I’m reading Mormon Rivals: The Romneys, the Huntsmans, and the Pursuit of Power (BOOK | KINDLE) by the Salt Lake Tribune’s Matt Canham and Thomas Burr. It’s an excellent book and in-depth look at arguably the two most successful Mormon political families of the 21st Century, and the nasty feud that broke out between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman following Romney’s unsuccessful campaign for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination.

What makes the feud all the more fascinating is how closely the Romney and Huntsman families have been linked over the years. Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are actually distant cousins and the family ties go way back. Their common ancestor, Parley Pratt, was one of the original apostles of the LDS Church and a contemporary of Brigham Young himself. Pratt is the great-great-grandfather of Mitt Romney and the great-great-great-grandfather of Jon Huntsman.

And there are more surprising connections between the two families. Apparently, when the feud between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman started (because then-Governor Huntsman felt that the Romney campaign in 2008 had been dismissive towards him, so he switched his endorsement from his fellow Mormon and cousin to John McCain), Romney called Huntsman and told him, “Your grandfather would be ashamed of you!” That was a big deal because Huntsman was close to his grandfather, David B. Haight, and Haight was a major figure in the LDS Church for decades.

Haight -- Jon Huntsman’s maternal grandfather -- was also childhood friends with Mitt’s father, George Romney. Huntsman’s father, Jon Huntsman Sr., was also pretty close to George Romney, although he was quite a bit younger than Mitt’s father. But the connections between the two families don’t end there, either: Huntsman’s mother, Karen Haight Huntsman, was college roommates with Mitt Romney’s oldest sister, Jane, at the University of Utah!