Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty and a host of others seeking the Republican nomination for president, will all be participating in the Iowa Straw Poll this Saturday to gauge their chances to reach the White House. But while the GOP hopefuls are duking it out in Iowa, they’ll be upstaged in South Carolina and New Hampshire by someone who may soon become their worst nightmare — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.
Gov. Perry is not yet an official candidate for president, but most believe that is a mere formality as he is expected to make his intentions known soon. With a sea of candidates that many Republicans admit they’re far from excited over and fear are ill equipped to beat President Obama in 2012, Gov. Perry is already being called the GOP savior.
“There is still a thirst for another voice to come in,” said Iowa Republican Craig Schoenfeld, who is heading up the group “Americans for Perry” by seeking supporters to back the Texas governor. “They are looking for the kind of leadership he has shown in Texas, while the country has gone the other direction.”
Gov. Perry is not expected to make a formal announcement this weekend, but he has already started recruiting campaign workers in critical states, securing fund-raising commitments and preparing for 3 Republican debates scheduled for early next month. Or in other words, Perry is already well beyond the trial-balloon stage of initiating a campaign as his candidacy is pretty much a done deal.
At a time when GOP candidates had hoped to introduce themselves to voters and distance themselves from the competition, it appears the spotlight will not be on the announced candidates in Iowa this weekend, but rather on the seemingly new kid on the block: Rick Perry. According to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the GOP race will likely thin out after Saturday, when it becomes clearer which candidates are far from a chance at the nomination. But with Rick Perry now lurking in the shadows, the drop outs could come in rapid succession and this could soon turn into a 3-horse race: Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry.
Stay tuned!
<span>In politics, Perception IS Reality. And that so-called "Reality" is shaped by Narrative. Narrative…as one writer put it…"is the secret weapon of politics—powerful, unaccountable, and invisible: it provides the standard by which stories are written and facts judged." The truth is the Iowa Straw Poll (ISP) has disproportionate influence in our presidential politics, despite the FACT that the "Winner" of that poll RARELY goes on to win the nomination, to saynothing of the Presidency. People actively involved in politics (politicians, political junkies, pundit-idiots and the like) AND the media know this. And yet, every 3 yrs the ISP narrative is trotted out and presented as something voters should take seriously. And it works!?! The ISP event is an expensive political-media-driven charade. Period. Even Rick Perry (the man described as G. Dubya Bush on steroids) gets it. The man plans to make his stand (if you will) in South Carolina for crying out loud..lol So it appears it's going to come down to Perry and Romney duking it out for the… Read more »