and Spanish newspaper El Pais. His religious affiliation wasn't mentioned in a Spanish Reuters dispatch.

The fact the media paid little attention to the faith of an ambassadorial nominee is good news. However, if Huntsman ever runs for U.S. president, I am not sure he'll get the same media deference.

Coincidentally, The New Republic had been preparing a feature about Huntsman as a possible U.S. presidential candidate for 2012 and it may have been rushed to print as Obama made the Huntsman ambassador announcement. Whatever the case, the article does delve deep into the Huntsman-LDS relationship:

"But not leaving that to chance, Huntsman also actively worked to distance himself from the LDS church in recent months. His statement of support for civil unions came right on the heels of the Mormon church's very visible role in passing Proposition 8 in California. 'I felt as governor that I needed to respond,' he admits. Though bold in its own right, the position also establishes his independence from the church. He similarly flouted LDS doctrine this March by overturning Utah's restrictive alcohol laws, originally implemented in 1935 under pressure from the church. 'It might sound like a small thing to people on the outside, but it was actually fairly historic move,' he tells me. Some say his endorsement of McCain over Romney was also meant to show his independence from the Mormon community."

I am not sure the evidence supports the assertion that Huntsman is distancing himself from the LDS Church. It is a question I would like to ask Huntsman someday. Didn't church leaders in the Proposition 8 drive say they would support civil unions? And the church did not actively lobby against the changes in Utah's liquor laws. It may be true that Huntsman has been moving away from Utah's Republican Party conservative base, but that's not the same as the LDS Church. It's odd that KTVX's Chris Vanocur created a whole news story about The New Republic writer's opinion about Huntsman "distancing himself from the LDS Church." Vanocur didn't even bother to see if any Utah politicos agreed with The New Republic assertion. We should expect more depth from a reporter who covers Utah politics for a living over one who parachutes in for a couple days from Washington.

Other mentions of the political implications included PolitickerNY.com's "Huntsman got Obama's call because he's good not because he's a threat,"  the Los Angeles Times' "Top of the Ticket" blog  and "The Fix" blog at the Washington Post

Perhaps the most traction (and that wasn't much) about Huntman's religion came as Utah and national media picked up on a blog post by Rep. Craig Frank, a Utah Republican legislator from Cedar Hills, Utah, that he wrote on his personal Under the Dome blog: "Huntsman not only takes to China his political acumen but also a lifetime of membership in the LDS church. This should bode well for the LDS church's mission to spread the gospel throughout the world, since all members of the LDS faith are under divine mandate to …'Go ye therefore, and teach all nations … ' (Matt 28:19) Huntsman's ambassadorship not only puts him in an excellent position to address U.S.-China relations, it puts him in an even better position to teach the gospel … in Mandarin."

That sentiment wasn't unique to Frank. I heard it in a Sunday School class and got an e-mail expressing the same thought from a friend in Arizona the day after the announcement.  However, I happen to agree that Huntsman would be unwise to forcefully promote his faith as part of his ambassadorship. Huntsman, like public servants before him (President Ezra Taft Benson in the Eisenhower administration comes to mind), just needs to live his religion and people will take note. A BYU professor happens to agree. I believe the LDS Church already has a more positive image in China than the U.S. because of the visits by BYU student performing groups. The tapes of these performances are frequently rebroadcast on national TV.

It appears Rep. Frank was surprised how his blog message got amplified and probably taken out of context: "First of all … this Web site is just my dumb little personal blog. It's like an online journal where I keep a record of a few of my thoughts regarding issues and current events that pop up from time-to-time. ... Nonetheless, some have called attention to my own personal 'speculation' from this, my online journal. Whether their supposition is right or wrong … it doesn't matter. Unless, in fact, the prophet of God has granted a special dispensation to Brother Jon M. Huntsman Jr., he is under the same obligation as any member of the church to share the gospel 'throughout the world.' So, don't worry … it's just me thinking out loud, again."

It's interesting in our information age how even an obscure blog entry to come to bear on national politics and how the media framing about someone's faith can also make a difference, positive or negative.