Posted on 09/26/2011 6:25:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Orlando, Fla. — Florida voters may have closed the door on a Presidency 5 straw-poll victory for Rick Perry, but they haven’t shut the window on the possibility of voting for him in the primary.
Perry’s poor debate performance — particularly his accusation that those who disagreed with him on providing in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants lacked a “heart” — upset delegates and almost certainly caused his devastating 20-points-plus loss to Herman Cain in the straw poll. But many Florida Republicans remain open to the idea of ultimately voting for Perry in the primary.
Florida retiree Judy O’Donnell says she’s “sticking” with Perry because she values his gubernatorial experience and his attitude. “I think Perry’s a fighter,” O’Donnell says. “And I want a fighter in there. I don’t want Casper Milquetoast.” Kearsten Angel, a Florida attorney, says she’s disappointed in Perry’s debate performances, but hasn’t give up on him yet. “I hope my initial gut feelings about him are correct,” she says. “He’s got a little bit of a learning curve.”
Many are also quick to point out that as the frontrunner from the time he entered, Perry has faced an enormously tough situation. “Given the fact that eight other candidates tried to beat him up, I thought he didn’t get any permanent scars,” remarks Walt Travinski, a business owner. O’Donnell points out that Perry faces an experience deficit. “I’m sticking with Perry,” she says. “I think that he’s not used to the big stage yet. Someone like Romney has had that experience a couple of times.” Angel notes that as governor of a state adjoining Mexico, Perry had to confront the issues surrounding immigration more than most governors.
Rosemary Mills, a delegate who attended Perry’s breakfast the morning of the straw poll but voted for Cain, is willing to give Perry the benefit of the doubt on his immigration statements. “I really wish that Perry would find a way to communicate that to the people so that we would understand what his [immigration] position is better. I’m open to hearing more,” Mills says, but adds that “the education of illegal immigrants concerns us, not because we have bad hearts, but because we think of our own children, too, and grandchildren and what opportunities they’ll have.”
“I’m sure that it came across differently than the way he feels,” agrees Barbara Stephens, another delegate.
Maria Oddo, a volunteer for Perry, shows that Perry — like Sarah Palin and Ron Paul — has the potential to attract an especially dedicated base. “He is being persecuted right now. Like Jesus,” she remarks, although she notes that she didn’t agree with his immigration position. “[I] work as hard for him as I did for Marco Rubio,” she says. “I believed in Marco, even though, when he started, he wasn’t winning either. But he was honest with us, the same way as Perry is.”
For many in senior-citizen-packed Florida, Perry’s immigration statements were far more worrisome than his description of Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme.”
“Two or three years ago, if you had walked in here and say do something with Social Security and Medicare, the seniors would go, ‘absolutely not.’” Travinski says. But things have changed. “After two years of hearing day after day how bad it is, they are all recognizing we’ve got to do something. We’ve all got grandkids,” he remarks.
For Perry, winning a second act among Florida voters would require a revamped pitch — including easing off the fireworks between him and Romney during debates, which irked many of the voters that I spoke to. He would also face an uphill challenge winning back the support of those who dislike both his immigration policy and his dismissive rhetoric concerning those who disagree with him.
Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union and former chair of the Florida GOP, notes that Perry could use upcoming debates to help redeem himself. “There are twelve, 15 rounds of debates,” he says, noting that Perry could use those debates “to hone his message and maybe rethink things.”
“He’s got to be defining himself as he goes forward,” Cardenas adds. “Romney’s had five years to do that. People have a better understanding of what he’s all about. Rick Perry has got to do in two months what Romney’s done in five years, and that’s make sure people understand well what he’s all about.
Cardenas also thinks that Perry needs to cool down his rhetoric, saying that while senior citizens are open to Social Security reform, any usage of the term “Ponzi scheme” should be a “non-starter” — and few are interested in making Social Security run by the states.
“Calling it a ‘Ponzi scheme’ doesn’t sit well even with movement conservatives,” Cardenas observes. “Calling for changes, I think conservatives are all for it. When Herman Cain speaks about the Chilean model, you don’t see anyone jumping up in fear, right?”
