by Lone Shark
It’s been a mere three weeks since Governor Rick Perry jumped into the GOP Presidential primary, and by every indication, Perry’s strategically timed entrance into the race appears to have paid off as he now finds himself the clear frontrunner in the race. Politics is always about timing, and it appears that Perry has seized his window of opportunity with gusto, and he’s consolidated an impressive amount of support in a very short period of time.
Even before he made his official announcement declaring his candidacy, Perry already had sewn up substantial support throughout the state and was leading in an ARG Florida poll conducted at the end of July. Supporters of Perry across the state have held organizational meetings in conjunction with Perry’s campaign, and his hiring of longtime Florida consultant and strategist Randy Enwright, who previously worked for President George W. Bush and Fred Thompson’s campaign in 2008 shows that he’s very serious about Florida’s pivotal role in the nominating process. He’s obtained endorsements of House Speaker Dean Cannon, state senator Don Gaetz, and state representatives Matt Gaetz and Jeff Brandy, and more are rumored to be following very soon.
It’s hard not to notice the scores of Republican activists across the state that are chomping at the bit wishing they were able to get Obama in the ring now rather than having to wait for November 2012. They’re wanting a candidate to emerge from the field pronto- they don’t want a drawn out and unnecessarily contentious nominating process, and it appears that Perry is the beneficiary of this anxiousness. Even though Perry’s name recognition lags behind that of several of the other candidates in the race, Perry has established a double digit lead in several recent polls, and that lead is likely to increase with successful debate performances in September, two of which are taking place here in Florida.
Perry appears to be the candidate that can unite the most factions within the Republican Party- and we’re not just talking about the fiscal, social, and foreign policy wings of the party. Perry hasn’t rankled the Tea Party as Romney has, and libertarian-minded Republicans like his independent streak and unabashed support of the 10th Amendment. His unflappable country charm and manners can soothe the worries of those Republicans who get skittish about anyone they perceive that might challenge the status quo a bit too much for their tastes. And while Perry doesn’t appear to be a Paul Ryan-style policy wonk, his solid grasp of the issues and his ability to communicate them clearly to the masses is of much more consequence to his electability.
Yes, Perry’s got some really bad decisions that he’s going to have to account for, a few of which aren’t defensible. And yes, we’ve still got a long ways before we get into the heart of the primary season- Perry’s vetting is just getting underway. It remains to be seen if he will take a principled stand on illegal immigration and amnesty. And there are plenty of people sighing over the fact that we may have yet another Texas Governor as the party’s standard bearer. Perry will have to quell enough anxieties and convince those who remain undecided that his candidacy is not only the most viable one, but that it also presents the strongest contrast with President Barack Obama’s both in terms of policy and credibility.
Permit me to engage in some speculation for a moment. Perry’s got a longstanding relationship with Governor Rick Scott that could very well point towards to a future primary endorsement for Perry. With Sarah Palin unlikely to enter the race (i’ve been of the opinion that she knows her time is not now and realizes that the country’s fate is vastly more important than her political career), it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Palin endorsed Perry and effectively closed out the nomination for him. Throw in a Rudy Giuliani endorsement for good measure (Perry endorsed Giuliani’s Presidential bid in 2008), it becomes very hard to envision either Romney or Michelle Bachmann overtaking support of that magnitude. So go ahead and scoff, tell me how off base I am or how I’m just an establishment hack that is ignoring the fact that Ron Paul is cruising to the nomination. Or perhaps because I’ve now stuck my fin out, Palin and Giuliani will both be throwing their hats in the ring any day now. 
At the end of the day, the folks who decide Presidential elections aren’t too preoccupied with party platforms or policy statements. Those general-election voters vote for candidates- for better or for worse- and they are inclined towards candidates that have looks, charisma, and project an executive persona that commands respect. Perry checks off all of those boxes, and he’s quickly consolidating increasing establishment support with a grassroots base that is readily warming to his candidacy. If Perry can nail his performances in September’s debates- and barring any major gaffes or damaging revelations, of course- it’s looking more and more like the nomination is Perry’s to lose.
