Ponzi scheme's Rick Perry

Can Rick Perry Regain His Momentum? : NPR

Texas Gov. Rick Perry rocketed to the top of the field after he jumped in the race for the GOP nomination for president last month.

His early rise in the polls was based on what Republican voters thought they knew about him. But the debates gave Republicans a chance to see Perry in action — and the normally aggressive Texas governor has been forced into the uncomfortable position of defense.

"No other candidate ... has the record that I have," he said last weekend in Michigan. "Yep, there may be slicker candidates and there may be smoother debaters, but I know what I believe in."

A Wobbly Debate Performance

There were three key moments in last week's Orlando, Fla., debate where Perry undercut himself. The first came when he defended his support of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants:

"If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there, by no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart," he said.

He's the only governor in this country that can actually say that he's been a job creator, his state's been a job creator during this recession. And that's a message that is resonating with voters.

- Florida Republican strategist Eric Eikenberg

Calling people who disagree with you heartless is not a great way to win their votes. And Perry has since acknowledged that was a poor choice of words.

But that wasn't Perry's only problem in the Orlando debate. He also seemed unprepared when asked a predictable foreign-policy question about what he'd do if Pakistan's nuclear weapons fell into the wrong hands:

"Well obviously, before you ever get to that point, you have to build a relationship in that region. That's one of the things that this administration has not done. Yesterday, we found out through Adm. Mullen that Haqqani has been involved with — and that's the terrorist group directly associated with the Pakistani country. So to have a relationship with India, to make sure that India knows that they are an ally of the United States."

And when he tried to attack Mitt Romney with a list of well-known flip-flops, he seemed tongue-tied:

"Is it the Mitt Romney that was on the side of, against the Second Amendment before he was for the Second Amendment? Was it — was before — he was before these social programs, from the standpoint of, he was for standing up for Roe vs. Wade before he was against, verse — Roe vs. Wade?"

A Rick Perry Problem

Perry's unsteady performance set many Republicans to wondering whether he was ready for a presidential campaign or, for that matter, the White House.

Bruce Keough is a Republican activist who had been Romney's New Hampshire state chairman in 2008. But he publicly broke with Romney earlier this year and was looking for another candidate to support. He said he was interested in Perry.