Delegate Barbara Stephens has a specific idea about how Perry could revitalize his candidacy.
“A Perry/Cain combination would be dynamite,” she gushes.
— Katrina Trinko is an NRO reporter.
Yes, indeed. Some things about politics never change.
I remember having a bunch of friends who were Dole staffers in 1996 in the primary. They were sure sad when the Forbes campaign wound down, because so long as Forbes was in, they were always guaranteed a real breakfast and real lunch at events.....
Many Conservatives are miffed about Perry's “no heart” remark. They'll get over it because they have no choice. Sane people don't make self-destructive decisions in a fit of personal pique. Backing any candidate currently in the race other than Governor Perry would be suicidal for conservatives.
Mitt is progressive and therefore a nonstarter. Nobody else in the field has either a presidential resume or a campaign organization capable of going all the way to the nomination. Congratulations to Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann on their straw poll wins. Winning straw polls can boost your speaking fees in years to come and generate many other opportunities, but they can't help you win a nomination. Just ask Pat Robertson and Ron Paul.
Michelle Bachmann won the Ames poll and promptly sank without a trace. (Is she still a candidate?) Herman Cain may get some attention, but he too will sink. Like Bachmann he isn't really in the game. When serious voters cast serious votes they will overwhelmingly cast them for the serious candidates.
Barring a late entry, the real choice is Romney vs. Perry. You can gnash your teeth about that all you want. It won't change a thing. In the end you will have to decide whether you want to continue our bipartisan string of progressive presidents and perpetuate their failure or try something significantly different.
Romney is the status quo. Perry isn't. He may not be different enough to save us from decline, but he offers some hope. Romney offers none. We get to choose whether we just stay the course and go over the falls or take our one chance to avoid it. Anyone who chooses to go over the falls because they're offended that Perry called them heartless is a lunatic, and there aren't that many conservative lunatics.
So go ahead, throw a nice cathartic tantrum. Burn up the bandwidth with your rage. Go out and try to get another candidate in the race who might make it a genuine race. Then settle down and do the serious work of nominating an acceptable conservative (almost certainly Perry) and beating Obama.
I was listening to my local NPR station in my car this morning on my way to San Antonio. The local news reader said Perry came in a distant second to Romney in the FL straw poll. No mention of Cain the actual winner who got more votes than both Perry and Romney combined.
I’ve heard the GOP primaries are no longer winner take - can anyone confirm?
Oh yeah, Rick Perry is toast ...
WOW, I have never seen so much exaggeration of a meaningless event such as a straw poll.
Really? A million guys have:
My own son was writing computer programs for missiles at age 27...including testing them in Alabama. Then there was his stint to install and teach "computer technology" in several countries....including Bahrain.
And what is the name of the major Restaurant chain he owns? What the name of the international corporation where he was the head of IT? Which Federal Reserve Bank was he the chairman of?
There may be a million guys that have one of these items on their resumes, but all of them? No, there are not a million guys with resumes like this.
Most people who have this type of success have it within a single field. It is extremely unusual for someone to switch between such unrealted career fields (computers, restaurant management, banking) and have this type of success.
There are in fact, only a handful of people with resumes like this.
Perry offers some hope alright. For amnesty and funding illegals health care, schooling...who knows....housing, transportation and most of all VOTING RIGHTS! ROMNEY is the best candidate so far.
You are quite correct.
There is no one on the national political landscape who has a conservative border plan.
NO ONE.
Sadly, the border issue is not going to even be addressed in 2012.
Will the border issue destroy America? Damn right it will. But not immediately. We have maybe 8 years or so.
But the problem is that obama is doing much more short term damage to the country. 2014 is the deadline for getting rid of obamacare.
We have to prioritize among emergencies...and ousting obama is the first order of business, then trying to immediately undo what he has done: 1) obamacare, and 2) Dodd Frank.
Everything after that is great...including addressing the border. But that is not realistically on the agenda for the foreseeable future, because the GOP and the Democrats are basically in agreement that the country doesn’t want a border. Moreover, there is a substantial portion of the country - perhaps even a majority - who also believe the border should be non-existent.
