Perry Debates
Sep/15/11 02:08 AM
The past two Republican debates have been a rude awakening for Rick Perry, who has been attacked on all sides both nights. The attacks have clearly gotten under his skin. The images of a smooth, tough-guy politician we saw when he announced have given way to a flustered, sometimes incoherent debater.
The fringe candidates like Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann have hit Perry on conservative issues that aren’t on many people’s radar given the state of the economy, such as immigration and parental rights. While the more mainstream Mitt Romney has fired away on his positions, record, and rhetoric with regards to the economy and social security. The combination of these attacks has caused the far-right to question his conservatism, which was previously undeniable as one of the tea party favorites, while political operatives now question his electability further than his obvious weakness of reminding people of President Bush.
A Gallup poll released yesterday has President Obama ahead of Mitt Romney by only four points, but ahead of Rick Perry by double digits. Both strategists and voters who once thought Mr. Romney had an electability issue because of his perceived sliminess or too-perfect image, have had the tables turned. Romney’s camp must now relish the fact that they can make the electability argument to voters. The presence of the fringe candidates over the past months has really made Mitt look pretty mainstream. And his strategy of talking about nothing but the economy and his plans for turning it around seems to be paying off.
The coming months have many more GOP debates. We’ll see if those months give Rick Perry the time he needs to polish his debating style, fortify his positions and talking points, and reconvince primary voters that he’s the swift, strong answer to President Obama that he was made out to be when he entered the race.
The fringe candidates like Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann have hit Perry on conservative issues that aren’t on many people’s radar given the state of the economy, such as immigration and parental rights. While the more mainstream Mitt Romney has fired away on his positions, record, and rhetoric with regards to the economy and social security. The combination of these attacks has caused the far-right to question his conservatism, which was previously undeniable as one of the tea party favorites, while political operatives now question his electability further than his obvious weakness of reminding people of President Bush.
A Gallup poll released yesterday has President Obama ahead of Mitt Romney by only four points, but ahead of Rick Perry by double digits. Both strategists and voters who once thought Mr. Romney had an electability issue because of his perceived sliminess or too-perfect image, have had the tables turned. Romney’s camp must now relish the fact that they can make the electability argument to voters. The presence of the fringe candidates over the past months has really made Mitt look pretty mainstream. And his strategy of talking about nothing but the economy and his plans for turning it around seems to be paying off.
The coming months have many more GOP debates. We’ll see if those months give Rick Perry the time he needs to polish his debating style, fortify his positions and talking points, and reconvince primary voters that he’s the swift, strong answer to President Obama that he was made out to be when he entered the race.
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