Gotta say this for the guy: Jon Huntsman is a much better musician than his daughters. Just as the presidential candidate impressed earlier this year with his campaign-trail rendition of “Hit the Road, Jack” (aptly aimed at Obama), so he captured the crowd last night on “The Late Show with David Letterman” when he jammed on the keyboard to “Johnny B. Goode.”

The first part of the video is classic, too: David Letterman produces a picture of the high-school Huntsman — long-haired and quizzical-browed. The photo features his fellows in a prog-rock band called Wizard.

“I wanted to be Paul Shaffer,” Huntsman said. Had Wizard made it big, the presidential candidate confessed, he wouldn’t be running for president.

The Los Angeles Times wants to see this as analogous to Bill Clinton’s “now-iconic saxophone playing on ‘The Arsenio Hall Show’ in 1992.” I’d say this was even more fun musically — but I still don’t see it as a positive portent for the success of his campaign. Nevertheless, I do love this side of Huntsman — the side that shares simply and generously a hobby he loves. I wish he shared his views so simply, too.