Not sure waht to make of Rick Perry’s race so far. Taking an analogy of a long distance cross country race:
1. Got pushed into signing up by supporters
2. He listened to all his fans, put on his running shoes and took off in a full sprint with no race plan or real knowledge of the course
3. Quickly caught the methodical and steady even boring pace of Mitt, and saw no one ahead so thought...this is working great and continued at that pace
4. Rough road and bumps caused unanticipated stumbles and falters...quickly dropping back through the pack as he struggled to figure out how to maintain a consistent stride and trying to catch a second wind from the initial sprint.
5. Now he can see the pack in front and is starting to put together a plan it would appear...since he found out quickly he is not a natural born racer and failed to train and plan up front. Similar to the fate of a number of candidates this time around
We shall see how an advance team will work relaying back critical information to him...will he able to catch that second wind, hit an even stride and persevere through the tumultuous ground of the primaries and caucuses ahead?
Here’s another theory..Iowans will still be celebrating Iowa State’s BIG win over OSU...and happy for the Big 12, er..8..so will they vote for an Aggie...whose alma mater is deserting the conference for the SEC?
Interesting.
One thing. Perry’s run a few races before and won each one.
Yeah, Rick hit the ground running....right off a cliff. I’ve never seen a candidate fall so quickly.
Oh, please.....amazing how many swallowed the Perry Kool-Aid.
Look at the actual facts:
(1) Perry has been raising money for years to run; he entered the race with three PACs (that we know of)......teeming with money.
(2) Perry cunningly did not actually enter the first contest---the Iowa Straw Poll----instead he calculatedly manipulated the vote from Texas. That was supposed to take him over the top. He got a pathetic 700 write-ins----but there he was front and center, posing in front of Iowa banners---waving the victory sign----as if he was the winner.
He stomped all over Bachmann's first place win with 4000 votes---she worked long and hard and spent money in the state.
"Team player" Perry threw his hat in the very day Bachmann won---stopping her hard-earned momentum.
For Perry---it's been downhill ever since the debates. Some of us thought he can't sink any lower, but with Anita's help........who knows?
I would say it was just a bit different. He decided to join the race, and put together a plan to enter methodically. His plan was to spend two months putting an organization together, getting donors lined up, and fleshing out his campaign themes.
But he immediately jumped to the front of the pack, so he couldn’t just hide out and do what he was going to do. So he decided to join the debates, and make some appearances (very few appearances).
He figured even though he didn’t have his campaign themes, he could certainly explain his conservative positions at a debate. But as the front-runner, everybody targeted him, and rather than getting to talk about the dozens of solid conservative positions he held, or the dozens of solid conservative actions he had taken, his entire first debate was taken up with questions about a never-implemented school vaccination issue, and the entire second debate about a completely uncontroversial, near-unanimously approved bill from his first year in office that he signed.
Before he had a chance to get things together, he had not only been knocked down, but BECAUSE he had been in the front, he was written off.
If he had never risen to the top, his current poll numbers would be OK for a guy who was just now starting to come out and actively campaign.