Free Republic

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whom some pundits had written off as the GOP's nominee, may find a second coming in Iowa, if new poll data holds up. As Mitt Romney's campaign has suffered a startling decline in recent weeks, only to see Newt Gingrich eclipse the former Massachusetts governor's front-runner status, the battle for the Iowa caucuses set for Jan. 3 has become a wide-open race. New survey data prepared for the Perry campaign and shared by a source close within the campaign shows that the Texas governor may be poised to do much better in next month’s Iowa caucuses...

CORPUS CHRISTI — On Saturday, Gov. Rick Perry acknowledged what many Texans have known for two years at least — that he's running for president. To buy into the notion that he finally gave in to the urging of his legions of supporters (especially his wife), or heeded a call from a higher power, requires a suspension of reality that would overtax the truest of his believers. And Perry doesn't like to tax. It has been pointed out that now Perry is in for some serious scrutiny — the inferences being that it hasn't already happened here in Texas and...

According to the New York Times’ David Brooks, Republican hardliners against tax increases are turning the GOP into a “psychological protest” rather than a “normal political party.” Brooks is upset that after having forced Democrats to come far closer to their position on taxes and spending in order to cut a deal to extend the national debt ceiling, there is little chance the House majority will embrace what he considers to be “the deal of the century.” To Brooks, the Democrats’ offer on the debt ceiling is the “Mother of All No-Brainers,” and his anger at the GOP’s insistence that...