Posted on 10/24/2011 5:42:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s presidential forum unofficially marked a critical time for candidates in Iowa to start sealing the deal with Iowa’s ample number of social conservatives. It’s hard to say that some candidates won, while others lost. For the most part, all the candidates did well. Some just stood out more than others.
For an event that attracted scores of media and six presidential candidates, the most important people in the room were the activists who sat through the five-hour event. The Super Bowl takes less time if you don’t count parking, but even that event allows those in attendance to stretch their legs at halftime. That wasn’t the case on Saturday night.
In talking to a number of people after the event, the winners event were Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum. Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann did well too, but the other three shined. Herman Cain on the other hand was a disappointment.
Ordering the top three is difficult. I was looking for more than just which candidate could strike a chord with the audience. I was considering what each candidate needed to get of the event politically, which is incredibly important with the caucuses less than three months away.
Here is how I rank it. If you disagree, the comment section is all yours.
1. Rick Perry
Texas Governor Rick Perry did exactly what he needed to do on Saturday night. Perry looked and sounded like the conservative candidate many were excited about when he entered the race back in August. Gone was the unpolished candidate who we have come to know in the debates, and in his place was a relaxed, confident candidate who commanded the stage. Facing a roomful of more than 1000 social conservatives, the question that Perry needed to address was whether or not he was one of them. He gave the audience plenty of reasons to believe that they have a lot in common.
Perry did two things in his speech that were incredibly important. He touted his long list of pro-life, pro-family accomplishments as governor, but maybe more importantly, he shared his own personal testimony. As Perry bared his soul to the audience, the room fell silent. It was at that point that Perry captivated those in the room.
Perry’s pro-life accomplishments, including defunding Planned Parenthood, passing a parental consent law, and requiring women in Texas who are seeking abortions to have a sonogram, are impressive, but it was his personal testimony on Saturday night that may change Perry’s fortunes in Iowa because it will help build trust with social conservatives across the state.
Unlike the rest of candidates, Perry didn’t shrink away for taking issue with Herman Cain’s recent flubbing on the issue of abortion. Perry didn’t mention Cain’s name, but everyone knew whom he was talking about when he said, “It is a liberal canard to say I am personally pro-life, but government should stay out of that decision. If that is your view, you are not pro-life.”
Perry was the clear winner on Saturday night because he accomplished everything he needed to do.
Promote his pro-life, pro-family record: CHECK
Convince the audience that you are an authentic social conservative: CHECK
Make a personal connection with the people in the room: CHECK
Capitalize on your opponent’s recent problems: CHECK
Define yourself instead of letting your opponents or the media do it: CHECK
I’d have a spring in my step today if I was the Perry campaign in Iowa. Again, this was the candidate that many were expecting when he entered the race.
2. Newt Gingrich.......Continues
It was way too stupid to bother with.
But lifting La Nazi up to world leader status like you did wasn’t stupid?
LOL
I have never heard of any anti-Romney ads by Cain. Please send me a link to these ads.
Those who hate Perry the most are from the Cain Cult. Cultists lie about everything and anyone that they perceive as a threat to their cult and cult leader.
Maybe he'll "surge" to 2.5 percent....................LOL.
A racist group has world leadership status now? Someone needs to alert the U.N. ...oh, wait, they support La Raza too.
Perry did not suck up to La Raza, he tried to get them to understand our position on illegals.
Which was what, "stick around and we'll give you in state tuition preference and a shot at some taxpayer funded tuition assistance set aside just for you?". Perry should have promised La Raza amnesty across the board instead. Doesn't he have a heart, or just half of one?
So, why is Perry- so smart, so savvy, so patriotically American and Texan even entertaining a racist group like La Raza?
I’ve seen links to a couple around here. Let me see if I can find them. I’ll freepmail you if I do.
Cindie
Thanks. I searched on the Internet for anti-Romney ads by Cain and I could not find any. All the hits were about anti-Romney ads by Perry.
Crazy is a subjective term.
What’s crazy is our government purposely allowing our country to be overrun by illegal aliens, because it wants to addict them to its programs in order to buy their vote.
And the illegals think of themselves as reconquistadors, which they are.
But most people are too stupid to even see what’s happening, so whatever.
See you at the end of America, shouldn’t be too much longer.
Yes, it’s a little scary. I don’t like cults and people who join them have a problem.
They laugh at Perry, call his supporters names, lie about him, constantly claim he doesn’t have a chance and YET,
They jump on every Perry thread... in fact, they wait like buzzards for a Perry thread to be posted.
If they honestly believe he’s not a factor, why bother?
For some reason they are scared to death of Perry.
I just hope Cain doesn’t ask them to follow him over a cliff... we’d see a sharp decline in posters around here.
conservativegreatgrandma gives out as much abuse as she gets. We are here to ENSURE that Perry does NOT get the nomination. The day he drops out is the day I stop ensuring that people know what a liberal Perry is. Thanks for your concern over poor little Perry.
You will never find an example of where I have called someone names. Why don’t you worry about Romney or Obama?
Why don’t you worry about Romney or Obama?
Because Romney will not get the nomination as he is dead in the water. Obama is the same....he is done and even he knows it. We need a conservative to run and Cain is that guy. I would accept Bachmann or Santorum too.....Perry is too liberal for me and obviously 98 percent of the voters.
I wouldn’t be so sure about Romney. This must mean you think Perry is more likely to get the nomination than Romney since you attack Perry but ignore Romney.
I wouldn’t be so sure about Romney. This must mean you think Perry is more likely to get the nomination than Romney since you attack Perry but ignore Romney.
Yes I think that Perry has a better chance than Romney. People are mesmerized by Perry and his BS. People can’t stand Romney. So yes fraud Perry needs to be marginalized due to his dream supporters. Perry supporters are VERY dangerous. They preach that he is conservative which is a big lie. His statements say otherwise.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.