Rick Perry Rebound In Iowa

Assisted by veterans?

by Liz Marlantes - December 14th, 2011 - The Christian Science Monitor

Lots of news stories today about how the race to win Iowa is still wide open. The New York Times’ Nate Silver takes a whirl through the polling data and says any of five candidates could plausibly win. And Politico’s Maggie Haberman reports that internal poll numbers from the Mitt Romney and Rick Perry camps show Newt Gingrich’s lead in Iowa is indeed slipping.

Interestingly, she also quotes a “veteran GOP caucus-watcher” as saying:

“Watch Rick Perry. He’s going for a top three finish, and that could be to Romney’s expense.”

We’ve found ourselves wondering about Perry, who’s kicking off a 42-city Iowa bus tour today. Notably, two recent Iowa polls have shown a slight uptick in Perry’s support. In particular, an American Research Group (ARG) poll released yesterday (Tuesday) showed him gaining 8 points...

Rick Perry is the most down to earth easy to like candidate running in the Republican Primary. In the rural area where I live, Perry could drop in to any of the morning coffee gatherings in a multitude of restaurants and fit right in.

In fact, his rural background is probably why the beltway elites have never liked his candidacy. He is smart but regular folks. Served in the military like real Americans do. Successful as a farmer and rancher. Understands small business owners and attracts a bunch of them to move to Texas. He doesn't talk with the glib smoothness of the intellectual elites because Perry is not an ivy leaguer. He is a doer, not a talker. If you doubt that check out his record of accomplishments.

Why is that not the kind of President that we want?