Perry Stumbles, Bumbles His Way Into Third Place

It looks like Republicans are not quite ready to hand the White House over to another illiterate Texan.

Rick Perry, who just weeks ago looked poised to break out as the dominant front-runner for the Republican nomination, has fallen back into the middle of the pack amid controversy over, well, everything. Perry's debate performances have been awful, and have been getting worse with each showing. He cannot string together a coherent argument against any of his opponents, and he doesn't seem to have a plan for anything that would be even remotely acceptable by anyone outside of Texas. Just yesterday, Perry told voters that he supported sending American soldiers in to Mexico to fight the drug cartels. Yeah, Perry. That's what America needs. Another war in a country that isn't eager to attack us. What is it with Texans and the need to go around shooting everyone? Is it a small manhood problem? Do they just really, really like killing people in Texas? I wish someone would figure this out and let me know. He's also faced questions this week about racism, centered around the use of the word "N**gerhead," the name for Perry's family hunting grounds. He often took campaign donors and legislators to the camp on hunting trips. While this might be easily explained away as historical racism — after all, it's not like Rick Perry himself named the camp or painted the name on a sign — it's not the sort of issue that one can let slide when the nominee will be going up against America's first black president. It's also not that helpful when one of your contenders for the Republican nomination is black. Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, brought up the issue of the name of the camp, as well as the name's presence on a giant, painted rock at the camp. "For him to leave it there as long as he did before, I hear, they finally painted over it, is just insensitive to a lot of people in this country," Cain said, referring to Perry. In any case, Perry has fallen from front-runner down to nearly third place in a matter of weeks. According to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll out Tuesday, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is firmly in first place with 25 percent of the vote. Herman Cain and Perry are tied with 16 percent each — a drop of 13 points for Perry in just a few weeks. Almost all of that support has gone to Cain, who has risen from nowhere to become this week's flavor of the week for the Tea Party Express. Right behind Perry and Cain is Texas Representative Ron Paul and his steady 11 percent backing. The rest of the candidates include Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann (7 percent each), anti-gay former Senator Rick Santorum (2 percent) and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (1 percent). Of these second-tier candidates, only Ron Paul and Huntsman should even be in the race at this point, as there is no path forward for the other candidates. Huntsman is polling well in early-state New Hampshire and could receive a bounce from that primary, and Ron Paul is in second or third in both early states, Iowa and New Hampshire. Bachmann is too crazy to win, while Newt Gingrich is too self-absorbed. Rick Santorum? He's the kind of man decent people want to punch in the face. I know I've thought about it a few times. So it appears, short of Chris Christie (who will not run) or Sarah Palin (who will not run as a Republican), the field is pretty much set. Romney cannot coast to victory, but he can breathe a sigh of relief that his most feared opponent appears to have talked himself right out of the running.