32 Responses to “Is Rick Perry the GOP’s Best Shot in 2012?”
Perry is the worse choice, that’s why he is liked so much among gay leftist commies. I did like his Prayer-A-Palooza though.
perry/rubio….a dream ticket…
A DUMB COMMENT JERK
Maybe he should take Texas out of the union and be president of Texas where he can’t to too much harm to the rest of us.
Typical politician, railed against the stimulus package, then used $17,000,000.00 to artificially balance the Texas state budget.
His state is among the worst in many social categories. Let’s not see how badly he can mess up the USA.
the republician governors who said the stimulus is terrible, took the money… why, because if they took the money or not, the citizens of that state would have to pay the taxes to pay for the stimulus…
and texas is not the worst in social programs. You best quoate a source other than a liberal rag…
In a ranking of the 50 states plus Washington, D.C. in educational attainment, Texas was all over the map: 51st in high school (79.6 percent); 22nd in some college (22.6 percent); 44th in associate’s degrees (6.3 percent); 31st in bachelor’s degrees (25.3 percent); and 36th in graduate degrees (8.3 percent). The leading factor driving down the state’s rankings has little to do with the quality of public schools and everything to do with the rapid rate of immigration, said Alan Berube, senior fellow and research director at Brookings, a left-leaning policy think-tank.
Many Mexican and Latin American immigrants “came to Texas as adults. They didn’t come there to finish high school. They came there to work. So that depresses the indicator,” Berube says. Further, the wide gap between high school and college attainment indicates a relatively large percentage of Texans who do complete high school go on to college, with many graduating, he says.
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/why-does-texas-rank-last-in-high-school-diplomas/
M. Pozin is pozin’ as a Republican. He’s probably a gay Leftist commie Democrat!
Perry does have some baggage. He also has a GREAT record in Obamanomic times. Time will tell, but for now it’s the Perry IMAGE that’s leading. Time and vetting will tell…
As for Sarah, she has such enormous grassroots power that she can come into the race whenever she wants and be a huge factor, and maybe even win the nomination.
Dreamin on a Sunday afternoon.
Perry ran back to Texass to have another Prayer-A-Palooza for more government paid fire fighters to help put out Gods wrath of fire on Texass.
Don’t mess with Texass ’cause it’s already a mess.
Be careful of Perry. Listern and look closely for what he stands for.
Be careful of Perry. Listern closely for what he stands for when he speaks.
Rick Perry is the GOP’s best chance to upseat Barack Obama. In fact, he may be their only chance! Michelle Bachmann, has no executive experience. And, she is considered too extreme; by people in her own party. She is a fine individual who is a credit to the country. Mitt Romney benefits from her attacks on Perry. The ultimate winner will be Obama. Obama wants a general election face-off with Mitt Romney. With no record to run on and a lot of cash at his disposal, he will run a purely negative campaign. Against Romney, it will gain traction with a lot of low to moderate income independents. Romney is the son of a wealthy governor. He was born a millionaire. Like Obama, he is another Harvard Lawyer. He has been a part of corporate America. True, he is a successful businessman. But his record of outsourcing will be used against him. He recently made the (true) statement that “corporations were people.” Bad timing! He will be easy to position as the “slick, rich guy, another member of Americas ruling class.” Perry is the son of tenant farmers. He has deep executive experience. Unlike Bachmann, Romney and Obama, he has military experience. His grasp of agriculture far exceeds the other candidates. He is a “winnable” alternative to Bachmann for the Tea Party. He is a “plain folks” alternative for the Establishment. Romney will never do well with key, “must have” factions: Blue Collar Democrats, Evangelicals, Low Income Independents and Hispanics. Bachmann might do better with some of these groups. But she will never perform well with the Republican Establishment. This brings us to the final question: Which candidate can deliver both the four key groups and the Establishment? Rick Perry! Hopefully, the Bachmann camp will realize this and drop out of the race. She can’t win! She will only help Romney and ultimately Obama. A lot of th Bachmann people are attempting the “hen peck” Perry. Bad idea! Perry is a 10th amendment advocate. The “Populist Tea Partiers” will see this clearly. There are still the “Libertarian Tea Partiers,” led by Ron Paul who will resist casting their lot with Perry. All will work in Obama’s favor. The only true way to make Obama a one term president is to get behind the most electable candidate. RINOs such as Jon Huntsman might tell you otherwise. But Perry will pretty much take the south, plains and most of the mountains out of play. If Marco Rubio is selected to be his running mate, expect Florida, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada to be “iced” for the Republicans. This would be bad news for “Obamabats.” Perry’s background in Agriculture should spell victories in Indiana and Iowa. The south, plains and mountains plus those two states equate to 274 electoral college votes and the Presidency.
