Rick Perry has yet to repeat is “Oops!” moment from that 2012 Republican presidential debate.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who was skeptical of his second run for the presidency after the first underprepared and lackluster attempt. This too after all the hype he received before entering.
2016 has brought a new, prepared and aggressive Perry with his pensive-looking glasses and his more pensive attitude toward his ideas. After a while, I started opening up to the idea of a Perry presidency.
Unfortunately for Perry, few others seem to have warmed to him. For a while, he tried to set himself up as the anti-Trump conservative alternative, especially on immigration, hitting Trump for his comparative lack of experience on the issue.
Although Trump has taken a bit of a hit in the polls, more due to the first Republican debate than anything Perry has done, Perry has failed to gain any traction, being shut out of the debate top ten and then being outshined by Carly Fiorina in the pre-debate forum. In his opportunity to prove he deserved to be in the top ten, he was perhaps second best, but so far behind Carly as to be forgettable, losing a little ground in the polls that followed.
Then he stopped paying his South Carolina staff.
Now GOP insiders are predicting that Perry will be the first to drop out, according to Politico:
Forty percent of early-state Republicans and nearly half of early-state Democrats believe Rick Perry will be the first candidate to drop out of the presidential race.
That’s according to this week’s POLITICO Caucus, our weekly bipartisan survey of the top strategists, activists and operatives in Iowa and New Hampshire.
“No money and cannot gain traction, even though he has the best record and a superb message,” lamented an Iowa Republican. “Best retail politician I have ever seen, yet not able to pick up interest against a strong field. Where was this guy last time around?”
The piece goes on:
“He is out of money and out of time,” a New Hampshire Republican said.
“Perry’s just not getting the second look from voters he hoped for,” agreed another GOP Granite Stater. “He’s rehabilitated his reputation to some extent by being serious and competent this time, and he needs to consider that success.”
Some said that Perry has enough super-PAC financial backing to keep him in a little longer, therefore Jim Gilmore was the better choice for first to drop out.
Others don’t even count Gilmore as a contender, as he was the only candidate who wasn’t invited to the Reagan Library debate.
Aside from Gilmore, most people considered Bobby Jindal to be in the most Perry-like position and the other candidate likely to drop out early.
