Posted on 01/07/2012 1:40:13 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
After his embarrassing result in Iowa, Rick Perry seemed to get the message the polls have been sending him for months: Republican voters just aren’t that into him. On caucus night, said he’d go back to Texas and figure out what comes next.
But within hours, Perry was sprinting into South Carolina, to make at least one more stand.
Given that the TPM Poll Average shows Perry pulling just 4.8% support in the state, a clear question arises: What on earth is he thinking?
The answer is, team Perry really thinks they can make it happen in South Carolina. The campaign says it really is all-in in the Palmetto State.
“At the end of the day, Gov. Perry is the only Washington outsider in this race, and the only candidate proposing real, substantive conservative reforms that will overhaul Washington, get America working again, and reintroduce fiscal sanity,” spokesperson Liz Mair told me. “Those are key attributes that South Carolina voters care about, especially fiscal, social and Tea Party conservatives who make up a sizable chunk of the electorate in the Palmetto State.”
Perry, of course, has made government reform a huge part of his agenda. He wants a part time Congress, he wants to cut lawmakers’ salaries, he wants to eliminate departments. It’s the kind of thing that supporters say could really resonate in South Carolina.
Mitt Romney’s new surrogate, Sen. John McCain, has been making that case out a line against Rick Santorum in South Carolina, where he points out that unlike the state’s senators, Santorum was pretty friendly to earmarks.
“I think it’s wrong for America and so does Sen. DeMint and so does Sen. Lindsey Graham who have been staunch fighters against earmark and pork barrel spending,” McCain told the South Carolina crowd. “And I know you’re proud of that.”
Indeed, South Carolina Republicans have a long history of backing the kind of candidates who want to turn their government upside down. Gov. Mark Sanford (R), who was popular before he took that Appalachian Trail trip, once brought live piglets down to the state house to protest what he said was the porky ways of state lawmakers.
But if Perry really thinks he can ride this wave in South Carolina, that tactic hasn’t yet been evidenced yet. His first ad in the state is a retread of a bio spot [Values] from November that doesn’t even mention his government reform plan.
But it does mention something else Perry backers say plays well in South Carolina: his military background and Christianity. Unlike New Hampshire, where Molly Ball showed how hard it can be for a values candidate to make a connection, South Carolina is a land where mixing in some ol’ time religion into your stump speech is very much appreciated in a lot of places. In addition, the state is home to a lot of veterans and active-duty military. Perry is a vet himself, and can speak their language, too.
The combo went down very well for Perry in South Carolina in months past. In August, I spent a couple days following Perry around the state. He was so famous back then a guy literally stopped on his way to pick up his wife who was going into labor to have her talk to Perry on a cell phone.
So, Perry’s dialing up South Carolina voters again. And he’s betting the house that they’ll still enthusiastically pick up the call.
They will come to regret their hope. Perry will lay waste to Romeny.
Only Perry, Romney, and Huntsman have any experience running a government, and Perry by far has been the most successful manager. Paul, Gingrich, and Santorum are legislative wonks, like Obama, who never had to manage anything.
This chump, Perry, thinks the taxpayers of Texas should give ILLEGAL ALIENS ‘in state tuition’ rates. They’ve already broken the law, he wants taxpayers to subsidize them,
Rick Perry helps Mitt Romney by staying in the ‘12 GOP POTUS race, and this doesn’t help advance U.S. conservatism! In fact, who does the best in advancing U.S. conservatism, when all of the remaining candidates for ‘12 GOP POTUS are, either, RINOS, or “Big Conservative Republicans”?
I don’t doubt that you sincerely believe this crap. But that doesn’t make it any the more valid. Perry is in it to WIN it, not to make safe for Romeny. Why on Earth would Perry even consider such a thing. Perry will vigorously and effectively go after Romeny on each and every battlefield of this campaign.
Perry is not in this to vouchsafe the nomination for Romeny, he’s in it to vanquish him. If anyone is likely to pack it in after South Carolina it will be mittens, after replicating his fourth place finish of 2008, with about the same percentage 15%.
Just watch. I’m sure you will find it fascinating.
Cute.
What’s your next silly comment?
Absolutely. See my post 26 above.
Perry's ad: Carbon Copies [:60]
Perry rattles Mitt: That's -- I'm running for office, for Pete's sake, I can't have illegals. [video clip]
And Perry's gone after Mitt (A LOT) on hiding his support for mandated health care (remember the $10,000. bet?). Perry's ad:
"Romney's Remedy"RomneyCare
And that makes Gov. Perry top dog.
The point wasn’t lost, as my first sentence in response demonstrates. Perry isn’t going to be around to get my vote in the OH primary.
MM said that SC is the first real major test of the candidates. I’m afraid that since SC is an open primary, many Dems will try to skew the results.
Gingrich going for Romney’s throat on actual policies vs the guy whose big fight with Romney was about an illegal assistant hedge trimmer working for a lawn care company..
Our country is already in decline and has been so for quite a few years. I see no reason why God would wish to prevent our demise. We, as a nation, have turned away from him.
“I think he wants to help Romney (VP ?)”
****
Taking the VP slot would be a demotion from being Governor of Texas. Unlikely to happen.
I doubt you’d vote for him if by then it was down to a two man race between him and Ron Paul.
They will go for paul. That is their marching orders from the dnc and think progress.
All I am going to seriously consider is who the Conservative vote goes to. Even in a three way split, there will be a standout.
I guess Romney's $10,000 bet "oops" when Perry challenged him on how he's removed mandated health care for all the states from his book, slipped your mind.
They are profiting from a criminal act. I do see a problem with that. But then again, I’m heartless.
I can't imagine where this nonsense comes from. Do people think this stuff up during substance abuse binges or is it something that somebody whispered in their ears while sleeping? You notice that it's always Perry that's supposedly "helping" Romeny, never Santorum, Paul or Gingrich, yet at the same time they bemoan that Perry is polling in the single digits. So, arguably, of the three, right now, Perry is helping Romeny the least of the three of them.
So, here's my plea: Romeny ought to drop out because he is only helping Gingrich by drawing votes away from Santorum. I know that's nonsense, but it's no worse nonsense than the Perry rap.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.