Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Oof: Chairman of Rick Perry’s Iowa campaign quits — and joins Team Trump
Hot Air ^ | August 25, 2015 | Allahpundit

Posted on 08/25/2015 5:36:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

At this rate, it’s hard to believe he won’t be the first mid-major candidate out of the race. His fundraising has been so poor, thanks in part to Ted Cruz soaking up lots of Texas money, that Perry had to temporarily stop paying his staff two weeks ago. The money’s since started flowing again as the campaign has begun to outsource operations to his Super PAC, which has plenty of dough in the bank, but there’s no getting around the perception that he’s struggling. With good reason: He’s currently at 1.3 percent in RCP’s poll average in Iowa. He hasn’t been above four percent in a poll there all year.

And now, to add insult to injury, his Iowa chairman’s headed off to join the campaign of a guy he called a cancer on conservatism.

Robert Costa
✔ ‎@costareports

SCOOP: SAM CLOVIS has been tapped by Trump to be his
national campaign co-chairman and policy adviser, will intro Trump
in Dubuque tonight

5:05 PM - 25 Aug 2015

Perry’s campaign only raised $1 million in June. By comparison, notes CNN, Ted Cruz raised $1 million on his first day in the race. So why’d Clovis leave? Was it a money thing or a going-nowhere-in-the-polls thing? He told the Austin American-Statesman that it was more of a communication thing: “I had not heard from the campaign in quite some time and I assessed that they were making adjustments based on their situation and I was not part of that conversation. I had said I would hang in there with him early on but I never heard from them.” Hmmm. Clovis was their Iowa chairman; it seems … unlikely that they’d cut him out of their early-state planning for a few weeks. Meanwhile, he sure has sounded excited about Trumpmania lately in interviews with WaPo:

“It’s been fascinating,” Clovis said of Trump’s rise, adding that he’s so intrigued by Trump that he now watches MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” each day and tries to sees his rallies live on television.

“What the hell else do you have to do on a Friday night except watch Donald Trump in a football stadium?” Clovis said, referencing last week’s Trump rally in Mobile, Ala. “It was fascinating. It’s like watching NASCAR. You just can’t take your eyes off the cars.”

Earlier this month, Clovis described Trump as a force to be reckoned with. “I see them as a major threat to all the other campaigns because of the aggressiveness of their ground game,” he told The Washington Post. “You cannot swing a dead cat in Iowa and not hit a Trump person. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. . . . Every event we go to — the Boone County Eisenhower Social, the Black Hawk County Lincoln ­Dinner, the boots-and-barbecue down in Denison — the Trump people are everywhere with literature and T-shirts and signing people up.”

How long was Clovis being quietly wooed by Team Trump? Did he really jump ship because the communication lines went dark (or the money briefly ran dry) or did Trump just convince him? You can imagine how much an egomaniac like him would relish picking off a major staffer from a guy whose campaign has been distinguished so far by his eagerness to attack Trump and “Trumpism.” I wonder how many secret calls Lindsey Graham’s campaign manager has had with Team Trump about coming aboard.

This isn’t the only story swirling in the past 24 hours either about Trump trying to score a PR coup by winning over a prominent supporter of one of his competitors. The WSJ published a piece yesterday about him chatting with Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge-fund manager who’s backing Scott Walker, about joining his campaign. Each man said the other initiated the call; my bet is that it was Trump who reached out, partly because Scaramucci laid into him on Fox yesterday (watch below) and partly because headhunting among other campaigns’ personnel makes lots of PR sense for Trump. Every time he recruits a Clovis or a Scaramucci from a professional pol, it makes his own campaign seem more professional and credible. And as I say, it surely gooses his ego. Even the pros think he’s a plausible enough nominee now that they’re willing to dump a respected governor like Perry (and maybe, eventually, Walker) to work for him. I bet Clovis won’t be the last big name to jump ship. Exit question: Will Perry hang on until February to compete in the caucuses?

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Iowa; US: Texas; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: gop; iowa; perry; trump
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-31 last
To: 2ndDivisionVet

21 posted on 08/25/2015 6:32:57 PM PDT by Jane Long ("And when thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

I am dying over there LMAO

Thanks for evening laugh I need it today ROFL

Say buh bye to your Tom Hagen Mo Greene Rick Perry


22 posted on 08/25/2015 6:38:17 PM PDT by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media bases belong to us ,resistance is futile)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: buffaloguy

Schmidt, via the failed McCain fiasco, calls the Palin wing of the Republican party a “freak show” ....

Poison, like in Rat Poison!


23 posted on 08/25/2015 6:39:57 PM PDT by IwaCornDogs ("There Will Be Bamboozeling" ~ Nobama 08')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Cringing Negativism Network

Perry?

Isn’t he that fat guy from Jersey?


24 posted on 08/25/2015 6:42:22 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat (Voting is useless, and it makes you complicit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Clovis is a conservative, unlikely to back Trump.


25 posted on 08/25/2015 7:28:45 PM PDT by iowamark (I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DallasGal

What lots of people don’t know about Texas is the governor has virtually no power. He’s more of a figurehead than anything. So, Perry got a lot of credit just because he was governor.


26 posted on 08/25/2015 8:03:18 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (Since you're so much smarter than me, don't waste your time insulting me. I won't understand it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: IwaCornDogs
Clovis is brilliant and conservative to the bone. He might have made an even better senator than Cruz if he could have beaten Joni Ernst for the nomination AND won the election. His only weakness, alas, was his current physical appearance, which is far from what one would expect of a former fighter pilot and star athlete. Once in his air force career he managed to convert what should have been a fatal crash into multiple compressed vertebrae. I haven't heard him connect the dots, but wonder whether that ended his flying career and resulted in his gaining all the weight.

I hope the Donald has enough sense to listen to his new hire and take his advice on policy! Clovis would make an awesome WH Chief of Staff.

27 posted on 08/25/2015 9:39:46 PM PDT by JohnBovenmyer (Obama been Liberal. Hope Change)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: iowamark; 2ndDivisionVet

It sounds like I was wrong about Clovis.


28 posted on 08/25/2015 10:01:22 PM PDT by iowamark (I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: JohnBovenmyer

Yes, thanks so much for the info!

I whole heartily agree he is a strong asset to the Trump Campaign and Donald is fortunate to get him this late in the game!

Cheers!


29 posted on 08/25/2015 10:08:05 PM PDT by IwaCornDogs ("There Will Be Bamboozeling" ~ Nobama 08')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Crazieman
My doctor is concerned with the volume of popcorn I’ve been consuming lately.

I opted to switch to pizza because popcorn just wasn't sufficient for the show that's unfolding - it takes 3 hours a day on the elliptical to keep the weight gain to a pound a week....

30 posted on 08/26/2015 3:53:51 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
"Turn out the lights, the party's over..."
31 posted on 08/26/2015 6:12:16 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-31 last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson