We’ll get the word on Perry Time
When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, I had the opportunity to help with one of his infamous bus tours where we toured rural America in a bus caravan of around 10 buses and support vehicles. It was quite a site when the tour would pull into a small town like Salado or Tyler. I drove one of the support vans that usually tailed the buses but was in front of the bomb squad from Ft. Hood. At one of the stops I asked the soldiers traveling with us who was better at being on time – Pres. Bush or Clinton. They instantly piped up Bush, saying that Clinton ALWAYS arrived on Clinton time. Thinking about that and all the anticipation about whether Gov. Rick Perry will jump in the presidential race or not, I can honestly say we’ll get the answer on Perry time and no sooner.
For Perry to be a non-candidate at this point, he sure is getting a lot of press and attention. Today Jason Embry provided a good read on the Sunday talk show speculation in his First Read blog. In the read it appears most think the conservatives in the Republican Party aren’t satisfied with the field as it stands. While Santorum has the conservative appeal he doesn’t have the name recognition necessary to carry across the nation for the primary. Bachmann announced tonight in the NH debate that she has filed but she is really going to have to work on her message and getting things right, having flubbed several historical and constitutional points.
While I usually despise what he writes, Erick Erickson of Redstate made some interesting points about a Perry entry into the race. Erickson said “Every day that the media is focused on the ups and downs of other candidates, including an obsessive media rectal exam of Rick Perry as he gets in and starts hitting the stump is another day that Mitt Romney stays in the lead.” His point is that while he doesn’t think Romney will be the ultimate candidate (remember, Erickson’s extremely conservative), creating churn in the conservative ranks about who is the “best” conservative gives him time to play out the clock and stay in. The big money won’t start pouring in until they know who the probable candidate is.
Perry, right now, is on a nationwide tour of several cities, speaking on a variety of issues. He was in California to speak at an anti-abortion event, then travel to NYC to keynote the GOP’s Lincoln Dinner, and finally head to New Orleans to speak to Republican leaders. If that’s not a pre-launch tour, then all I can speculate is that Perry just loves to travel (well, we knew that all along).
In reality, Perry is getting things lined up for his entry, including meeting with key Texas backers to make sure he had the financial backing and support going into the race. According to the KHOU article apparently Perry may have also been waiting for a couple of key campaign advisers, his former campaign manager Rob Johnson and his top political consultant Dave Carney, to leave the Gingrich campaign and become available to work on his own campaign.
“These two guys, it clearly signals to me – and I could be wrong – that Rick Perry is more than just seriously considering it. He is now positioning himself for some sort of announcement. It may be months before he does that but clearly he is putting together the team,” said KHOU 11 News Political Analyst Bob Stein in the article. That last point leads me to my point of this entry – that we’ll probably find out on Perry time and not press or pundit time.
All the while, Perry continues to send key conservative legislation such as immigration bills last week to help feed his conservative credentials. With both the Texas House and Senate poised to pass the legislation, it will give Perry prove positive that he is working to address issues conservatives feel are critical. Perry is stocking up his policy storehouse to roll out in debates and discussions when he does decide to jump in.
His prayer event scheduled in Houston in August, while failing to attract governors from across the nation, is giving him the mojo he needs with conservative Christians leading into the real meat of the campaign season. Should things continue to gel for the governor, you can expect some of those “Not Attending” governors to change their tune come the end of July or beginning of August.
What makes things even more interesting is that while he sits the race out and watches the debates from the sidelines, he has the opportunity to shape his own message and not have to take any dings while shaping it. Watching the debate in NH and the candidates attacking each other, it gives Perry his strategy to craft and mold in preparation for the actual jump.
With regard to the Palin factor, some conservative blogs have speculated that if Perry enters the race, Palin will sit the race out or follow up as the VP candidate, giving a true conservative ticket unlike what was crafted in 2008. All I’ve seen on this have been from bloggers just a little more credible than me so I’m just mentioning the conversation, without strong substantiation.
So, regardless as to what people might want to see, we’ll see a Perry announcement on Perry Time and not our time. Let’ just hope he doesn’t translate that into his campaign trail travel. The guys from Ft. Hood will hate it.
Dear God,
Please let Perry run. It is the only thing that can possibly expose him for the hypocritical, incompetent, corrupt man that he is.
Unfortunately it might not even bring it out then. Look at his Gubernatorial race, not one word about all the negative things, let alone the deficit. Then there’s Bush’s race. He was a terrible governor, but he almost won in 2000 until the race was stolen and he finally did “win.” I just hope if he runs we can ground him into the filthy toxic dump he belongs in.