Pledging Allegiance to the Special Interests: Margaret Carlson

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsmanmay be trailing the pack in the Republican presidential primary,but he is a leader in one important regard: Unlike hiscolleagues, Huntsman has refused to sign any of the special-interest pledges that are increasingly turning political officeinto an ideological straitjacket.

Huntsman has been joined by Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty inrejecting one particularly odious pledge -- the Marriage Vow putforward by the Family Leader, a conservative values group run byBob Vander Plaats, a power player in the Iowa Republicancaucuses. Those who sign the Family Leader pledge -- includingRepresentative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and formerPennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum -- promise to oppose“intimate unions which are bigamous, polygamous, polyandrous,same-sex, etc.”