Visual source: Newseum
Someone's fading:
Politico:
“Perry’s showing in the [FL] straw poll was disastrous. He was here, he worked the crowd, and it just proves that the debate performance really undermined his support,” said Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who was at the straw poll in Orlando this weekend. “Perry’s gotta retool, reorganize and retrench very quickly.”
Said one prominent conservative activist: “They’ve really got to go into damage control mode and right this ship, and they’ve got a relatively brief amount of time to do it. And if they don’t, I think he’s done.”
Rick who? The not-ready-for-prime-time stumblebum from Texas?
Luckily for him, conservatives still hate Romney.
What’s more, Perry continues to have the advantage of a flawed rival. A number of Florida delegates who said they had new reservations about Perry also indicated that they were wary of Romney. And by the time the Presidency 5 results were announced, Perry had already moved on to the next contest against Romney: a GOP conference in Michigan where Republicans will cast ballots in another straw poll Sunday.
In fact, one of Obama's biggest strengths is the weakness of the Republican field.
Ed Golder, pre-straw poll:
Is Perry their guy?
I asked that question everywhere this weekend as Michigan Republicans gathered for the Republican Leadership Conference, the biennial event that this year featured Perry and Romney as marquee speakers.
Answers varied. Most of the uncommitted seemed willing to give Perry a hearing. But it’s clear the Texan has an uphill battle to overcome Romney’s considerable organization and support.
And in fact:
In Michigan, the state where Mitt Romney was born and raised and where his father, George, served as governor, the former Massachusetts governor won the Michigan Straw Poll 2011. Romney claimed an easy victory over Texas Governor Rick Perry.
Aaron Blake:
But Perry is now going to have to grapple with the very Palin-esque idea that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about on issues of foreign policy. And in fact, the issue had already been raised quite a bit even before Thursday’s debate.
Jennifer Rubin on why Romney v Christie v Santorum and why not Perry:
After Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s meltdown in last week’s debate, conservatives were stunned and shaken.Stephen Hayes reported on disillusioned conservatives whose support Perry lost by “misstatements of fact, missed opportunities and general incoherence.” His collapse continued with a loss to Hermann Cain by a huge margin of 37 to 15.43% percent in the Florida straw poll on Saturday.
What Rubin can't admit to herself is that
they all suck:
Texas Governor Rick Perry's debate performance could be indicative of an overall weak group of GOP front-runners in the 2012 race, analysts said Sunday.
WaPo on obnoxious GOP debate audiences:
The audience’s outspokenness has in many ways served a positive purpose by illustrating the energy of the base, GOP strategists say. But it has also conveyed a somewhat unsavory image to less ideological people at home watching on television.
“You have very partisan people come to these events, and in some ways it is just human nature,” said Ed Rollins, former campaign manager for Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), one of the Republican hopefuls for president. But some of the more controversial moments “to the mainstream audience [are] not very appealing.”
Enik Rising on perception v reality:
So, just to review, Obama has received more than seven times as many donations at this point in the 2012 cycle than he did by this point in the 2008 cycle. What's more, the share of his donations coming from small (under $250) contributions is now greater than it was four years ago.