1. Rick Perry
2. Michele Bachmann
3. Tim Pawlenty
4. Sarah Palin
5. Herman Cain
6. Newt Gingrich
7. Ron Paul
8. Mitt Romney
9. Jon Huntsman
10. Barack Obama
While Durband did not explain how he had arrived at the rankings, they do fall in with conventional wisdom. Perry, Bachmann, Pawlenty, Palin, and Cain are are held in high regard by the Tea Party faction, which is the most conservative wing of the Republican Party. The other candidates' rankings illustrate the uncertainty conservatives have about them. Gingrich, while seen as an elder statesman of the party's right wing, has had personal problems and his own campaign has been in disarray. Ron Paul is variously viewed as a visionary or a kook, and it seems unlikely mainstream Republicans would nominate him as their candidate. Mitt Romney's current status as frontrunner is for him both a blessing and a curse; many conservatives do not trust him, and Jon Huntsman, a dark horse at this point, suffers from the same problem. Barack Obama's last place position in the poll is both obvious and understandable.
In Austin, Governor Rick Perry has his detractors, which can be explained by the city's liberal mindset and the local newspaper, the American Statesman, which has found itself in the position of having to report on Perry's possible presidential run, something it has done somewhat reluctantly and often with a cynical slant.
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-austin/perry-considered-most-conservative-of-presidential-field
Perry: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” Like many constitutional amendments, this one gets interpreted and spun beyond its original meaning. But in the context of marriage, there should be no doubt that each state must have the right to decide who can get marriage licenses. Equally important is each state’s authority to decide whether to recognize marriages performed in other states. The federal Defense of Marriage Act, approved in 1996 and signed by President Bill Clinton, allows states not to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. That law also defined marriage as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.”
A federal court ruled that portion unconstitutional, and the Obama administration has said it would not seek to defend the provision upon appeal. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is leading a group seeking to defend the provision.
....We’ll give Perry spokesman Mark Miner the last word on this.
“To not pass the Federal Marriage Amendment would impinge on Texas’ and other states’ right not to have marriage forced upon it (by activist judges and special interest groups).
“The amendment process respects all states by requiring three-fourths ratification by the legislatures. Our Constitution was designed to respect states, including the amendment process.”
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/perrys-consistency-commendable-1658391.html
8, 9, and 10 are correct.
1 is ridiculous.
Nice work, CW!
bttt
There used to be a time in Texas Political history that being a Texas Democrat was something that you might be able to wrap around today...
Times have changed since my Grandfather, a Democrat lobbyist told me that as a young kid (looking to get more involved in politics)...
Somewhere around here there is a picture of me riding in a Jeep owned by a guy running for a State Representative position named John Sharp...To me that marks the extreme position I took to be more bipartisan (at a very early age)...
I fully intend to use that image to prove my point in any future campaign...At least it’ll be good for a laugh or two...
I’m not sure the same is true today, in that being a Texas Democrat, that that position entials running off trying to kill a quorum and avoid a vote on some important issue...
We’ve seen the new crop of liberal Texas democrats do this on occasions, and it fits right into the Federal model of liberal representatives up in D.C.
I’ve seen them celebrate the shirking of their elected offices first hand...FReeper “Eaker” as well...That was sure a lot of fun...
When they stood up in front of that smelly crowd of hippy-dope freaks and told them that they stood their ground against the Republicans in that legislative session by running off to Ardmore, Oklahoma...
Eaker basically said, “No, you didn’t, you people ran off like a bunch of cowards!!!”
That pretty much forced us to hasten our exit from crashing that little party and rejoin the other FReepers outside...
You know I almost miss those days growing up and knowing that for the most part, whomever was elected to represent us in Austin, that it didn’t matter what your politics or affiliation was...You put Texas first...
And somehow I believe we are losing that priority a little bit every other year these folks meet to get things done for our state...
Just my opinion...
Yeah, that would have gotten him one or two more votes in 2006 from the Austin liberals. I know one thing, the obummer stickers are few and far between now. I did see one that I thought was a 0bummer 2012, but it turned out to be a "N0T AGAIN IN 2012" with the 0 being obummers cicle with the red slashes.