Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS, La.--Republican activists have waited all week to see a front-running presidential candidate. When Texas Gov. Rick Perry took the stage Saturday, they may have finally gotten their glimpse. In a 20-minute address to about 2,000 activists at the Republican Leadership Conference, Perry decried the Obama administration and even Republicans he blamed for "apologizing" while touting his own record with remarks that sounded conspicuously like a stump speech. "This administration in Washington that's in power now clearly believes that government is not only the answer to every need, but it's the most qualified to make the most central decisions...

Four summers ago, 73 percent of Republicans were satisfied with the candidates seeking the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Now, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll revealed on Wednesday, only 45 percent of Republicans are happy with today's 2012 contenders. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 61, could cure the GOP's ennui. As America's economy slumbers, Perry tells a stimulating story about Texas' pro-market growth and job creation, two subjects that top the American mind. Between January 2001 and June 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates, Texas' non-farm employment grew from 9,542,400 in January 2001, when Perry took office, to 10,395,800 in...

NEW ORLEANS — Four years after George W. Bush left the White House, some US Republicans are pinning their hopes on his successor as Texas governor to triumph over President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. Governor Rick Perry, who has openly flirted with running and said he will decide soon whether to throw his hat in the ring, was due Saturday to address delegates to an influential Republican Party gathering in this party city. Perry isn't on the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll ballot, but some of the delegates here say they like what they have seen so...

NRO is abuzz with Gov. Perry’s New York swing, with posts by Rich Lowry, Brian Bolduc and Stanley Kurtz. They all seem to be pretty impressed with our governor. It’s always interesting to see how folks outside Texas respond to Texas politicians, which can be an acquired taste. Perry is a memorable speaker. As Kurtz says, he tends to act out what he says, using his face and his arms to create drama and laughs. There’s more than a dash of prairie preacher, and a lot of the Aggie yell leader, in Rick Perry. And as Lowry notes, he can...

NEW YORK — When George W. Bush left office, countless pundits proclaimed — if not in so many words — that it would be a chilly July in Dallas before Americans sent another Texan to the White House. And sure enough, that argument is prominent in discussion of Gov. Rick Perry's potential presidential bid. But with Republicans still searching for a front-runner, and Perry flirting with a run, Texas fatigue may prove less enduring than predicted. "Why not? Listen, anything's better than Obama," said Philip Ragusa, the Republican chairman in Queens, just across the river from Manhattan, where Perry headlined...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg exits a voting booth in New York November 3, 2009. Mayor Bloomberg appeared headed to victory over Democrat Bill Thompson after engineering a rules change to allow him to run for a third term and spending millions of his own money on his campaign. As of last month, the billionaire mayor had spent $85 million to Thompson's $6 million.

Mayor Bloomberg said Tuesday he never thought he was on the short list to be Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate last year -- even though a new book claims he was one of the six finalists for the coveted slot. McCain's staff took Bloomberg's chances seriously, the book claims -- especially when they were told to set up a short podium for the still-secret vice-presidential candidate. "When I told them to lower it for someone who was 5-7, they thought it was Bloomberg," McCain aide Davis White says in "The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary...

Every day I can look out the window of my office in downtown Austin and watch traffic creep along Interstate 35, half a mile away. The time of day doesn’t seem to matter, nor does the weather: morning or evening, wet or dry, the snarl persists. Part of this is due to the unwieldy design of the downtown exit and entrance ramps, but the main reason is the volume of traffic, much of it commercial. I dread the drive to Dallas, which I last made on the Friday afternoon before the Texas-Oklahoma football game – surely the worst day of...

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry has launched a statewide campaign ad, touting property tax cuts accomplished during the special session that ended last week. The 30-second ad, shot by Weeks & Co., will play in major markets for an undetermined period. Text: (Mr. Perry, standing in front of a frame house with a Texas flag) "A $15 billion property tax cut and more money for schools. We kept our promise to you. The average homeowner will receive a $2,000 tax cut. Every teacher will receive a well-deserved pay raise. We closed corporate loopholes and created new protections to keep taxes...