If both Bush and Perry are Texas moderates, then I would say that Perry is to the right of Bush on that scale.
Well, I’m not Texan, so I only know what gets out into the national news, or here on FR. One problem that we have is that the libs have made the labels; “moderate” means only one thing: pro-abortion. “Conservative” means “church-attending” or that the person described seems church-attending to reporters who wouldn’t be caught dead in a place of worship (we’ve all heard Catholics described as evangelicals, or Jews described as Christians because of this kind of lazy bias.) Accordingly, Romney was a “moderate conservative.”
I mean moderate to be “same-but-less” Republicanism; that is, one who does not want to get rid of any programs, but just wants to balance the budget. By that standard, only Ron Paul is not a fiscal moderate. Yes, most Pubbies running say they’ll repeal Obamacare, but it really hasn’t been implemented yet. Voters are still afraid that the ax will fall on them. If Obamacare had been in place for five years, would the present candidates be brave enough run on repeal?
Since both Bush and Perry have proposed new spending, it’s hard to even call them fiscal moderates. I’ve heard that Texas has a line-item veto, so perhaps Perry has been more of a budget-cutter than Bush. Like I said, I’ll vote for Perry when the time comes, but I’d have higher hopes for smaller government under Cain or Bachmann.