Rick Perry entered the Republican presidential race like a jackrabbit bounding out of the West Texas prairie. He quickly hopped past longtime leader Mitt Romney, who was deliberately, step by step, inching his way toward the nomination he felt was his to win. Now, Romney's strategists are hoping that the former Massachusetts governor plays the tortoise to Rick Perry's hare, slowly and steadily working to win the long race, and that Perry fades in the stretch. But presidential contests are not fables, and it'll take a lot more than hope to make Romney finish first.... [snip] Some of the contrasts...