Posted on 12/20/2011 7:20:23 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
..Fueled by a bigger pile of campaign donations than most of his rivals, Perry is blitzing Iowa in a 42-town bus tour that enables him to personally deliver his campaign message and capitalize on his skills at retail politics. Team Perry is also saturating the state with radio and TV ads and plans to import hundreds of Texans, including Republican state officials and pro-Perry lawmakers, to woo caucus-goers.
"We’re certainly hearing his name a lot with radio and TV commercials, probably a lot more than the other candidates," said Dr. Bill Davidson of Bettendorf in eastern Iowa. "I like the commercials, particularly the one about his not being afraid to speak about his faith."
Davidson said last week that he is undecided but is likely to vote for Perry or former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
"Those are my two guys," he said. "It may come right down to caucus day."
Craig Robinson, a former political director for the Iowa Republican Party, said that Perry’s wall-to-wall campaigning appears to be giving him a bit of a boost. "I think people are starting to give him a second look," said Robinson, who is founder and editor-in-chief of The Iowa Republican, a political website. "His bus tour is good for him, and I think it will help him."
...In one silver-lining aspect in his fall from the top, Perry has escaped the harsh scrutiny that falls on front-runners, giving him more freedom to promote key themes. Robinson said a fellow Republican who approached him at a recent political event told him that he initially supported Perry, then switched his allegiance to Gingrich and is now back to supporting the Texas governor.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
I have thought of writing in Cain or Palin as a protest, but then I thought, no, this is a serious election and there is no luxury for that.
Do I like Perry’s in-state tuition deal and the Guardasil thing? No, I don’t. Looking at his record v. Gingrich, not just what is said, I have to go with Perry. There is too much of a lack of mental discipline and poor leadership in Gingrich’s past.
Santorum and Bachmann are great conservatives, but Bachmann and Santorum have serious character issues in the way they’ve conducted themselves in this process. That and Santorum has no gravitas.
Romney and Huntsman are out from the start.
Perry to me is a solid B candidate that is the best of conservatism, ability to raise money and electibility of the hand we’re dealt.
That’s my logic process on this.
Thank you, heiss.
You actually read and considered the post CW made about Perry’s true feelings and statements about the immigration problem.
A lot of people don’t bother to do that but just cling to their pre-conceived notions.
Kudos to you !
Yep, but it is Perry’s job to educate. Everybody knows where Bachmann and Newt stand, but Perry has been confusing. When he entered, he defended tax subsidies for illegals and clearly opposed fence and e-verify. He said those himself. So you can’t really blame voters for thinking he is pro-illegal. Maybe he changed his opinion on everify (still opposed to fence i believe) or he meant to have stricter version of everify, I don’t know
His communication sucks.
Anyway, I like him more now. Better than NewtRomney. Either Perry or Bachmann, maybe Santorum.
I’ll vote for Rick if he makes it to the Texas primary and I’d vote for him over Obama.
If Newt or Romney are the nominee I’ll leave the Presidential field blank. I’ll just have to hope we can take the Senate and usher in gridlock again.
What's even sadder is everyone believing they can't vote for the candidate they want if everyone else isn't supporting said candidate. These polls are ruining our country because the people are now a collective group being driven by the numbers instead of the candidate.
Why the heck you think he's opposed to illegal immigration enforcement? His policies in trying to deal with the existing mess aren't much different from anybody else in the race.
Even Cain was talking 10th Amendment before he dropped out.
Perry has gotten Sheriff Arpaio's endorsement, for Pete's sake.
Keep listening. Perry doesn’t have time in debates to explain all those theories you mentioned.
He has explained them in other venues. You might consider going to his website to see some of his positions.
He’s never supported subsidies to illegals. That is a complicated issue that actually dates back to Newt Gingrich’s time in Congress when a law was passed that children of illegals born in the US were eligible for certain benefits. It’s not just in Texas.
If you are talking about the in-state tuition thing, I can explain it if you’re interested.
As far as the fence goes, Perry is more familiar with the Texas border than any candidate possibly could be. Because of the length and terrain of the border, you can’t just say, ‘build a fence,’ and he’s fully aware of that. It’s gonna require some advanced thinking and technology to close that thing, but he says he’ll do it in a year if elected and I believe him.
CW’s post gave a quote of his feelings about e-verify. It’s pretty plain that he is not opposed to it at all.
I need to call Fox News again today and give them a piece of my mind.
A small piece... I need to have a little left.
“La Raza policies”
Congrats for having the most cliche ridden, bumper sticker quality, mind numbed, false sloganeering on this thread so far.
It doesn’t illuminate what Perry has done in real life to secure the border, it doesn’t illuminate his plan to secure it, once and for all, within one year, as President.
