Rick Perry Aiming For 11 And 0

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Texas governor and Presidential candidate Rick Perry is either an extremely smart and charismatic politician who knows his constituents and hires good people, or he's incredibly lucky. Of course, the truth is somewhere in the middle according to First Post writer
Alexander Cockburn
. He's certainly doing something right; since 1984, Perry has won all 10 of the elections he has run in. According to a Rasmussen poll this week, Perry is on 29 points, compared to Mitt Romney on 18 and Michele Bachmann on 13. He is many people's favorite to win the Republican nomination and, in the process, his 11th election. However, were he to achieve that, it is the 12th election of his career that will be the biggest, as well as the biggest challenge. So what is the secret of Perry's success? Cockburn thinks he knows. “He has an acute sense of political timing. His defeated opponents readily attest to Perry's relentless self-discipline as a campaigner, his skills at raising campaign cash - he already has a huge prospective war chest for his first national foray - and the fatal consequences of underestimating him. He has a team of campaign advisors, notably Dave Carney, whose skills - ruthless in emergencies - have elicited admiration from professionals across the board.” Those are just a few of the reasons why it would be silly to write Perry off as an empty-headed Bush clone or, as Ron Paul's supporters seem to think, party policy with a mouth, simply there to distract the voters from the real, stand-up guy. There might be some truth in that, but Perry is certainly no slouch. He's also proved in the past that he is prepared to speak him own mind, admirably coming out in favor of gay marriage and schooling for the children of illegal immigrants, before, tragically, back-tracking on the former when his colleagues threw a hissy fit. But Perry is also, as Cockburn points out in his article, very lucky. “In 1998 Perry ran for Lieutenant Governor of Texas. Victory would put the first Republican in the slot since Reconstruction. Bush was already planning his 2000 presidential run, which would mean quitting the gubernatorial chair. Bush had no desire to see a Democrat step up from the Lt Gov's office, and so Karl Rove took a close strategic and tactical interest in Perry's bid. The Bush clan ran ads for Perry, though the latter's refusal to follow Bush's "big tent, compassionate society" message sowed the seeds for hostility between Perry and the Bush camp that is still flaring, with Rove currently denouncing Perry's current onslaughts on Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.” With his Reagan-esque looks and ability to seemingly read the minds of his constituents, Perry looks like the ideal Republican candidate. Not, perhaps, the man with the strongest policies or the most integrity (that would be the perpetually overlooked Ron Paul), but certainly the man with the best chance of beating Obama once the polls reach more people than each candidate's supporters. It'll be fascinating to see how this plays out.
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Posted In: PoliticsGeneralMichelle BachmannMitt RomneyRick PerryRon Paul
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