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Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania gets agitated when political analysts question why he is still in the race for the GOP presidential nomination when he is scoring less than 2 percent in the polls and has barely raised $1 million in campaign funds – a pittance compared with many of his rivals. He notes that when he ran for president last time, he had little money and low single-digit standing in the polls in January 2012 – just before he went on to beat Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses. This time, Santorum is so far behind the large...

Clint Eastwood made the following observation about Mitt Romney: "You have to admit he looks like a president," a sarcastic Eastwood told the newspaper, adding he ran into Romney when he was filming “Mystic River” in Massachusetts. "I mean, if you were casting a movie where you needed someone to play president, you'd definitely pick him." See: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-11-09/news/30379840_1_herman-cain-mitt-romney-clint-eastwood When I heard that some Tea Party members voted for Romney in New Hampshire, I concluded that some Americans no longer care about the issues, and want a President who looks good on TV. Rick Perry recently decribed Romney as "one handsome...

(RALEIGH) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been in the Presidential race for barely more than a week, but Tom Jensen with Public Policy Polling said a recent round of polling in North Carolina and Colorado already ranks Perry close to deserving front runner status. "We're already finding Perry tied for the lead in both North Carolina and Colorado and these polls were conducted before he even officially entered the race," said Jensen. In North Carolina Perry is in a three way tie with Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin. Each getting 17-percent. Perry also led a poll conducted in Virginia...

Perry is Bush lite and Sarah Palin in a skirt Todd J. Gillman August 7, 2011 GOP consultant Alex Castellanos dumped all over Gov. Rick Perry this morning on NBC's Meet the Press, calling him "Sarah Palin with a skirt" and a lesser version of George W. Bush - and not in a good way. "He has some challenges. One of them is that people think he's a little bit of a coffee table book. He's kind of Sarah Palin with a skirt. Not a substantive candidate," Castellanos said when host Dick Gregory asked if Perry could give the current...

Gov. Rick Perry's political stock has soared in recent months as he has traveled the country touting a decade of fiscal restraint in Texas under his leadership. Last month, Perry made Texas history by signing a two-year state budget that cuts overall spending for the first time in over 40 years. Perry has long promoted the state's fiscal record as a model for the country and a key to why Texas has weathered the recession better than most other states. He has opposed new taxes and been vehemently anti-Washington, and his message is drawing interest among Republican primary voters nationwide....

As he weighs whether to jump into the 2012 Republican presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been dialing GOP establishment bigwigs across the country. In phone calls that sometimes stretch more than a half hour, Perry asks the same questions: Is the door open for a new candidate? And how wide is it open? Perry is finding that a vast reservoir of the Republican Party establishment — broadly defined to include elected officials, donors, strategists and activists whose support fuels presidential campaigns — is so far untapped, according to interviews conducted Monday and Tuesday with 19 major donors, strategists...

According to the New York Times’ David Brooks, Republican hardliners against tax increases are turning the GOP into a “psychological protest” rather than a “normal political party.” Brooks is upset that after having forced Democrats to come far closer to their position on taxes and spending in order to cut a deal to extend the national debt ceiling, there is little chance the House majority will embrace what he considers to be “the deal of the century.” To Brooks, the Democrats’ offer on the debt ceiling is the “Mother of All No-Brainers,” and his anger at the GOP’s insistence that...

And, now, the group Americans for Rick Perry reports it has raised a fair amount of money in a short amount of time. Bob Schuman, a senior strategist for Americans for Rick Perry, said Thursday that the group is expanding its fundraising operation outside of Texas to include Miami, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The group can accept unlimited donations but, under federal law, can't strategize with Perry himself.

Rick O'Donnell, a former special adviser to the University of Texas System who received a $70,000 settlement, this week skewered top UT officials for trying to block the release of faculty productivity data, accusing them of orchestrating a scare campaign to pit donors and alumni against regents pushing for changes at the system. He also took shots at state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, who chairs the higher education committee, saying she went to bat for university brass due to overly cozy relations between lawmakers and public universities. Faculty and administrators "basically want to be left alone," O'Donnell said. "They push...

