Yes, I know he was briefly a front runner — until the media decided they wanted to decide how we would decide and gave Mitt and Newt much more face and talk time in the early debates and couldn’t stop talking about Perry’s so-called “gaffs.”
I imagine every dictator, tyrant and caliphate in the world has their knickers in a twist worrying that another Western “cowboy” might soon be in the White House. And well they should.
All we heard during the GW Bush campaign were snickers about his “gaffs.” Thank the Lord the voters were too smart to fall for the media’s sling and arrows.
And by the way, I’ve had a Rick Perry 2012 sticker on my car long before he formally announced his candidacy. I’ve been vetting him for several years. And no, I do not know him personally.
He took himself out of the race all by himself.
I tried to support him for a couple of weeks early on.
It was too embarrassing after a while.
Anyway, there is a long way to go here, lots of twists and turns, so we'll see how it turns out.
Btw, when you say you won't vote for Newt if he wins, that's just an inconceivably poor attitude. I don't like Perry particularly, think he would be a horrid candidate, but would never say that.
I believe charisma is the most important factor in a general election. Show me one election since 1976 where the most charismatic candidate did not win. I think Newt has a real charisma, a grandfatherly type. I suspect his polls are a little soft now because he reminds people who aren’t very sure who he is of McCain. There’s no reason to think Newt won’t rise in the polls in the general election just as he did in the primary as people warm up to him.
I do agree that Perry is the next best choice because he also has a degree of charm and charisma. On policy, he’s just as good as Newt, but I’m not sure he would implement his policies as forcefully and ferociously. The real tough aspect with Perry is the perception that he’s like G.W. Bush because he stumbles over his words in a similar way. I think he will just bring back too many of memories of G.W. and invite too many comparisons among the general electorate. Granted the general electorate may not hate Bush as much as they used to, but we all know he wouldn’t have won a 3rd term.