Posted on 07/13/2011 3:55:07 PM PDT by rob777
...
Ultimately, though, a bigger challenge to Bachmann’s new status as the top conservative challenger to front-runner Mitt Romney is the potential candidacy of Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Governor Perry, like Bachmann, is charismatic, popular with the tea party movement, and a proven fundraiser. And his résumé is far more typical of a successful presidential candidate: longtime governor of a big state. In US history, only one sitting House member has been elected president.
Perry also is the only potential candidate in the field who bridges the establishment and tea party wings of the Republican Party – and thus could harness the energy and money of Republicans in a way that Mr. Romney may not be able to.
Signals from people who know Perry point to an increasing likelihood that he will run, but his political advisers say a decision is still weeks away. Iowa polls have not included Perry, but national polls have – and the numbers are encouraging to him. The newest survey, released Wednesday by the Quinnipiac University Polling Center in Hamden, Conn., places Perry in fourth place with 10 percent, behind Romney (25), Bachmann (14), and Sarah Palin (12). Former Alaska Gov. Palin has also not announced her intentions, but seems less likely to run than Perry.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Of course Perry getting in (and it looks more and more likely that he’s going to run) would be a threat to Bachmann. The bigger question that should be asked is what threat is Perry to Palin. Bachmann could be a VP pick but no way would Palin run for VP again. And no way would Perry settle for a VP slot either.
Biggest threat to Perry is supporting amnesty...
Touche!
Bachmann’s not going to be the presidential or vice presidential candidate—and it’s not going to take any one specific opponent to stop her.
Karl in a Corner
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_scott_ho_080408_karl_in_a_corner.htm
Second, Rove’s opponents would regularly find that they had suddenly become the target
of a criminal investigation, and details concerning the investigation would be
aggressively fanned to the press. Rove mastered this technique in a contest
for the Texas Agriculture Commissioner’s post that he managed for now-Governor Rick Perry.
It Started in Texas: Karl Rove’s Political Prosecutions
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000569
1. Rove was hired to run the campaign of Rick Perry, the current governor,
for the powerful Texas office of Commissioner of Agriculture, then held by
Democrat Jim Hightower. Shortly thereafter, it was clear that a major
FBI investigation had been launched into the workings of the Texas Agriculture
Department (TDA), focusing on Hightower and his senior lieutenants, who had been
pursuing a populist, anti-corporate agriculture and pro-small-farmer agenda.
Jim Hightower talks about his new book, “Thieves in High Places: They’ve Stolen Our Country and it’s Time to Take it Back”
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/08/21_hightower.html
HIGHTOWER: Rick Perry, back then (currently Texas Governor), was his client, so to speak,
and Perry had been recruited. He was sort of a nothing Texas legislator who had been brought
in — again as an affable fellow without any brain muscle. Perry was essentially sent to
wander around out in West Texas during the campaign so he would be out of the way,
while Rove worked this FBI agent and raised money from the chemical industry
and other corporate interests that opposed me. Rove had George Bush go on
television against me. Then Rove ran a series of television ads that
established a new low in negative advertising.
For example, they showed a long-haired guy setting a flag on fire,
and throwing it on the ground. And then my picture came up out of the fire, and said
“Hightower supports flag burning,” which, of course, I don t. But it doesn t matter,
you know. I had to go around answering: “Why do you support flag burning?”
Rove had another ad of me campaigning with Jesse Jackson, who I supported in 1988
in the Presidential campaign. And Rove ran this ad that essentially was a smear
on Jackson and then tying me to him. The ad so angered the Black Caucus in the State Legislature
that they convened their own press conferences in Houston and Dallas to assail it. But again it was too late.
All this was happening in the last three weeks of the election. So, I mean, that s just who the guy is.
The left still has plenty of time to Palin-ize Michele Bachmann (which they’re already working overtime on this week), but Quinnipiac’s new 2012 poll out today has some hopeful news for the congresswoman – and it isn’t just that she’s gaining ground on Mitt Romney with primary voters.
One of the most persuasive criticisms of Bachmann is that she’d be toxic in a general election, and the Quinnipiac poll today reiterated she would lose to Obama 38-50 percent if an election were held today. But it also found that Mitt Romney – whose major draw is that he’s apparently “electable” – only does three points better than Bachmann in an Obama match-up. He would lose to the president 41-50 percent.
And in Bachmann’s match-up with Obama, she does surprisingly well with independent voters, garnering 40 percent, compared to Obama’s 43 percent. This is close to Romney, who pulls in 42 percent of independent voters, with Obama pulling in 40 percent.
Contrast this with Sarah Palin, who tanks with independents when matched up against Obama, winning only 33 percent compared to Obama’s 50 percent.
So while Romney is still slightly more palatable than Bachmann on the national stage, her divisiveness problem may be overstated at this point. There are still legitimate concerns – one is that the left will have an easier time smearing her than they would with Romney. There’s also Bachmann’s reputation as a loose cannon, and her thin resume. But based on these latest numbers, it seems unfair to say Romney is significantly more “electable” than Bachmann.
I’d say the possibilities at this point are Romney, Perry and Palin. And I so very much hope it’s Palin!
Independents are the least informed segment of the electorate. They barely know who Bachmann is at this point and a lot of what they think they know about Palin is wrong.
But Palin’s libertarian leanings go over much better with independents than will Michele and Marcus’s priorities and worldview. Palin, remember, had the highest gubernatorial poll ratings in Gallup’s history—in the most independent state in the country.
You’re right about Bachmann and I sure hope you’re right about the current candidates.
If Palin is toxic then the same indies are not going to warm up to Bachmann. Both are female christian conservative tea party. The left hates them both , the media is holding back on Bachmann, saving the destruction for later hoping republicans are stupid enough to put this untested , no resumee , no state wide race winning empty suit up against their empty suit.
“and a lot of what they think they know about Palin is wrong”
There’s Palin’s challenge. Also, she hasn’t made her case for being our president yet.
Who really has?
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