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry told a Boy Scouts ceremony on Wednesday that the federal government is rudderless, kicking off a trip to California that has stoked speculation that he will enter the Republican contest for president. Perry fondly recalled his boyhood as a Scout in Texas, including his first visit to Washington, and applauded the group for promoting values such as fellowship, self-reliance, dedication and perseverance. "I really wish we saw more of that sort of courage throughout our society, yep, including in Washington, D.C.," he said. Perry didn't mention President Barack Obama or any politician...

Whether Gov. Rick Perry of Texas takes the stage wearing a suit or jeans, he walks with a confident swagger in cowboy boots. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie owns any stage because of his blunt talk and seemingly unpopular remedies. Outspoken former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin breaks political stereotypes with her unpredictability. These three share something: They are popular Republicans who are not seeking the party's 2012 presidential nomination — yet. Republican voters and political strategists lately are speculating whether one of the three might be a better choice than any of eight declared GOP contenders. People are thinking about...

Maybe some of our fellow Freepers down in Texas can tell us about this guy? I believe he's going to run. And if he runs.. what kind of chance does he have? He seems even slicker and more polished than Romney. And what's up with Perry attending the Bilderberg meeting????????????

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...

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) -- Saying "there is hope for America, and we will find it on our knees," Texas Governor Rick Perry has invited other governors to join him in a "solemn gathering of prayer and fasting" in August in Houston, according to the event's website. Perry, who said recently he is considering a run for the Republican nomination to contest the presidency in 2012 against Barack Obama, has frequently made calls for prayer while governor.

Conservative radio talk show host and best-selling author Laura Ingraham got tongues wagging in Texas today when she declared that Rick Perry is running for president in 2012. Ingraham was doing an interview with conservative Indiana congressman Mike Pence when she let loose with her Perry “scoop.” According to the conservative blog Ace of Spades HQ, Ingraham revealed that “she knows someone very connected to Perry, and that guy says he’s in.” OK, no named sources here. And this is third hand gossip, at best. But what the hay? Ingraham has been a big Perry fan for a long time....

After months of gassy media speculation about Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie, we’re all near the point of dismissing deus-ex-machina rumors about candidates out of hand.But this one … doesn’t seem so far-fetched. A Texas pol who is close to Perry has been telling a few key strategists that the nation’s longest-serving governor sees a vacuum and is waiting to be summoned into the race. This source believes that could happen by late summer. Without fellow Southerners Haley Barbour or Mike Huckabee in the race — and with Newt Gingrich’s early troubles raising further doubts about the current...

Here is one thing I am certain about: A President Mitt Romney would never have bowed to anyone -- not to Saudi King Abdullah, not to Japanese Emperor Akihito. Here's another thing: A President Romney would not have traveled around the world badmouthing his country and making apologies for it. Here's a third: A President Romney would never have ordered the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay or lowered the American flag in Haiti.

Chris Rock’s “Good Hair” is funny, very funny, but all the jokes come at the expense of black women. There’s no question that in Good Hair, Chris Rock brings the funny. (Trolling the streets of Los Angeles, peddling “black hair” that no one wants.) There’s no question that he brings the outrage. (Showing a preschooler submitting to the “creamy crack”—a chemical relaxer.) There’s no question that he brings the dirt, getting celebrities to tell it. (Nia Long on her fake hair: “Weave sex is a little awkward.”) But while Rock’s foray into the tangled web of black women and their...

Silky, straight hair has long been considered by many black women to be their crowning glory. So what if getting that look meant enduring the itchy burning that's a hallmark of many chemical straighteners. Or a pricey dependence on "creamy crack," as relaxers are sometimes jokingly called. Getting "good hair" often means transforming one's tightly coiled roots; but it is also more freighted, for many African-American women, and some men, than simply a choice about grooming. Straightening hair has been perceived as a way to be more acceptable to certain relatives, as well as to the white establishment. "If your...

Who knows how the Sarah Palin story will play out? It seems as if every political pundit in America has a take on PalinÂ’s resignation as AlaskaÂ’s governor. They can be mean-spirited (SheÂ’s hiding a scandal!), or cynical (Since she can rake in $60 grand and up for a simple speaking engagement, sheÂ’s taking the money and running like hell.) Some wonder whether this is her way of tuning up for a presidential run in 2012, or is the resignation a case of a hometown girl unable to stand the heat in her kitchen? We will get more information, but...