Jeff B Willis,
Perfect analysis. I love Michele Bachman, but she ain’t never gonna get elected. Period. Neither would Palin whom I also love. Romney is a weak piece of political crap and he doesn’t have what it takes to win. The American People need to have someone electable run for the GOP to get rid of this Obamanation! Perry is the most electable, so I hope he gets the nomination and wins. I would prefer Ron Paul, but he ain’t never gonna elected either and I love Allen West but he ain’t running. I hope Rubio runs as Perry’s VP Candidate. BTW, you’ve summed everything up perfectly. Anything on the news beyond this is just FLUFF!
Your statement about getting behind the most electable candidate is on the money. I’ve no idea who that person will be, but I do know that we have to be practical about this. The candidate we may like is not necessarily the best one to defeat Obama.
Rick who? If we can’t have Mike Huckabee, I’ll root for Allen West!
ok, I just read jeff willis’ well written response. With thanks, I will pay more attention to this candidate. You put it very seccinctly.
I have to say tho that I really appreciate Allen West. He has stepped up and defended common sense and his miliary experience gives him credibility.He;s not smooth, he’s sincere.
Interesting analysis jeffbwillis. Why don’t we just make him the party nominee then? Oh right, we have an election to run its course.
I think you’re wrong because Perry may be a good Texas politician, but he’s dumber than a brick and he’ll screw himself over by the time November 2012 comes, and then where will be party be?
Given the choice between an socially skewed and economically ignorant dufus and Obama I would chose Obama, because the devil you know is better than the one you do not.
Rick Perry gets an Endorsement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBfaFy1idDY
Rick Perry is my choice. He will be able to bring jobs back to America. So all good men should come to the aid of their country and vote for Gov. Rick Perry. Ler’s make a deal and make Obama a one term president.
Well Javier,
This just gives me more reasons to fight for Michele Bachmann’s nomination. The odds may be against us, but I love it that way. It just tells me that the end will taste very sweet when Michele emerges victoriously. I will not stop until I’m either dead or Michele Bachmann wins both the primary and the general election.
For Christ I stand,
David Crespo
jeffbw makes some great points with only 1 big error-Marco. Rubio has no intention of going the veep route for 2 reasons. He knows he’d make a lousy 2nd fiddle, way too talented and intelligent. Also, he’ll go for the WH in the future, right now 4 young children make that a no go. Perry is the best overall but will need to be careful and not allow the media to brand him “not ready for prime time”. We who think independently would see through it but most stupid Americans with Jersey Shore IQs and sound bite attention spans will buy the BS. How else did Obama win, aside from his hapless oppponent? So Perry must remember he’s addressing the whole nation, not TX.
Perry needs a running mate from the blue states who’s taken on the
unions, rabble and prevailed. Scott Walker would be terrific. Once Perry debates Obama it will be obvious the nation made a mistake in 2008. Nobama has no record he can tout so he’ll be forced to go negative, something the angry mob will resent. Remember, Obama is not used to being confronted and is getting increasingly short tempered and petulant, especially as his overexposure wears increasingly thin on weary voters. It it imperative we suppress the trash, parasite, ethnic and stupid kids’ votes. How? By running non-stop ads of Obama’s rhetoric side by side with his grim stats and real people telling the camera how much worse off they are now- especially those who got laid off from all the BS “green” companies he funded and bragged about. That “better off?” question was the Reagan torpedo that sank the USS Jimmy Carter in 1980. They won’t come out for GOP but will just stay home, what they’re used to doing.
Rick Perry is also the only canditate who put the repeal of the 17th amendment on the agenda. The 17th amendment (how the senate gets elected, instead of selected by state legislators) is responsible for no longer having a FEDERAL republic, as the states no longer control the senate. The 10th amendment lost its enforcibility. The founders made the senate state controlled to limit the power of Washington.
