I don’t mean to be churlish, but what’s the point of polling a race that hardly anyone is paying attention to? At this stage of the contest, the only meaningful information is that there is no meaningful information. The UT/Texas Tribune Poll ranks the candidates as follows: Dewhurst 22% Cruz
It’s good. Much better than the previous one which was talking about energy, in a state where there is almost no production. This one is very simple, just Perry filling the screen, in a blue or purple shirt, open at the collar. He starts by lowering expectations: “If you’re looking
I received this e-mail earlier today. The sender is not involved in politics but knows people who are involved in politics, so make of it what you will: I have it on good authority that RP’s performance in NH was “rehearsed and directed” by his new team to make him
The UT/Texas Tribune poll shows Cain leading Perry IN TEXAS (!) by the slimmest of margins, 27% to 26%. Other findings: Perry’s job approval as governor: 39% approve, 44% disapprove (He’s still Governor 39%) Credit for the state’s economic well being –is due to the state’s longstanding economic policies such
With two chances to win the World Series with a single strike, the championship slipped away from the Rangers for the second year in a row.
Texas A&M’s announcement that it was bolting the Big 12 for the SEC signaled the end of a passionate rivalry with the University of Texas that has defined the two schools for more than a century. But what does the end of Aggies versus Longhorns mean for the rest of
I’m at a loss for words. I have never seen anything like it in presidential politics, except maybe Nixon’s breakdown in the final days of his presidency. In the video, Perry ceases to be a politician. His gestures are those of an evangelical preacher. He waves his arms around,
From POLITICO: During Herman Cain’s tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group, multiple sources confirm to POLITICO. The women
Guess whom the national media is down on because he is inaccessible to them? Michael Calderone, writing today in Huffington Post, says Romney hasn’t met with national political reporters since the summer of 2010: The Romney campaign, running this cycle from a frontrunner position, has scaled back on the
The Associated Press is reportinghttp://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieDZlDOUyV-EHX7ENyrCnMqP_8hQ?docId=e04e27573140497094abd171778071e0 that Perry will attend at least five more debates after the Michigan debate on November 9. The obvious conclusion is that the Perry campaign decided that the risk of not debating exceeded the risk of debating. The story serves as a reminder that you
The headline for the article is “Two Texas Republicans square off for Senate,” and neither of them is named Leppert. According to author Abby Livingston, “The March GOP primary has boiled down to two candidates who are drawing most of the attention: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and former state
The description has been applied to the Council on Foreign Relations by U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz. From POLITICO: Ted Cruz, the former Texas solicitor general and tea party favorite for the Republican nomination for Senate, has been focusing some of his harshest campaign trail rhetoric on that longtime villain
This will be a very interesting test. Perry is challenging the underlying rationale for debates, that they afford the American people a chance to see what the candidates believe and how they craft their arguments. Perry’s argument is that you can’t possibly explain your policy positions in the one minute
From Time: With less than three months before voting begins for the Republican presidential nomination, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is outpacing the GOP field in the first four primary states, according to a new CNN/TIME/ORC poll. Former pizza magnate Herman Cain is running second in each pivotal early
I sent the previous version to trash, will try to post again later this evening. The gist is, Romney leads Cain by double digits in New Hampshire and Florida, but Iowa and South Carolina are closer. Perry is at best middling in all four states.
Actually, his biggest mistake was saying that debating was his biggest mistake. It says so much about who Rick Perry is–unsure of himself and afraid to face the public except in situations he controls, and yet arrogant at the same time. Doesn’t he realize that refusing to debate would have
Rove is commenting on Fox News about the interivew of Perry in Parade magazine, in which Perry expresses doubts about whether Obama’s birth certificate is authentic: “You associate yourself with a nutty view like that, and you damage yourself. “And I know he went and he’s trying to cultivate —
Joe Allbaugh, who headed George W. Bush’s presidential campaign and served as director of FEMA in the Bush administration (pre-Katrina), will hold the title of Senior Adviser in the Perry campaign. He specifically did not want a title that suggested he was in charge of the campaign (although he is).
