Posted on 08/11/2011 8:38:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Texas Governor Rick Perry will upend the Republican presidential primary with his entry this weekend, CNN’s latest national poll shows. He starts off in a virtual tie with Mitt Romney, 17/15, with his nearest competitors at 12%. Perhaps most surprisingly, Michele Bachmann isn’t among them — and her support gets cut almost in half with Perry’s candidacy:
According to a CNN/ORC International poll, 15 percent of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP pick Perry as their first choice for their party’s nomination, just two points behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who’s making his second bid for the White House. Romney’s two point margin over Perry is within the survey’s sampling error.
The poll’s Thursday release comes two days before Perry gives a speech at a major conservative gathering in South Carolina where his staff has indicated he will make his intentions for a presidential run clear. Later in the day Perry travels to New Hampshire to meet with GOP lawmakers, activists, and voters. Perry’s travels Saturday come as the rest of the political spotlight will be shining on Iowa, for a crucial presidential straw poll in Ames. Perry heads to Iowa Sunday to speak at a Republican party gathering, which means he will visit three of the crucial early voting primary and caucus states this weekend.
The survey indicates that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who is making his third bid for the White House, are at 12 percent apiece. While both Giuliani, who ran for the presidency four years ago, and Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, have flirted with bids, neither has taken concrete steps towards launching a campaign.
Three weeks ago, Perry scored 14% but Giuliani, Palin, and Bachmann all scored 13% or 12%. Now Bachmann has dropped to 7%, a fall of five points and the biggest decline in the field for the period. Ron Paul has picked up four points to surpass her and join Giuliani and Palin in a three-way tie for third place.
Bachmann isn’t the only candidate trending downward, but the rest are in the second tier. Herman Cain dropped two points to 4%, while Tim Pawlenty dropped one to come in at 2%. Both of these candidates need breakout performances in Iowa, which was well known before this week. If CNN’s series is not an outlier, Bachmann may need one as well, now that Perry has come closer to tossing his hat in the ring. She has been wowing crowds in Iowa this week in advance of the debate and straw poll, so she is doing all she can on the ground, but that may not be enough — at least not this week.
Time Magazine’s Mark Halperin interviewed Perry this week about his plans:
RE: Perry is not perfect, but would likely clean Barry’s clock in the election.
Will America vote for another Texan?
Does Rick Perry now admit that what he did with the Gardasil fiasco was a mistake?
I’ll agree with everything excepy Romney beating Obama.
Romney = RomneyCare = ObamaCare
Romney is a liberal, he won’t win.
I think so too. A lot of people will get on here and whine about him but he certainly is a winner. He’s got a lot of moxy and is a fighter. Some of these goofs in this race are either not viable or not even serious candidates. Perry is more than conservative enough and he will take it to Obama’s thugs.
The lack of conservative governors in this primary is startling.
Governors make good presidents. That is Bachmann’s biggest liability.
Romney is a polished turd, but he was also a governor....so that, and name recognition, explains some of his support.
Huntsman/Pawlenty are very weak men, Republicans do not want weakness.
Perry, while flawed, is the best conservative governor we have available right now.
If Perry decides to get in, I then hope Palin decides to stay out or we will be back to splitting the vote again.
We learned from Obama/2008 how superficial American voters are. I saw Hannity last night and Mitt Romney was on. He looks very clean, handsome and honest. Nice head of black hair which makes him look youthful. He comes across great on TV. This alone will get him tens of million of votes. The American public does not perceive Mitt Romney as a liberal and I doubt he needs a teleprompter to speak coherently
You aren't intelligent enough to be president if you need a teleprompter
How does Perry = Bush?
Get to liking him, this is a two person race between Perry and Romney.
Duhhh don’t you know. Bush is from TX, Perry is from TX. They are the same.. uhhhhh huh huh huh uhhh.
/s
I agree that Bachmann lacks money, lacks executive experience (as governor or majority leader) and lacks crossover appeal although I admire her toughness and principles.
The only three candidates who can really take the nomination are Palin, Perry and Romney. Palin would no-doubt be the best conservative president but will she attract enough people outside her base to beat Obama?
Romney has a lot of crossover appeal and has the wealth to stay in the race but he lacks sincerity in many of his conservative positions and his RomneyCare history is going to take one of our best issues off the table. The thought is that, even if he beats Obama, he won’t roll back Obama. Plus, there’s the unknown factor of anti-Mormon bigotry that could prevent him from winning.
That leaves Perry who also has some credibility problems with conservatives but will appeal to most of them while his success as governor will appeal to a lot of moderates and independents. He can be positioned as the antidote to Obama on a number of fronts. Will he actually roll back Obama if elected? Hard to say but he probably has the best chance of uniting Republicans, beating Obama and turning America back on the right course.
My heart wants Sarah to win but my brain tells me Perry has the best chance to actually win and revoke Obamunism.
RE: If Perry decides to get in, I then hope Palin decides to stay out or we will be back to splitting the vote again.
Perry is scheduled to make a formal announcement this weekend. As for Palin... well what to say? All I am hearing are her enthusiastic supporters telling us that she’s running but see no evidence of her even organizing anything.
You can tell the MSM fears Obama is going to lose. They are increasingly desperate to pick our nominee.
Maybe a Perry/Bachmann ticket?
Maybe a Palin/Perry ticket?
Maybe a Perry/Palin ticket?
Any of the three would be fine, frankly, and about a TRILLION percent improvement over what we have now.
God save the United States of America.
The Obama campaign (MSM & Democrats) will try to push the "Not another Texas governor" theme, but I don't think it will get much traction. It's a weak weapon.
Americans will be getting Rick rolled with Perry, he is not a conservative
We need 12-15 million swing votes to win. Neither Bachmann nor Palin(™) can get that many to shift.
Good points. There’s alot about Perry I like. There’s alot I don’t. Not candidate is perfect.
We need to make sure we focus on a Tea Party Congress. I doubt any GOP prez is going to veto any legislation coming out of that, except maybe for Romney.
Perry will come in to help the elites stop Bachman. Then it will be handed to Romney. It’s his turn. Hope I’m wrong.
Yeah, I’m betting Perry is the next POTUS.
Good points all. But Romney as the nominee takes ObamaCare off the table as a campaign issue.
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