Second chance? Perry in Iowa again courting voters

Quad City Times ^ | 7/19/2014 | CATHERINE LUCEY

[iowamark]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is visiting Iowa for the fourth time in eight months, hoping for a second chance to win over Republican voters who delivered him a stinging caucus loss when he ran for president two years ago.

Perry, 64, hasn't said if he plans to run again in 2016. But he's clearly considering it and is meeting Saturday and Sunday with veterans and conservative activists in the northern Iowa communities of Algona and Clear Lake.

Perry has been raising funds for GOP candidates and seeking advice from political insiders since November. He is signaling he's committed to the grassroots politicking that Iowa's Republican faithful expect and that many felt he didn't prioritize when he ran two years ago...

Perry's last presidential campaign began with great promise but quickly faltered. He parachuted into the race relatively late, in August 2011, but quickly went from being a front-runner to an also-ran because of a series of gaffes and poor debate performances — most notably his "oops" moment, when he could only list two of the three federal agencies he said he would close if elected president.

Perry aides have said he simply wasn't prepared when he entered the last presidential race, which was already well underway. They blamed his poor debate showings on Perry's busy schedule — he was very busy wrapping up a Texas legislative session — and pain medication he was taking following recent back surgery.

After finishing fifth in the Iowa caucus and sixth in New Hampshire's primary, Perry quit the race...

Several other prominent Republicans are also testing Iowa's political waters, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who visited the state Thursday, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum...

[stars & stripes forever]

Do you have a name for me?

Ted Cruz

[TomGuy]

Perry should be back in Texas dealing with the Childrens’ Invasion.

Otherwise, in the primary debates and on the campaign trail, he will get pummeled with questions about HIS failure to handle that situation. There is only so much blame he could put on the Obama Administration.

[Nervous Tick]

>> Ted Cruz

I agree, and IF he runs, I will not only vote for him, I will work hard for him in both the primary and the general.

IF he runs.

So far, however, he has not said he will run.

I’ll tell you what I *won’t* do, however. I won’t join a repeat of 2012 on Free Republic and be a “groupie” for a candidate that won’t announce her intentions and plays with the base right up until the very end; meanwhile, the groupie corps viciously destroys every other “impure” candidate.

That whole process was disgusting beyond words.

By the way, I do not expect Sen. Cruz to play that game. He’ll either run, and run effectively — I hope he chooses to — or he’ll carefully consider his options and EXPLICITLY decline to run. IOW Ted Cruz will NOT “palinize” us in 2016.

FRegards

[stars & stripes forever]

I hope he chooses to...

Ted Cruz got my vote when he courageously stood for hours in Congress and told the American people the truth about ObamaCare.(without notes) EVERYTHING he said proved true.

He’s the closest to Ronald Reagan we’ll ever get -

[Free Vulcan]

Jesus! Only if Jesus runs will I vote!

[Nervous Tick]

:-)

[samtheman]

“Perry should be back in Texas dealing with the Childrens’ Invasion.”

Yup.

[mac_truck]

Another foreign born, junior Senator with a Harvard law degree?

No thanks.

[Carriage Hill]

A snowball’s chance in hell.

[TomGuy]

The purity crowd

Before I ever settle on 'who', I look at 'what' and 'when' in their history.

For example, in 2008, half of this board jumped on the Fred Thompson bandwagon even before he announced his run. I did a quick Google search and found that Thompson was little more than McCain-lite. Thompson not only endorsed Campaign Finance Reform while he was Senator, he also headed the committee that wrote it. It was originally labled Thompson-McCain-Feingold.

If a candidate has a moderate history, he/she may claim all the conservatism they want, but they are still moderates. Compassionate conservatism fooled many of us once. Look at how many on Capitol Hill ran as conservatives and serve(d) as GOP-elite moderates.

It is more than purity. If you vote for the same, don't expect a different result. If you can't determine what they stand for, changes are they don't stand for anything.

For decades, we have been given the lesser of 2 evils from the two major political parties. That is not a pretty history and has brought us to the current state of the Nation.

Again in 2016, my state GOP primary is late in the primary season. As with 2008 and 2012, the party nominee will probably be determined weeks before my state primary. That makes it generally irrelevant to jump on any of the early bandwagons. Look back at 2012 -- so-called GOP frontrunners were crashing every few weeks. During that primary season there were about 6 different frontrunners. The nominee was the GOP-elite selectee and he was never a frontrunner.

[Ditter]

I agree with everything you said. I just wish Texas voted earlier in the primary, it is always decided and over by the time we vote.

[itssme]

Tell ahole Rick Perry to go home and call up the Natl Guard. This jerk is a do nothing. Only out for himself. Texans! Start rallying and march to Rick's house and demand he call out the Natl Guard. NO excuses from Rick! Mark Levin had a idea yesterday on his show. If Rick claims he doesn't have the money to pay the Natl Guard, have someone present a bill to appropriate x amount of dollars to pay for the Guard! As Mark Levin said, PERRY MUST DO SOMETHING,
instead of courting voters in Iowa.

C’mon Texas, nail this guy and demand he do the right thing.

[Popman]

Before I ever settle on 'who', I look at 'what' and 'when' in their history.

I've already looked and made my decision based on history...

Scott Walker...

I'd skip the primary in my state unless a Tea Party candidate is running...my vote in a primary will be meaningless anyway since the dems play dirty politics and switch side to skew the results...

If Walker doesn't run...there are several candidates who I would endorse...

If it winds up being Romney, Christie or Bush...I'd be watching reruns election day...

[TomGuy]

Every time, during an election cycle, I see “no one is perfect but ...”, I know a propaganda post follows.

NO BODY IS ASKING FOR PERFECTION!

Many are questioning whether there is a better, more conservative, stronger candidate.

In the early 2012 GOP primary election cycle with nearly a dozen wannabes, I asked “Is this the best the GOP can offer?” Apparently, it was, and at the end result was disastrous — another term for Obama.

[itssme]

You are so right. Ted Cruz Is the closest to Ronald Reagan that we will ever get.

[Nervous Tick]

>> I just wish Texas voted earlier in the primary

You and me, both.

In 2012, due to the legal shenanigans, our primary vote counted for absolutely NOTHING.

Not clear to me why the ethanol RINOs in Iowa and the total liberal losers in NH are where a constitutional candidate has to go to get traction. It shouldn’t be that way, and we shouldn’t put up with it. Texas is a powerhouse that dwarfs the value and productivity of both of those RINO enclaves put together!

[Tanniker Smith]

I will say one thing for him, he’s the only one out there looking and acting presidential at the moment. Border crisis and he’s there. If something doesn’t start happening, that could work in his favor ... or it could keep him away from campaigning.

[miss marmelstein]

The glasses are a huge mistake. Better to have gotten those half reading glasses - something that at his age he probably needs. Those large Clark Kent glasses look fake.

[miss marmelstein]

I couldn’t agree with you more. Texas should lead the way not the states that currently demand sucking up to. I’m going to refuse to pay attention to any of these caucuses and early primaries - they don’t even select the candidates that go on to become the nominees.

[C. Edmund Wright]

You may be right….either way….i’m sure it was a consultant driven political decision to wear them. GOP consultants often are wrong.