Rick Perry is no incrementalist. In a bid to reignite his sputtering campaign, the Texas governor has adopted the mantra that while his Republican rivals would paper over Washington’s problems, Perry would arrive toting a …
Rick Perry
Five Reasons Rick Perry Will Survive…For Now
Sure, Rick Perry blew his chance to reboot his campaign last week and spent much of the weekend doing damage control – through humor and a quiet debate performance on Saturday night. Yes, some donors are fleeing from him. And …
After Epic Debate Gaffe, Perry Backers Begin to Question Their Investment
Tony Leon started this election cycle recruiting donors for Mitt Romney. But when Rick Perry entered the race, he decided to help the Texas governor. Now, Leon’s not so sure. “Rick Perry’s debate performances, including …
Republican Romper Room: Cain and Perry Roil the GOP Race
One of the difficulties of print journalism is that news just keeps happening, sometimes right after your deadline–and so it was last night. I had just put to bed a column about the accelerating foolishness of the Republican …
More Mr. Nice Guy: Perry Struggles to Maintain a Positive Message
A lot of comparisons have been drawn between George W. Bush and Rick Perry. Critics have said both Texas governors weren’t smart enough to be President and relied too heavily on a circle of smart advisers. But in Texas, pols say those criticisms are too simplistic and there are significant differences between the two, the first being …
Rick Perry’s Flat Tax Math
Bloomberg’s Ramesh Ponnuru neatly explains the revenue problem with the right’s hottest fiscal fashion:
Tongue-Tied Texan: The New Rick Perry Sounds a Lot Like the Old Rick Perry
There are only so many times a candidate can pull a “What was he thinking!?” moment before voters begin to write them off. Rick Perry is right on the cusp.
Where Rick Perry’s Campaign Went Wrong
Austin, Texas
Rick Perry’s campaign is in a bunker. On the first floor of 804 Congress St. in Austin, a 1970s building with a redbrick front, 45 people are trying to figure out how to get Perry elected President. There are …
Perry Gets Back to Basics: Jobs
With a new campaign team in place, Rick Perry is up on the Iowa airwaves with his first campaign ad. It’s not a very expensive buy–only $175,000, or enough for several days of air time–but the spot is a reminder of what had conservatives so giddy about the Texas Governor this summer, before his candidacy clanged off the rim like a …
In Perry’s Flat Tax Debut, No Indictment of D.C.’s Lobbying Culture
Most flat tax proposals have a lot of fiscal and political problems, but as Fareed Zarakia argues in our new issue, they do have certain theoretical virtues. One of them is the elimination of tax loopholes, whose creation and …
Rick Perry’s Flat Tax Curveball
Texas Governor Rick Perry’s tax plan curves hard to the right, but will GOP front runner-Mitt Romney swing at the pitch?
Perry’s plan, introduced Tuesday in a Wall Street Journal op-ed and followed by a speech in South …
Can a Flat Tax Boost Rick Perry’s Flagging Candidacy?
Herman Cain isn’t the only candidate vowing to junk the unwieldy federal tax code and replace it with a simpler structure. On Wednesday, speaking to attendees at the Western Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, Rick Perry …
Scary Perry Isn’t a Winning Strategy
As a child in Paint Creek, Texas, Rick Perry was not great at clod fights, the rural Texas version of snowball fights that involve throwing clumps of dirt at one another. “He couldn’t hit the side of a barn,” his fellow Boy Scout Riley Couch told the San Antonio Express-News in 2001. But, “Tricky Ricky,” as he was often called in …
