If you're referring to Gov. Perry, he's a D.C. outsider but he is no political neophyte. He's fought the LIBERAL machine here in Texas for over 20 years and as has been pointed out, he served as a conservative Democrat "pit bull" fighting spending in the Texas legislature prior to moving with Phil Gramm and many others across the aisle where their political ideology matched up. As a long time Texas governor, Rick Perry has had to deal with the federal government - fighting them in the courts (winning and losing) and he well knows where the problems lie and what a state can do with it off their backs.
We’ve seen him stumble in the debates. I don’t think Perry has been able to out-maneuver anyone in these debates. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked him right up until he debated. After that it became painfully obvious that Obama would run circles around him in that format. I think he is a good candidate but it is the wrong time for him. Unfortunately we need a good debater with a photographic memory for facts and details (otherwise the lefty media will jump all over them as liars). In the last debate CNN fact check was saying Newt was “not completely truthful” because he did not cite ALL the statistics of a particular issue. Seriously? They will be even tougher on someone if they actually cite the wrong information even if by accident.
BTW I was referring more to Cain than Perry (he seems to be having a lot of trouble navigating these waters, false accusations and all, but I do see him learning fast, really fast.)