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TAMPA — Mitt Romney’s path to the Republican nomination became clearer Monday night – and it had little to do with his attacks on Rick Perry over Social Security. Instead it was the fire Perry took from the right at the CNN-Tea Party Express debate that suddenly seemed more threatening to the Texas governor’s chances than Romney. Perry was sharply criticized by Michele Bachmann for his support of vaccinating girls against HPV and whether he did so as a favor to an aide-turned-lobbyist and a pharmaceutical firm; he was hit by Rick Santorum for his opposition to a border fence...

Last night’s debate turned into a fine donnybrook at times, as the candidates took off the gloves and started landing a few blows. As one would expect, and as many of us expected for last week’s debate, most of the Republicans on stage took aim at the undisputed front-runner, Rick Perry, and this time they scored points. Perry remained cool under fire, but two issues may have lost him a few Tea Party voters in the audience. Will it have an impact, or will Perry maintain his momentum as he did after his initial foray into the fire?Perry actually did...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s humble origins and down home straight talk are central to his political identity, but for years Perry has enjoyed lavish perks and travel — mostly funded by a group of deep-pocketed supporters — that are allowed under his state’s lax ethics and campaign rules. Some of the same Texas donors who have funded Perry’s political rise also have footed the bills for Perry and his family to jet around the world, stay in luxury hotels and resorts, vacation in tony Colorado ski towns, attend all manner of sporting events and concerts, and to maintain, entertain —...

“[A]fter listening to him talk last night in detail, I do not know how many levels there are to Rick Perry,” Scarborough said. “But I do know this … The phrase ‘Ponzi scheme’ is not Rick Perry’s biggest problem. “The word that he’s going to have to wrestle with during Republican primaries, let alone a general election, is the word ‘unconstitutional,’ because when you call Social Security … unconstitutional … this is about as funny as anything I’ve heard on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’”

Do you remember the old reruns of Gilligan’s Island? The really old ones were in black and white and that famous theme song ended without mentioning the Professor and Mary Anne. The song originally ended, “and the rest are here on Gilligan’s Isle.” That’s how I’m starting to feel about the GOP presidential field. “and the rest…” are really mucking it up for the real contenders. Let’s face it, this race should be down to no more than four people at this point: Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and that open slot for...

Hi Freepers, having watched last nights debate, I have come away with a little bit more information on each of the candidates, and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their thoughts and impressions about how each of the candidates did. I will be looking through the live thread further (there are thousands of comments), but mostly I am looking for a few specific things, if anyone would be willing to oblige: 1) Were there any "Deal Breakers" or any positions which were taken that would keep you from endorsing a candidate at this stage in the...

This, from PPP, is pretty helpful to the narrative Mitt Romney wants to feed right now: When PPP did a national poll three weeks ago Barack Obama led Perry by only 6 points at 49-43. Now that gap has widened to 11 points at 52-41. The main movement has come with Democratic voters. On the previous poll Obama had only a 68 point lead with the party base at 81-13 but now it's 80 points at 89-9. We know there are a lot of Democratic voters disenchanted with Obama right now but if the GOP puts forward someone like Perry...

After scoring points against Texas Gov. Rick Perry in last night’s Republican debate on the issue of Gardasil vaccinations, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann made a statement on the Fox News Channel that she was informed Gardasil caused one child’s mental retardation. On his Tuesday radio show, Rush Limbaugh thought attacking Perry on that issue was ill-advised but admitted Perry had “goofed up” with that executive order. “Alright, Perry goofed up by using an executive order on the Gardasil,” Limbaugh said. “There’s no question he goofed up on it instead of taking it to the Texas legislature. He’s admitted that over...

“Opting-Out” of HPV Vaccine WILL NOT WORK for Many in Texas Governor Perry is misleading legislators and families in Texas by claiming that they will be able to “opt-out” of having their 6th grade daughter vaccinated with the vaccine for the sexually transmitted virus HPV. For many families currently, the exemption isn’t worth the piece of paper it is printed on. Besides the simple fact that parents should not have to get permission from the state to make informed consent medical decisions for their own children, here are four reasons why “opting-out” of sate mandated vaccines doesn’t work for many...

******From Centers for Disease Control: REPORT TO CONGRESS Prevention of Genital Human Papillomavirus Infection (2004) Other types of genital contact in the absence of penetrative intercourse (oral-genital, manual-genital, and genital-genital contact) leading to HPV transmission have been described, but these routes of transmission are less common than sexual intercourse (21;88-90). For example, a recent study of college-aged women in Seattle reported a two-year genital HPV incidence rate of 39% among sexually active women and 8% among women who had not engaged in penetrative vaginal intercourse. Almost all of the infections in women who had not engaged in sexual intercourse appeared...

