[Katarina]

I agree CW, Rick Perry is the real deal, he has walked the talk and is the true conservative. More and more I also see many people I meet offline saying they are going to vote for Perry.

[mikhailovich]

I think the media plays a more important role in these elections than it used to. People are more busy and consumed with the daily grind in 2011 than we were in the past. I think people are influenced by the "trends" they hear with these media reports.

"Oh, Gingrich is #1 so I better vote for him. Cain is #1. Romney is #1."

There's a higher percentage of voters who are unable/unwilling to pay attention to the meat and potato positions of our candidates and rely on POPULARITY to make their choice.

The media is able to promote who they like and stomp down who they dislike. And too many people rely on this for their news.

my .02