It covers up the truth with ridiculous words.
Fortunately, we are here, too.
We elucidate and we illuminate.
Words are terrific tools, when used for truth and good.
I like the fact that he served his country honorably, but faltered in that belief by being a Democrat. I over looked his faults on Immigration, etc, but I still supported him and took a great deal of flak for it.
But then, I started watching him speak, “debate” (Oxymoron) and read his writings. I came away feeling that there was a huge void in the image of Rick Perry. All of his speeches seem to lack something. He fails to inspire. He also sounds somewhat limited in intellectual scope. He tries to exude that, but he is just not capable of it.
In short, I came the the conclusion that Perry is trying desperately to be someone he clearly is not. He lacks Presidential Gravitas, intellect and insight. He is a good man, don't get me wrong, but he will not make a good President and he certainly has no chance of winning against Obama.
No other way to put it. Don't even try to convince me otherwise. I see what I see and Perry is what he is.
Not many people bother to go to campaign website. It is the job for the candidate to make his case and use the opportunities on debate. Good politicians are able to do that.
Tv ads work too.
Perry peaking at the perfect time for the presidential pick. (Don’t you love the alliteration) :-)
The Perry bashers never fail to try to trash him. They don’t see his energy and job policies which is what will SAVE America right now.
Read the forward in Perry’s book, “Fed Up”, which was written by Newt. That ought to help you out.
He opposes the idea to try to build a total fence along the total Texas Mexico border, because he, like we, knows that is not feasible and is not effective.
He has always expressed support for strategic fencing. When people attack him for that, they need to get a clue. Strategic means just what it says...put up a fence in situations where it can be done and where it can be effective.
Otherwise, use other assets like drones, electronic surveillance, boots on the ground, quick strike teams.
E-verify has problems that need to be corrected, from the standpoint of the employer. All he is saying is make it employer friendly and workable instead of the mess it is.
His plan for securing the border in one year as President is why Sheriff Joe endorsed him.
Instead of listening to Sheriff Joe, a number of anti Perry FReepers who once thought Joe was great, attacked him and called him derogatory names.
Perry does not believe in copycating other states, but works within the needs and experiences of his own state with laws, while going to court to uphold the other states’ RIGHTS to have their laws.
He sure has fooled a lot of Texans and all those businesses flocking here from around the country - creating jobs.
He sure has a lot of lawyers with their panties in a knot.
He sure has a lot of "educators" pasting a target on his back.
He sure has a public employees up in arms and ready to hold their ground on BIG government.
He sure has the NOW gang and Planned Parenthood running around in circles.
He sure has the EPA, Energy, Ed Dept and the Justice Department spending a lot of time on his lawsuits and objections to their policies.
Everyone does NOT know where Newt stands...unless by that you mean “all over the place”.
With the exception of $1K to Shelia Jackson-Lee and Gene Green -- both democrats, ALL GOP giving but DIDN'T FIND Rick Perry: Bob Perry Political Campaign Contributions 2010 Election Cycle -- Bobby Jack Perry (Bob J. Perry); Houston, Texas homebuilder, owner of Perry Homes, and major contributor to a number of 527 groups: Swift Vets and POWs for Truth and the Economic Freedom Fund. ---- In 2010, Perry donated $7 million to the 527 group American Crossroads -- largest single donation that the organization has received to date -- they primarily work to elect Republican legislators; is a member of the Heritage Club.
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Disclosure reports show that neither Bob Perry [Perry Homes/home builder] nor his wife have donated to Rick Perry's presidential bid. Bob Perry has given money to other candidates but not to Rick Perry. The biggest recipient is Mitt Romney. Bob Perry and his wife gave a combined $5,000 to Romney's early this year and $500,000 to the super PAC Restore Our Future that supports Romney.
In 2008, they supported Romney's nomination with a $5,000 donation between them. According to disclosure reports Gov Tim Pawlenty received a combined $10,000 to his presidential campaign and another $60,000 to his political action committee from Bob Perry and his wife. Bob Perry is also the top donor to the Karl Rove-linked super PAC American Crossroads.
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Donors to Bush absent for Perry [9-1 support Romney] WASHINGTON — Fewer than one in 10 of the top fundraisers who helped George W. Bush shatter records for presidential campaign money in 2000 and 2004 have donated to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign, a Houston Chronicle analysis of Federal Election Commission data has found.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a wide lead over other GOP presidential hopefuls in donations received from the 939 “Pioneers” and “Rangers” who raised at least $100,000 each for the Bush presidential efforts.
Romney has received 148 donations totaling $351,250 from Bush’s top money people, compared with Perry’s 87 contributions worth $213,000 and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s 47 donations for $102,867."......
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