The border is like AIDS. It is fatal. But it is not as rapidly fatal as obamacare. obamacare is like advanced brain, lung and liver cancer. We are dead much sooner if we don’t repeal it.
(And even if Palin is the “best” on the border [maybe, maybe not], it is not obvious that she is running...we’ll see what October brings, but it is still very much a question mark, and we can’t forget how many of us were lectured and hectored that it would obviously be August, then obviously be September since that is what she said....and September is winding down....)
We live in treacherous times and it seems like the left is using the chaos to steadily advance.
The border problem is this countries MAIN ISSUE! It must be addressed....otherwise no candidate will change this country around.
Same here-——I dont’t know how he can show his face in public.
He’s made a mockery of Republicans, conservativism, and the presidency.
Not to mention making Texans look like ignoramuses for electing this guy to office.
Texans oughta kick his “compassionate a** out of Austin....all the way over the border......which he prefers to the US.
Well, you aren’t going to have a candidate on the ballot in November 2012.
Sorry about that.
I’d like the border addressed, too. But that is not an option right now.
So, the choices are: are you for obamacare, or against it? are you for Dodd Frank, or against it? are you for doing what you can for life, or not? are you for good judges, or not? are you for a traditional American foreign policy which sees Israel as an ally or not?
By the way: I am not sure the border is the MOST important issue. Personally, I think stopping the homosexual agenda is pretty important, as well. And supporting obama (by not supporting his opponent)is just an endorsement of the continual advance of the gay agenda.
“In the end people will want experience. If we end up with a nominee with no executive experience obama will make a big deal about how he’s “learned so much in his 4 yrs and now is not the time to start training someone new”. If Perry improves his debate performance he will be in good shape.
Right now a lot is being made of his immigration position, but it will draw the middle to him. What is encouraging is he is under constant attack from both the right and left and yet he has not “flip flopped” on the issues.”
Debate PERFORMANCE?
Works for demmies, pubbies and independents are waking up, and starting to look for substance, not performance.
We need someone soft on illegal immigration to appeal to the middle?
Because that worked out so well for us with McCain???
Herman Cain’s positive intensity score has been the highest every week, until the week Rick Perry announced, and Perry got a little bump - then Herman was back on top the next.
I expect that he will be back on top of that one soon, as more people find out about about Perry’s Hispanic pandering.
Closer look at Perry = less support.
Closer look at Herman = more support.
Right now Perry is the shiny new penny, but people are going to start taking a closer look at him.
As people start looking at the other way of looking at “the two man race,” the Positive Intensivity scores on Gallup, Herman is the only one who really has it all.
Remember, talk is cheap for politicians at election time.
Then unless Palin gets in I guess I don’t have a candidate. My important issues are immigration/border, judges, taxes, trade. I’m not a homophobic...abortion will never be stopped.
Enjoy raving. It's still early in the process. Raving’s OK for the time being. But we all have to come back from fantasy land, soon.
Mass illegal immigration is a serious threat, but not one that the federal government is going to deal with differently depending on whom Republicans nominate to run for President in 2012. As a criterion of selection, a candidate's approach to immigration policy is irrelevant.
And immigration is far from our most pressing problem. We have to put the government back in its stuff sack or we sink, soon. Romney is a classic progressive statist, as evidenced by his attachment to Rombamneycare. He has no intention of trying to restrict the federal government. He's a big believer in his own ability to do wonderful things with government power. The forecast for a Romney presidency would be for ever more intrusive and expensive government.
A Perry presidency might be different. It might not. But it would offer some prospect of a White House willing to lead on meaningful entitlement and regulatory reform. With the economy tanking, that's where the rubber hits the electoral road.
Your feelings are hurt. Shake it off. This is serious stuff. The GOP can't afford Romney and neither can the country.
Your tagline promotes Mitt as a candidate. Is that correct?
Perry will mandate heart transplants.
Unfortunately, all the hearts will come from Mexico——so those who get them will get uncontrollable urges to sing, “La Cucuracha” while doing the Mexican Hat Dance.
And shout, “Vote for Senor Reeky”....and order supersized enchilada and refried beans at McD’s.
BINGO!
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