The web site politicalwire.com reports today that the Perry campaign has added three veteran Republican operatives to its campaign team: Curt Anderson, Nelson Warfield, and Tony Fabrizio. An advisor to Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) tells [Politico’s] Ben Smith that the Texas governor has reassembled the team that helped run
The web site politicalwire.com today refers to an interview with Parade magazine in which Perry ventures into new territory. Here is the key excerpt from the interview: Parade: Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States? Perry: I have no reason to think
Enough of politics. Let’s get to the things that matter, namely, baseball. The New York Times published my article today on the long sufferings of Rangers fans. SLOWLY MAKING A NAME FOR THEMSELVES The lot of a Rangers fan has never been an easy one. Of all the teams
The Huffington Post web site noted yesterday that Rick Perry’s biggest career donor, Bob Perry, has not yet contributed to the governor’s presidential campaign. A likely reason is Rick Perry’s support for legislation that adversely impacts Latinos, such as Voter I.D. laws and sanctuary cities policies. Perry flip-flopped on
The Minneapolis StarTribune is reporting that Romney intends to make a push in the first state that will be selecting delegates in this election cycle. This seems high-risk to me, but not high-reward. The risk is that Cain continues to hold the lead in Iowa and Romney finds himself
NBC/Marist (Florida) Cain 32 Romney 31 Perry 8 Gingrich 6 Paul 5 NBC/Marist (South Carolina) Cain 30 Romney 26 Perry 9 Gingrich 6 Bachmann 5 Paul 5 (Both polls were taken before the Las Vegas debate)
He has only one option, to put all his eggs in the evangelicals’ basket. He has lost the tea party over immigration. He never had the business community; they belonged to Romney. The evangelical leaders are among the least-principled folks in politics, who have shown that they will not shrink
Readers may be interested in RedState’s post-debate commentary. Remember, RedState thought highly enough of Perry that it co-sponsored his announcement. Here is what one correspondent published: Cain wins Nevada GOP debate 3400 to 999, Perry loses cool Garden-gate attack on Mitt Romney and inappropriate show of temper may make Rick
If Rick Perry goes on to win the Republican nomination, the Las Vegas debate will be seen as the turning point. Perry wasn’t great, but he was good enough to get out of intensive care. He had a memorable in-your-face confrontation with Romney, and he recited enough talking points about
My position on the Constitutional Amendments proposed for November 8 follows. For a link to a more complete explanation of the amendments, click HERE. 1. The amendment authorizes the legislature to provide the surviving spouse of a 100 percent or totally disabled veteran with an exemption from ad valorem
All polling was conducted on 10/16/11. The samples are small; 505 registered likely primary voters in Florida; 422 in Iowa; 409 in New Hampshire. Florida Romney 32.6% Cain 30.2% Gingrich 11.7% Perry 2.9% Paul 2.7% Bachmann 1.6% Huntsman 0.2% New Hampshire Romney 38% Cain 24% Paul 11% Bachmann 5% Gingrich
David Frum has written several books about Republican politics, including, most notably, “Dead Right,” and posts on the Web site Frum Forum. What follows is a complete dismemberment of Perry’s numbers, assumptions, and general sloppiness about his jobs plan. Frum writes: About that Perry Jobs Plan The governor’s jobs
If this comes to pass, it will be a body blow to the Perry campaign, which has been counting heavily on South Carolina. Roll Call says both Romney and DeMint come from business backgrounds, giving Romney the inside track. A recent American Research Group poll showed Cain leading in the
What does Susan Combs do all day? The comptroller’s office has just been hit by its second terrible revelation in two years, a fraudulent scheme by an employee to direct $2 million in federal stimulus money to a wind energy company. What does comptroller Combs have to say about this?
