So far, Rick Perry has run a masterful campaign and he's only been in it for a day. He chose not to show up at the GOP debate last night, apparently figuring that standing apart from that crew would make a better impression than standing with it.
Tea partiers already love him for suggesting Texas ought to secede from the United States. Last week, at his "I-am-not-a-Mormon" rally in Houston, Perry stole the religious right out from under Michele Bachmann, and bitch-slapped Mitt Romney besides. So he knows how to position himself.
In terms of getting the GOP nomination, everything looks right for Rick Perry. Just by joining the campaign, he makes it a two-candidate race: Romney and Perry. (None of the other candidates are going anywhere.)
The main question remaining is how he can manuever as a declared candidate. Molly Ivins used to call him "Governor Good Hair," implying that, yes, he had a fine head of hair--he looks a little like Ronald Reagan, in fact--but there wasn't much going on underneath it.
His speech and accent will remind people of George W. Bush, which is not a negative in the GOP, though would be in the larger public. (Perry and Bush are said not to like each other.)
He will face some blowback over some of his previous positions, such as that Social Security and Medicare should be ended. Bashing Social Security might appeal to (some of) the GOP base, but it's hard to imagine the nation's 100 million baby-boomers being much impressed.
With his rootin'-tootin' Texas mannerisms, he reminds me of the guy who ran against President Bartlett on the West Wing. Bartlett beat him, but can Obama?
Photo: Texas Tribune
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