Free Republic

Perry Candidacy, Still Not Official, May Begin In Earnest Tonight Seth Mandel July 29, 2011 Rick Perry made a shrewd decision to officially stay off the ballot in the Iowa straw poll next month, as a way to escape expectations and cause his potential rivals to underperform (since his supporters are planning to write him in). But that tactic is not an option this weekend in Denver. Perry will give one of two keynote addresses tonight, on the opening day of the Western Conservative Summit, which will be held through Sunday.The conference will also feature Herman Cain, John Bolton, and...

It’s not exactly a “Left Behind” story, but there were a fair number of conservative policy wonks and political operators in Texas who didn’t catch the train to Washington in 2000. Now, as Gov. Rick Perry dances closer and closer to the presidential flame, those Texas Republicans might get another chance. The conventional wisdom just a few months ago was that the rest of the country was weary of Texans, that even if they were in a mood to put a Republican back in the White House, nobody with boots should apply for the job. But maybe 2012 is like...

Perry offers no hints at local GOP fundraiser By Kiah Collier San Angelo Standard TimesJuly 26, 2011 at 9:46 p.m. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin asked her uncle Mike Sheeran to deliver a message to Gov. Rick Perry at a Republican Party fundraiser held at Bentwood Country Club on Tuesday: That he should declare his entrance into the 2012 presidential race. "Sarah wanted me to tell him that, if he were to declare, he should declare here at Bentwood," said Sheeran, who has lived in San Angelo for about 12 years, adding that he would be a big supporter of...

Rick Perry’s Campaign Approach Is Hitting All the Right Notes Seth Mandel July 26, 2011 A pro-Rick Perry group is taking advantage of a new rule in the Iowa straw poll that allows voters to write in a candidate. GrowPAC will air radio ads in Iowa urging voters to write in Perry’s name in the Ames straw poll next month. The move would–if the ad works–help Perry in two ways: it would reveal public support for Perry without having to meet expectations, as he would if his name were officially on the ballot, and it will drain support from Perry’s...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is all but certain to launch a presidential campaign and is nearing an announcement set for the second half of August, according to sources familiar with his political team's planning. For months, Republican activists, donors, elected officials, and even voters have dithered about their choices in the 2012 presidential primary contest. But they may have their man in Rick Perry, a telegenic and booming political presence who boasts executive experience as the nation's longest serving governor, as well as a healthy level of support from the tea party faithful. Two new national polls released on Friday...

Three months after Gov. Rick Perry ignited a firestorm by issuing an executive order to require schoolgirls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, he is letting a bill go into law that will undo his mandate. In an emotional speech to reporters Tuesday, during which the governor surrounded himself with women whose lives have been affected by the cancer-causing infection, Perry laid blame for future cervical cancer deaths at the feet of lawmakers who supported the bill. Perry thanked the minority of legislators who voted against the bill and said, "No lost lives will occupy the confines of their...

[SNIP of "conventional" wisdom and characterizations] What's holding him back from running? "We don't know whether it's doable," Perry's political strategist, David M. Carney, told me. "Most people running for president do it for years. We'd be trying to do it in 200 days." The biggest practical problem Perry faces, Carney said, is fundraising. It could take $50 million to run a credible primary campaign. "It takes time to raise money — the candidate's time," he noted. Major donors want to meet a candidate in person before they write a check or recruit their friends to help. .....if Perry decides...

4 ways Rick Perry could shake up the GOP race The Texas governor is flirting with a run for the Republican presidential nomination — and he'd arguably make the contest a lot more interesting July 21, 2011 Republicans disappointed with their party's current slate of presidential candidates are stepping up the pressure on Texas Gov. Rick Perry to enter the race. And it's looking increasingly likely that Perry will declare his candidacy soon. "I'm getting more and more comfortable every day that this is what I've been called to do," Perry told the Des Moines Register recently. "This is what...

Senior Aides to Texas Governor Rick Perry say they remain at least two, and as many as four weeks away from any final decision on whether to run for the GOP presidential nomination. Governor Perry is described as enthusiastic about the possibility and a reference to his wife Anita's encouragement yesterday, is actually a reflection of what aides say is many months of her agitation in favor of running. His time frame for getting into the race is about creating the financial network to fund a national campaign that goes big in every state, not state-by-state like others are now...

Jul 20, 2011 — Will the Texas governor elbow his way into the crowded presidential race? Longtime Perry watcher Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune talks about why he thinks Perry will run and what kind of candidate he'd be. [snip] We spoke with the Texas Tribune's Evan Smith about the man he has followed since the early 1990s. A former editor of Texas Monthly magazine, Smith says he's convinced Perry will make a run at the White House, and tells us why other Republican hopefuls should be worried.

Clay County GOP chairwoman Kirstine Thiessen confirmed that Perry won the straw poll vote the other night, which was held among those on hand for a planned meeting. The county, I'm told, is in Rep. Steve King's district, and abuts Minnesota. Of the 59 votes cast, Perry won with 15, followed by Michele Bachmann with 9, Thiessen said. Rick Santorum got eight, Ron Paul got 6, Hermain Cain got 5, Thaddeus McCotter got four, and tied with Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney for that number. Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin each got two votes. It's not quite a representative sample...

Should Rick Perry conclude that voter discontent has left him an opening to enter the presidential race, the Texas governor would be among the Republican field's most conservative candidates. Rick Perry rejects the idea of global warming and the theory of evolution, arguing for natural climate variations and intelligent design of the universe. He branded Social Security and other New Deal safety net programmes "the second big step in the march of socialism," according to a book published last year. The "first step" was a national income tax, which he has said stands alongside the direct election of US senators...

Speaking this morning to the Texas Municipal Police Association in Austin, Gov. Rick Perry returned to one of his favorite subjects over the last few years, saying the Obama administration has inappropriately handled security issues on the Texas-Mexico border. Perry, who told the Des Moines Register in recent days that God may be calling him to run for president, has long said Washington has not deployed enough manpower to the Texas-Mexico border. He repeated that criticism this morning, saying he wants 3,000 Border Patrol agents along the border in Texas and 1,000 troops from the National Guard. He said...

...With Perry's history of straddling the establishment and tea party wings of the party, [Andrew] Hemingway [chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Liberty Caucus, told RCP] offered a bold prediction for the unique assets that the Texas governor could bring to the table in New Hampshire. "I think ultimately Rick Perry is a candidate who secures Haley Barbour's money with Sarah Palin's endorsement," he said.