Huntsman would have been great. I would have voted for that guy, easily. I've talked him up for years as the kind of guy you WANT as the GOP candidate.
Yet, he was literally the first buy to bite the dust in the primaries, and who outlasted him (this is the depressing part)?
-Rick Santorum (yes, Rick Santorum)
-Newt Gingrich
-Michelle F___ing Bachmann
-The Pizza Guy
-Rick Perry
-The now magically "severely conservative" Mitt Romney who also now magically didn't implement Obamacare in his home state
So I think Christie is your least worst option and it is downhill from there.
But hey, Rand Paul is gearing up for 2016!