Free Republic

AUSTIN - Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Sunday that he is undaunted by his failure to win the backing of leading social conservatives and expressed confidence that he can still rally conservative voters in Saturday's South Carolina primary with his message of job creation and economic recovery. ....Perry was unapologetic about describing front-runner Mitt Romney's business activities as "vulture" capitalism, despite criticism from a number of leading Republicans, who warned that Democrats could exploit Perry's use of the term if Romney becomes the nominee. Perry said the issue of job creation and Romney's record at Bain Capital is certain to...

At least it was cordial. But the 150 or so "movement conservatives" gathered at Paul Pressler's this weekend (1/13-14) were a fractured lot. Maybe 10% were for Perry. Almost all of them were against Romney. Well, sort of. Caveat below. There was an official Romney guy there who explained that "You'll either work with us now or work with us later, but you'll all have to get on Mitt's train, because we have the money and the organization, so there's no stopping us." This did not go over well. It just made everyone more determined than ever to do whatever...

...“We’ll make that decision on Saturday,” [Perry] said on ABC’s This Week. “It’s our intention to win SouthCarolina and go forward from there. But to try to plan out your campaign months in advance, I think is a little bit of a stretch.” The governor, who trailed in the Iowa caucuses and in the NewHampshire primary, said Sunday that his service in the AirForce will play well with the Palmetto State’s large veterans population. He has also tried to gain votes by attacking front-runner MittRomney as a “vulture” capitalist, a phrase that conservative commentators say sounds like an attack on...

Rick Perry says he's going on to campaign in Florida's Jan. 31 Republican presidential primary - no matter how he fares in South Carolina.

"Rick Perry Will Not Depart From His Conservative Record or Path" - The Real Record, The Real Man Musings of a Rick Perry supporter... I don’t think the American people know Gov. Rick Perry. He burst onto the national stage and seemed like a Texan, okay, a politician with some nerve, some courage, some outspokenness, who was taking on the sacred cows and telling it like it is. But the debates reversed that image...the early ones. Then there are the lies...oh so many, many MANY lies about him. Because of them, people might be forgiven for their confusion, for not...

New Hampshire has long had a reputation as the most conservative state in the Northeast. Its license plates even say, "Live Free or Die." The Tea Party ought to be a force here. Just days before the state's primary, New Hampshirites may help Mitt Romney consolidate his position as the Republican front-runner. Not because they support him, but because they cannot unite behind another candidate.

If Rick Perry leaves the Republican race, there will not be a candidate in the field who authentically represents smaller government. While many conservatives don’t mind activist government so long as the ends are conservative, the willful use of activist government for conservative ends leaves in place a government perfectly capable of activist liberal government when conservatives lose. The only way to fully turn the tide of big government is therefore to support someone who is willing to scale back government. Unfortunately, the only candidate with both an agenda to significantly cut government and a record of actually doing so...

"This is quirky place and a quirky process to say the least," Perry said of Iowa and its caucuses. "We're going to go into places where they have actual primaries and there are going to be real Republicans voting."

Gov. Rick Perry said today he will continue his presidential campaign despite a fifth-place showing in the Tuesday Iowa caucuses and serious questions about whether he can continue. “I re-assessed,” Perry said as he left his West Des Moines hotel at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. “We’re headed to New Hampshire and South Carolina.” Perry surprised the political world - and many of his advisers - when he Tweeted this morning that he would stay in the race. His Tweet included a photo from his morning jog. “I was out on the trail when it kind of came to me,” Perry...

"I hope he stays in." said Rush Limbaugh today on his radio show, after acknowledging that there was some confusion about whether Rick Perry had decided to stay in the race for president or not.{Snip}

The Iowa caucuses are now just 72 days away. Once Iowans vote on Jan. 3, the 2012 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination ceases to be about debates and gaffes and spin, and begins to be about actual results. This week’s uproar over Herman Cain’s CNN interview with Piers Morgan will likely be a distant and irrelevant memory by Jan. 3. Despite Cain’s rhetorical difficulty in consistently articulating a pro-life position, his bona fides on the issue have long been established, as demonstrated in 2006 when he led a $1 million effort to encourage black voters to vote pro-life. What...

Last month, Insider Advantage had him leading Romney in the state 29/20. A month later, “He now barely has a heartbeat.” When I saw Perry’s topline number of three percent, I figured the “Ponzi scheme” talk must have sent Florida’s seniors running screaming into the night. Not so. He’s actually doing (marginally) worse with other age demographics in this poll, and in the last poll he did reasonably well with the 65+ crowd, finishing second to Romney in that group with almost 23 percent. That poll was taken on September 13, which was almost a week after Romney started attacking...

Las Vegas, Nevada— One day before a CNN Western Republican presidential debate, a new national survey indicates that Mitt Romney and Herman Cain are essentially tied for the lead in the race for the GOP nomination, with Rick Perry dropping to a distant third. .....According to the poll [CNN/ORC International Poll], only one third of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP say they will definitely support the candidate they are currently backing, with two thirds saying they may change their minds. "With only 33% of all Republicans saying that their minds are made up, it's far too early...

Today, the Susan B. Anthony list and National Organization for marriage released a joint scorecard for the Republican candidates for President at the annual Values Voters Summit. Ordinarily, a release like this carries few surprises, and in this election cycle so dominated by fiscal issues, a scorecard devoted to gay marriage and abortion is unlikely to carry the same weight it would have in the past. However, what may surprise those perusing the score card this time around is the fact that one candidate – the one widely interpreted as the most conservative in the race – actually falls to...

.“Our friends in New York six weeks ago passed a statute that said marriage can be between two people of the same sex. And you know what? That’s New York, and that’s their business, and that’s fine with me,” he said to applause from several hundred GOP donors in Aspen, Colo. “That is their call. If you believe in the 10th Amendment, stay out of their business.”

WASHINGTON — Rick Perry is the 100 million dollar man of Texas politics. Over the past decade, he has been a political money machine, raising more than $100 million for three gubernatorial campaigns and another $50 million for GOP candidates as chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2007-2008. But the Texas governor's fundraising prowess will be tested as never before if he runs for president in 2012. While he's raised more campaign cash than anybody not named Bush in Texas history, Perry faces different rules and greater demands should he set his sights on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. "In order...

A number of Pro-Perry articles have been posted today, with some comments saying "no, no, no". Here's the other side of the coin.Supporters of Texas Governor Rick Perry are not going to like this article at all. Right now, Republicans all over the United States are touting Rick Perry as the "Republican messiah" that is going to come charging in to save America from the presidency of Barack Obama. Many believe that if Rick Perry enters the race, he will instantly become the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Perry certainly looks the part and he knows how...

Republican politicians rushed to defend Massachusetts GOP Chairwoman Jennifer Nassour yesterday, after she told the Herald she deserves another chance as she prepares to fight off a challenger in the new year. State Rep. Jeff Perry (R-Sandwich), who failed in his bid to win an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said Nassour has done the best she could for the party. “I think the party in Massachusetts is heading in a new direction, and I think it’s going to get better as we head into the next election,” Perry said. He said he doesn’t blame Nassour for...

Republican Jeff Perry, a self-proclaimed Tea Party member, said he doesn’t want former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to campaign for him because of the baggage she would bring, after dismissing the former vice presidential candidate as an “entertainer” in a TV interview. “I don’t want to interject the debate over the national Tea Party with my race about my district,” said Perry, seeking to replace U.S. Rep. William Delahunt. “I’m trying not to interject a national debate that would distract from my message.”