Beware of Perry. I hope the Republican establishment doesn’t forget the John McCain disaster. How did he ever become the Republican nominee when so many Republicans did not go vote because they didn’t like him and I don’t know of one single Republican that voted for him because of him, they voted for him because they did not want Obama. We have not heard Perry debate. Purposely he waited until the day of the Iowa straw poll to say he was going to run, and still people went crazy for him. Beware of this man.
When I heard that Rick Perry was running, I didn’t know much about him, so I did some research. I found that although he seems to be a strong Christian, he may also be a well placed pawn playing the part from outside our bubble of influence. I attempted to share this at the last BREC meeting, although I was rather “green” in my attempt. I am a Christian and would love to see a genuine Christian with the correct skill sets, in the White House. That said, I can also discern when something is wrong.
Listed below was the information that I was to share at the meeting…I appreciate any feedback, because I… as You, would not like to see some group of powerful entities choosing our next President, before we even have the chance to cast our vote!
————-
Text of the Logan Act
§ 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments.
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.
1 Stat. 613, January 30, 1799, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 953 (2004).
—————————————————–
In general, the Act is intended to prohibit American citizens without authority from interfering in relations between the United States and foreign governments or meeting with organizations that have vested interests that will affect the sovereignty of the country.
Proposal:
That the Broward Republican Executive Committee ( BREC ), should not entertain any Candidate or offer any type of support to any candidate, who is suspected of breaking the Logan Act.
—————————————————
That the Broward Republican Executive Committee ( BREC ), The Tea Party and The Republican party at large, should not entertain any Candidate or offer any type of support to any candidate, from any party, who is suspected of breaking the Logan Act.
———————————–
Article below:
Rick Perry’s Bilderberg Visit is a Violation Of the Logan Act.
Texas Governor’s visit to ultra secret elitist group could be criminal.
In 2007, Texas Governor Rick Perry was amongst the attendees at the annual secretive Bilderberg Group meeting in Istanbul Turkey, but his visit could be a violation of the Logan Act, a 1799 law that criminalizes unauthorized U.S. citizens from negotiating with foreign governments.
“Gov. Rick Perry is flying to Istanbul, Turkey, today to speak at the super-secret Bilderberg Conference, a meeting of about 130 international leaders in business, media and politics,” reports the Dallas Morning News.
“Robert Black, the governor’s press secretary, said the governor was invited to attend and speak about state-federal relations. Mr. Black dismissed the conspiracy theories.”
“He’s looking forward to learning the secret handshake,” Mr. Black joked.”
Sophomoric joking aside, Perry’s attendance at a behind closed doors, and armed guards, meeting, in which the content of what is discussed will remain totally secret is a potential violation of Logan Act.
———–
Perry supported the Tarp Bank Bailouts.
On October 1st, 2008, you urged every senator to pass an “economic recovery package” That because the TARP bill the Tea Party finds distasteful. How can he expect any Tea Party support, in light of such a grave error in judgement?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/62442856/Rick-Perry-s-TARP-Letter
I guess that it would have been better to have several of the nation’s major banks fail and turn the current recession into a depression.
Sometimes you have to do things you don’t necessarily agree with in order to keep the country running.
Not doing the TARP bailout could have resulted in massive financial chaos and possibly triggered a run on the remaining banks.
What would have been better, sticking to principles or bailing out the banks?
You folks are such simplistic nitwits.
We’re not simplistic!
Perry is a Bilderberg member. That should REALLY concern you.
Regarding Rick Perry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXNqcYh0MpA
I don’t care for Perry at all. I don’t believe that he is a true conservative and electing him would be a huge mistake. His stance against the Arizona illegal immigration bill and the lack of willingness to put up a fence to protect Texas is a clear indication of where he stands regarding protecting the future of the United States.
Why is the Logan Act being ignored? Why do Presidents belong to the Bilderbergs? Clinton and Obama attended just before the election and Rick Perry’s attendance to their secret meeting means he was invited so that means as President he will have to go along with the rest of the Traitors from the USA to destroy America.
I think Gov. Romney is more qualified to run against this
President than Rick Perry. A sucessful businessman who knows how to create Jobs. In general this eight Presidential Candidate can beat
Barack Obama. His Policy are all a Failiure to this Country.
Thanks
To think, I was confused a mnitue ago.