Posted on 08/29/2015 10:29:38 PM PDT by Red Steel
Former governor gets little attention
AUSTIN — Former Gov. Rick Perry started out with flair. Not even a felony indictment could keep down his campaign spirit as he went after the presidency.
He can boast being the longest-serving governor of one of the largest, most prosperous states in the union, one who called down border guards to address a national crisis, and one with the message that his state’s economic prosperity could be modeled and put into practice for the nation at large.
Yet several months after his June 4 presidential campaign launch, he is floundering. A recent Public Policy Polling in New Hampshire put Perry at 2 percent. Reports surfaced that certain campaign staff weren’t getting paid. And he didn’t make the cut for a highly publicized, first debate table. He received a speck of media attention for debating Donald Trump, the businessman mogul front-runner, but in the same New Hampshire poll Trump reached 35 percent in the 17-candidate race.
“They obviously had a couple weeks of bad press on that decision to cut back spending,” said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak. However “I think he has gotten a good response in Iowa and South Carolina.”
Perry was able to play to his strengths on the military and agriculture, and “people know him” already, Mackowiak said.
He isn’t a high-profile candidate in the large field, but states such as New Hampshire are small enough that voters can catch fire with a grass-roots campaign, Mackowiak said.
Brandon Rottinghaus, an associate professor of political science at the University of Houston, said Perry “doesn’t have any luck left to lose.”
“He is not getting any free airtime,” and his message “is being swamped by momentum from a different direction,” Rottinghaus said.
Perry’s message is about being the governor of a big state with a good economy, but GOP primary voters seem to want a political outsider, someone like Trump or neurosurgeon Ben Carson or former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.
Though not from D.C., Perry ”is the most elected candidate in the field,” Rottinghaus said.
Nancy Martorano Miller, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton, said Perry’s failure to reach the first debate means “it’s probably unlikely that he is going to make it to the second debate.”
While in the past the establishment candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona fell far behind but eventually took the nomination, a 17-candidate field makes such a feat harder to pull off, Miller said.
It takes a large amount of money and attention, especially this far in advance of February and March.
“It’s going to be harder for candidates who haven’t raised tens of millions of dollars to last that long,” Miller said.
Perry would need a strong, emotionally driven event to shift attention back to him, Rottinghaus said.
“There has to be some kind of serious emotional moment where the issues voters care about” become critical, he said.
Such a moment could come from military or border issues, for instance, he said.
“He has got to find a way to make an organic moment in political time gel with the justifications for his candidacy,” Rottinghaus said.
Perry’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the state of his campaign.
He did, however, address the lack of funds in an interview on Fox News.
“Most of us in this country have had challenges in finances from time to time,” Perry said. “We cut our spending. We cut back. I’m in this for the long haul.”
What an idiot Rick Perry is.......attacking Donald Trump!!! Perry is burnt toast...and should withdraw from the campaign....he is going nowhere!!!
Rick’s more muscular assault styled political presence isn’t selling so well this go around when contrasted with Trump.
Something about Trump, his quick mind, lends intellectual gravitas to the noise he is making. Trump can gravitate from his point, to another story, and come right back to where he left off and complete his point. Rick is a little over eager and overwhelms his point.
“in for the long haul”
Why, Rick, why?
Many on this board will disagree...but I liked him as governor. But he is going nowhere with the presidential bid.
Of course, he hasn’t asked me for my opinion.
At least he has ‘smart’ glasses.
Remember what Conservative Treehouse said: (1) NONE of these candidates could stay in the race without GOPe SuperPAC or dark money. And (2) They are in the race for one reason: to ensure a Jeb/GOPe victory
maybe people are fed up with the same old rino rick?
yes that was a pun.
adios mofo.
Of course, politics make strange bedfellows.
Very long haul.
Rick Perry will stay in until his Chamber of Commerce masters tell him he can drop out.
Embarrassing to be that much of a puppet.
If anyone ever asks you if Rick Perry is smarter now than several years ago, politely tells them “No”.
He proves it again and again.
Remember, we don't run betting pools on FR, with the winner being the one who guesses closest to the day Perry suspends his campaign, effectively dropping out, which means I'm not betting that he'll do it before September 30. Thanks Red Steel.
Yeah, but he could be getting paid. I don’t mean anything like a conspiracy. A candidate who does not have a gubment job who is getting federal matching funds qualifies for a salary equal to that of the office he runs for less taxes. In Perry’s case that would be about $266,000.
“He has got to find a way to make an organic moment in political time gel with the justifications for his candidacy,” Rottinghaus said.
Perry is at the point where kids and noobs get a foot into politics. He’s so desperate and so broke anyone who volunteers to work for him (for nothing) is given a fancy title to put on their resume. “Former Director of Media Outreach for Rick Perry 2016....”
“Something about Trump, his quick mind, lends intellectual gravitas”
what dimension is this
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