Rick Perry The Candidate Blames Rick Perry The Debater

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Struggling Rick Perry blames debates

TRAILING badly in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Texas Governor Rick Perry claims to have made a "mistake" by taking part in televised candidates' debates.

In a rethink by his campaign team, Mr Perry is likely to concentrate now on speaking to voters and local media.

"These debates are set up for nothing more than to tear down the candidates," he told Fox News yesterday.

It is unlikely his main rivals share the view. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and businessman Herman Cain received boosts at Mr Perry's expense.

After shooting from nowhere to a big lead when he entered the field in August, Mr Perry is now struggling on single digits.

He is still being treated as a serious candidate but mainly because his campaign fundraising capacity is considered close to matching Mr Romney's.

A new CNN/Time opinion poll released yesterday shows Mr Romney leading in the first four states where Republicans will vote for a party candidate.

Despite Mr Cain's frontrunner status in some general polls, Mr Romney holds a slight lead - 24 to 21 per cent - over the former pizza-chain boss in the state of Iowa where a Republican caucuses vote will be held on January 3.

For the New Hampshire primary expected on January 10, Mr Romney has a commanding 40 to 13 per cent lead over Mr Cain. He beats Mr Cain convincingly 30 to 18 per cent in Florida and even has an edge in South Carolina (25 to 23 per cent) where Mr Cain was expected to do best.

The results are a particular disappointment for Mr Perry. In New Hampshire he lags well behind the field in sixth place with 4 per cent while in others he is struggling in fourth place behind 74-year-old Texas Libertarian congressman Ron Paul.

During five TV debates Mr Perry has been dragged down by perceptions, fuelled by Mr Romney, that he has been weak as state governor on illegal immigration. Mr Romney has also accused him of coasting on the Texas oil industry to boost the state's economy while the high school dropout rate remains among the worst in the country.

Mr Perry has battled racism allegations after it was claimed he was slow to remove the name "Niggerhead" from a property he leased in Texas.

And he badly miscalculated this week by renewing speculation about the authenticity of Democrat President Barack Obama's birth certificate, an unwanted distraction just as Mr Perry attempted to win support for a new 20 per cent flat-tax policy.

Mr Perry complained about the televised debates on Fox News yesterday.

"It's pretty hard to be able to sit down and lay out your ideas and your concepts with a one-minute response," he said. "So, you know, if there was a mistake made, it was probably ever doing one of the (debates) when all they're interested in is stirring up between the candidates instead of really talking about the issues that are important to the American people."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/struggling-rick-perry-blames-debates/story-e6frg6so-1226178794038

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"So, you know, if there was a mistake made, it was probably ever doing one of the (debates) ...

Dude, if you want the nomination you're gonna have to debate. That's just how it is. Your campaign can influence the format of the debate to some extent but you can't just say fukc it i'm not gonna debate.

Why not? because you're not sarah palin.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Dude, if you want the nomination you're gonna have to debate. That's just how it is. Your campaign can influence the format of the debate to some extent but you can't just say fukc it i'm not gonna debate.

Why not? because you're not sarah palin.

Yeah, he is flopping on the deck like a fish out of water. When Ron Paul passes you in the polls, it's time to pack it in.

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Yeah, he is flopping on the deck like a fish out of water. When Ron Paul passes you in the polls, it's time to pack it in.

Herman Cain will run out of steam any minute now and then everyone will go running back to Perry. It's just a matter of time.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

What's funny is anyone who lives here in Texas, knows that he is right...

He's great at campaigning, talking to people, doing events, etc... but at debats he has ALWAYS had a hard time.

Actually these Presidential debates are the best he's ever done, and that's saying a lot....

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Herman Cain will run out of steam any minute now and then everyone will go running back to Perry. It's just a matter of time.

I still think Cain has that spite thing going for him the racists will dig, getting points for the afterlife just by voting for a man that is the antithesis of Obama, and twice as black. That might might just get him through Iowa.

Perry looks too much like GWB the sequel, and sequels almost always suck.