[pgkdan]

Not sure what I think of Perry. I'm afraid of him getting destroyed in a debate with O.

A lot of people feel the same way but when I think back to the 2008 debates I'm not worried. McCain held his own with obama and Perry is much better prepared than McCain. Also if perry and obama meet it will be man to man. Not Perry against the moderator and everyone else on the stage.

[HereInTheHeartland]

I think Perry is just fine in knowing the issues intellectually. And he has been governor of a huge state and has a pretty good overall record, (the immigration stuff has some holes for sure)
He is vastly more experienced than Obama was.

And yes I think political experience is a big plus. It's great to say: “I have never been in politics so I will not be tainted”.
That is naive I think. Once elected; you have to get stuff done. You have to use the machinery that is in place. You can't just imprison Congress and start issuing edicts (as tempting as that sounds!)

But his debate performance has some pretty big holes. Not sure what that us all about.

We honestly don't have a lot of good choices from what I can see.
I absolutely will not consider Romney or Paul. The others; sigh....