Here are the key points in HuffPo’s analysis: * Perry is suffering from an inability to raise money from a broad base of supporters, usually measured by the number of small-dollar donors. Perry raised $13.4 million of his $17.2 million from donors giving between $2,500 and $5,000. * He
The Perry jobs plan is primarily restricted to the energy sector. This is very good for states that have ample reserves (Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Kansas) but not so good for states that don’t have oil and gas production. Oil and gas are fixed in
Ouch! Jennifer Rubin, who writes the Right Turn blog for The Washington Post, had little good to say about Rick and Anita Perry in observations posted yesterday. Here are some selections from her commentary: * The virtual unanimous opinion of media, Republican operatives and donors of Texas Gov. Rick
[Posted by Erick Ericson] I realize this will get me locked in as a “Perry shill,” but the more I think about this race, the more I think Rick Perry still has one of the clearest paths to victory. Look at the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll. Pretty much every
It’s not the viewing audience that matters. It’s the conservative commentators who are watching the debate. They are widely read (and listened to) and they are opinion-makers. I was just surfing the Web the other day when I found a Politico article published after the September 11 debate. It
Cain 34% Romney 28% Gingrich 11% Perry 5% Ron Paul 3% Huntsman/Santorum/Roemer 1% Undecided 12% Sample: 600 telephone interviews of 574 likely Florida Republican primary voters and 26 independents. Date of survey: October 7-12, 2011 Margin of error: +/-4% I’m going to be very conservative about counting Perry out of
Perry’s behavior reminded me of his debate with Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina, back in 2010: He made it clear that he didn’t want to be there. He had no energy, no spark, and virtually no presence. His distaste for the process of debating was obvious. He recycled his
4DTV — Digital cable W5251 AT&T U-verse TV — Digital channel 333 DIRECTV — Total choice package on Channel 353 DISH Network — America’s top 250 Package on Channel 203,893 Time Warner Cable — Digital channel 368
The article, a copy of which was sent to me, casts doubts on the methodology used by the governor’s office to calculate the number of jobs created. Citing the governor’s website, the article says that the Enterprise Fund has given out $440 million in taxpayer grants, yielding more than 59,000
It will be streamed on Postpolitics.com [Washington Post] and Bloomberg.com. I’m told that Time-Warner cable channel 368 is Bloomberg TV. No network television.
The Washington Post did a fact check of Perry’s video ad attacking Mitt Romney’s health care plan for Massachusetts The Post writes, “Perry claims the first edition of Romney’s book states that the Massachusetts Health Care plan was a model for a national plan.” The fact-check writeup goes on to
It’s a Washington Post-Bloomberg News poll, which I originally posted yesterday. The poll sampled 1,000 and had a separate sample of 391 Republican or Republican-leaning independents. I have picked out a couple of questions that piqued my interest. In my original post of this item, columns did not square up
Politicalwire.com reports today that the Perry campaign is unveiling an attack ad against Mitt Romney. Here is the full text of the item: Rick Perry released a tough new ad linking Mitt Romney to President Obama’s new health care law. ABC News calls it the “harshest and most slickly produced
On August 30, federal judge Sam Sparks blocked enforcement of significant portions of the statute by granting a preliminary injunction in key areas until the case is resolved. Sparks found that Texas’ sonogram law violates the First Amendment and certified the case as a class action. He ruled
The Republican field has been complete since Perry announced his candidacy. He immediately zoomed to the top of the polls but he has slipped into mediocrity since then. Not only is there no clear leader at the present time, but it is not at all obvious who would benefit from
The poll results: Paul 37% Cain 23% Santorum 16% Perry 8%, Bachmann 8% Gingrich 3% Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, the group that was behind Perry’s prayer meeting in August, later cast doubts on the voting, suggesting that Paul’s supporters had stuffed the ballot boxes. The summit is
Why Perry will win, from a Perry insider, paraphrasing Perry’s consultant: Republicans haven’t nominated a presidential candidate from the northeast since Dewey in ’48. (Nixon lived in New York and practiced law there but was always identified with California. Eisenhower wasn’t really associated with any particular part of the country,
I’m not surprised. As I said last when the Daily Beast‘s Jill Lawrence wrote that Perry needed an economic plan, there is no chance, zip, zero, zilch, none, that Perry would come out with a detailed plan. It’s not what they do. Perry is going to stick to the Carney