Unless the parents opt-out. diphtheria pertussis tetanus hepatitis B polio measles mumps rubella varicella (chicken pox)

During Monday night’s CNN/Tea Party GOP debate, Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann took aim at Gov. Rick Perry’s 2007 executive order requiring middle school girls to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus (HPV), the most frequent sexually transmitted disease and a leading cause of cervical cancer. Bachmann called out Perry’s financial ties to Merck & Co., the manufacturer of the vaccine, Gardasil — a group, she said, that stood to gain from the order. Bachmann insinuated the governor’s decision may have been swayed by the company’s donations to his campaign. “We cannot forget that in the midst of this...

It’s a freakingly obvious night and day difference — Perry’s MANDATE on families and the MANDATE on insurers going over the heads of the state legislature versus the Palin administration’s decision to accept federal subsidies to increase access to those who choose to take it. (Note: Gardasil is not and never has been mandated in the state of Alaska.) Preston also objects to indirect costs imposed by the Palin administration’s program on taxpayers outside the state. Newsflash: The Perry executive order would have ordered Texas health officials to use federal Medicaid funding to cover the vaccine for young women —...

Yes I too am excited about Rick Perry's "welfare is a Ponzi scheme" speech. Even more so over the fact that, far from frightening off the voters, his honesty appears to be making them more enthusiastic. The problem for Rick is that his stout words are in severe danger of being eclipsed by an even finer speech by Sarah Palin at Indianola, Iowa. (Thanks to Richard North for drawing it to my attention). It was so inspirational, so true that it prompted even her traditional enemy the New York Times to ask: Is there a hint of a political breakthrough...

“Palin even went as far as to lend her voice to the charge leveled by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) during the debate against Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R): That he allowed a law to go though requiring HPV vaccinations for adolescent girls because of a $5,000 campaign donation and his relationship with his former chief of staff, who went on to lobby for a pharmaceutical company.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. I take it from -- a little bit from your discussion -- I don't mean to read into it. You can speak for yourself, obviously -- but that you -- that you are -- that you're pleased with at least with the field tonight or with the way that they answered. Is that correct? PALIN: Yes, I was pleased. I was very happy with it. Let me go back to that issue with Governor Perry. I was governor of Alaska at the time that that issue came down, and I told our health and human services...

Palin even went as far as to lend her voice to the charge leveled by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) during the debate against Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R): That he allowed a law to go though requiring HPV vaccinations for adolescent girls because of a $5,000 campaign donation and his relationship with his former chief of staff, who went on to lobby for a pharmaceutical company. "I knew there was something to it," Palin said of learning while she was Alaska's governor that her Texas counterpart had given the go-ahead to the vaccine. "Now we're finding that now, yea, something...

The right and wrong way to talk about Gardasil; Update: A really, really stupid attack on Palin Tweet By Michelle Malkin  •  September 13, 2011 11:42 AM A month ago, I was “fringe” for spotlighting Rick Perry’s Gardasil problem. As I said then, it’s not just a “single-issue,” one-off problem. It’s about his instincts, judgment, non-apology apology, and ethics.For everyone still catching up, here’s my column from a month ago.Now, Gardasil is the search word of the day. And there’s a new development.After successfully highlighting Perry’s troubling abuse of executive power during last night’s debate, Michele Bachmann risks blowing it with some...

...It’s a freakingly obvious night and day difference — Perry’s MANDATE on families and the MANDATE on insurers going over the heads of the state legislature versus the Palin administration’s decision to accept federal subsidies to increase access to those who choose to take it. (Note: Gardasil is not and never has been mandated in the state of Alaska.) [...] Note: Alaska does not appear on this list. It was never a lobbying target for Merck. Nor did Palin have an ex-chief of staff lobbying for Merck or a staffer’s mother-in-law serving as a state director of an advocacy group...

When Rick Perry joked last night that the $5,000 he had received from Merck wasn’t enough to buy him off, the line failed to charm the audience as he’d expected. Turns out, the line also significantly low-balled how much he’d received from Merck. “Merck PAC—the company’s D.C.-based political action committee—has given Perry $28,500 since 2001, according to Texas Ethics Commission filings. The bulk of that money came prior to 2007,” the Los Angeles Times reports today. Even so, that doesn’t make Merck one of Perry’s top donors: the LA Times notes that he’s received over the years donations totaling more...