Free Republic

SAN ANTONIO -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry remains one of the front-runners for the Republican Presidential Nomination, and depending on who you ask, many think he'll get it. John Sharp, the recently confirmed Chancellor of Texas A&M University who ran against Perry in the 1998 general election for Lieutenant Governor, gave his take on the race while visiting Texas A&M- San Antonio on Tuesday. "It's a full time deal running against Rick Perry, and anybody who sells him short is an idiot, because it will be a tough campaign," Sharp said. Sharp has known Perry since his college days, where...

The new Gallup poll of the Republican contenders is out, this time with USA TODAY branding. Just looking at the frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney in isolation, it looks like Romney is gaining. What I find interesting though is where that support appears to be coming from. Romney’s support may be coming from Michele Bachmann. Facts of the September poll real quick: 439 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, MoE 6. August’s poll had an MoE of 4 for the Republican subsample, using mobile and landline phones. Obviously there are other explanations for these movements from August to September, but just...

Ames, Iowa — Political organizer Peter Singleton tells National Review Online that Sarah Palin will likely launch a presidential campaign by the end of September. “I believe that she will run,” he says. “I can’t see her sitting this election out.” Palin, a former Alaska governor, is scheduled to address a tea-party rally on September 3 in south-central Iowa. Singleton is one of the forces behind the event, working with grassroots groups. “Labor Day will kick off the Republican campaign for the nomination,” he hints. “She is going to make a major, major speech.” [....] GOP presidential contenders, from Rick...

If Texas Gov. Rick Perry runs for president, he'd bring along strong conservative credentials. He's advocated laws that require a sonogram before an abortion and that force police to enforce federal immigration law.

If Rick Perry does mount a successful bid for the U.S. presidency, it will be interesting to see whether he can translate his past and present criticisms of the federal government into concrete changes to the sprawling bureaucracy. Perry has yet to say he will or won’t toss his hat into the Republican race for the right to square off against President Barack Obama in 2012. He is, however, making all the moves of a potential candidate testing the waters. Insiders are mixed on the odds. Some say he’s definitely in; others put the odds at 50-50. But the mere...