Reassess <> quit.
You can reassess something and come to the same/original conclusion.
At this point, Perry’s road to the nomination is extremely difficult and not very likely. He needs too many things to break “just so” for him to get the nod.
Frankly, he’s not wrong. NH and Iowa aren’t exactly conservative bastions. Since 1988, Iowa has gone to GOP ONCE (2004—and even then by barely 0.5 percent) and NH has gone Republican twice (1988 and 2000).
Dangerous game, though, and I don't think it was all part of a plan. I think Perry is hoping to be in position if Santorum crashes.
We are still VERY EARLY in the primary calendar, and will still be early even after Florida.
If Perry had not started out with a huge war chest...
we would not know his name.
James Richard "Rick" Perry should go by another nickname for his middle name. It suits him better.
Which IMO is why Perry supporters are busy ripping into Santorum on FR.
I’m looking for a primary of real Republicans too. When are any of them planning to enter the race?
He'll need to spend a bunch more and have at least a good showing or two before he walks away. Ego is a funny thing...and can be very expensive to maintain.
Good luck and best wishes, Governor Perry!
We went through the whole “re-access” argument when Cain said it. Still, I think he was seriously considering whether he should drop out or not. That’s not the same was wanting to drop out, or deciding to drop out.
I do think they needed to re-tool their campaign.
As it is now, I hold little hope for Perry. However, Bachmann is gone, and I’m not a big fan of Gingrich (and he could be on the way down as well, although we need another two weeks before his polling numbers would drop using the trajectory from Perry and Cain earlier).
I figure the wild card is Santorum. If he catches on in New Hampshire, he’ll preclude any chance for Perry, but then Santorum will win South Carolina, which should put Gingrich out. And Santorum isn’t a bad pick.
And if Santorum wilts under actual scrutiny, I’m glad Perry will still be there. If you believe that each candidate has gotten a cursory look, Santorum is the end of the line. If he is gone, all those people have to go back and make a final decision, and Perry is as likely as anybody left to get the call, especially since he was the first “rejected” and the reasons for doing so may have been weaker than the reasons for rejecting Cain, Gingrich, and Santorum.
I’m glad Perry isn’t gone, because it gives us more of a chance to beat Romney with a real conservative. I’ll settle for Gingrich if I have to, but I’d rather have Perry or Santorum (now that Bachmann is gone).
Of course, I can’t vote for any of these people in Virginia....
I couldn’t agree with the title more.
Another tid-bit to consider:
I heard on Fox & Friends this morning that Ron Paul plans to only focus on the states that run caucuses.
NOTE: Besides Iowa, the following states run Caucuses: Colorado, Washington, Maine, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Alaska, and Hawaii.
Per Business Insider yesterday:
"[Ron] Paul's massive organizational push in Iowa focused on both winning votes, and also on making sure that Paul supporters stuck around after the vote to make sure they were selected as county delegates — the first step towards being elected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention.
"That's because Iowa's Republican caucuses are non-binding — they are technically just a straw poll, so once selected, delegates are free to vote for whichever presidential candidate they choose.
"Part of what we've been training the Ron Paul people to do is not to leave after the vote," Dan Godzich, a senior campaign advisor, told BI. "Stay and get elected to the conventions and get us those delegates. ...."
[snip]
<>
January 3, 2012 by Kevin DuJan (HillBuzz):
What It’s Like to Attend A Caucus In Iowa
[....huge snip....]
"...As long as I live, I will never forget what I witnessed on January 3rd, 2008. I am still horrified that Caucuses are allowed to exist and that voters are disenfranchised and intimidated like this in the United States.
"I honestly and truly hope that Ron Paul wins every single Caucus this year and I hope that Ron Paul’s most obsessive and vocal supporters are out in force at every Caucus location behaving as badly as the Obama operatives did in 2008. In 2012, more people will have cell phones on them with video cameras and hopefully the horrible behavior of Caucus-goers will be documented and put on display via YouTube so that every state conducting a Caucus will be embarrassed. The Caucus system is an unfunny and horrifying joke.
"After what happened in 2008, filmmaker Gigi Gaston put together the documentary “We Will Not Be Silenced 2008 to document what the Obama campaign did to game the Caucus system and intimidate voters four years ago. The agenda-driven media aggressively covered the Caucus abuses up, because they were in full-court Obama defense mode. Since the media hates Ron Paul so much, I hope in 2012 they will decide to cover the shenanigans that will no doubt occur during the Caucuses he participates in so that more people can see just how terrible Caucuses are. [........]"
<>
Here's an interesting tid-bit from RedState (Erick Erickson - a Perry supporter):
"This Won’t Play Well In South Carolina
"Rick Santorum has some pent up issues with Jim DeMint.
"Just a few weeks before DeMint stood for re-election on South Carolina’s ballot, Rick Santorum showed up in DeMint’s neighborood to tell everyone Jim DeMint was wrong on earmarks. “Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said the Constitution gives Congress control of the purse strings and that he supported earmarks for port deepening while a senator – the opposite of the position that DeMint is taking.
"But former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia said DeMint has shown “moral courage” in refusing to support any earmarks, including one that the State Ports Authority says is needed to study the deepening of Charleston Harbor.”
"Santorum went on John King USA on CNN tonight and again defended earmarks claiming “Jim DeMint did it too” without acknowledging DeMint repented and has since led the fight against earmarks. [....]
"It’s not just Rick Santorum knocking Jim DeMint (!!!) when not hiding behind DeMint to claim tea party bona fides, Santorum is also going to have trouble in South Carolina because of his voting record. He opposed National Right to Work legislation."
bttt
Gads...his debate performances were painful. We can’t afford someone to go against Zero who makes those kinds of mistakes - the media would have a field day trashing him. Too bad because his record in Texas is pretty good overall.
Showing his own self doubts in Iowa along with his weak showing will dry up any hope for strong fund raising. Who is going to strongly back a person who questions his ability to continue at this early stage?
The republicans in the SC legislature want to run
Nikki Haley out of town on a rail. She’s done nothing as governor but piss people off, mostly in her own party. Her
approval rating in the state is around 30%. Her endorsement of the liberal Morman was the last straw.
Newt has been endorsed by most of the influential republicans in the state. Newt Gingrich will win SC going away. Perry will go back to Texas for good after the SC primary.
So am I, Ricky. Sadly, it’s just not to be.
I'm looking forward to a REAL conservative entering the race.
Perry, among REAL Republicans in Ia, you got hammered as well. Santorum won these, 27-25% Bob