One Rick hires another Rick’s team:
As his campaign seeks to re-establish itself in the top tier of the Republican presidential nomination fight, suggest that Texas Gov. Rick Perry is hiring on a series of consultants who last worked together on the 2010 campaign of Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
Curt Anderson… and Nelson Warfield will bulk up Perry’s media and advertising operation while Tony Fabrizio will help direct polling. Anderson, Warfield and Fabrizio were the strategic core of Scott’s operation in the last election — a race where the one-time health care executive spent tens of millions on ads that blanketed the Florida airwaves and delivered him a somewhat unexpected victory.
It has long been known (or at least strongly suggested) that Rick Perry will get Rick Scott’s endorsement (if Perry is still in this thing by the time Florida rolls around), so that angle to the story is no big surprise.
The interesting aspect is that this would suggest Perry is doubling down on Florida as the last great hope for his flailing campaign. Given the final primary calendar, it makes sense (although, if he can’t win Iowa or South Carolina, he’s going to find himself in Rudy Giuliani ’08 territory). Also, as Hotline notes, the fact that Perry has extended his inner circle to include these three guys would seem to indicate that Perry knows he’s flailing and needs some help that his current team cannot provide to him.
October 24th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
At this point, Perry would BEG for Scott’s endorsement.
Scott is actually more popular than Rick Perry.
Ha.
October 24th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
…Because he’s less of a crook than Perry.
October 24th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
If you have $15,000,000+++ to spend on anti-Romney ads, you must hire the very best to implement them.
Nice gets for Perry.
October 24th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
BREAKIN NEWS:
National Review reports..
October 24th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Rick Santorum attacks Mitt.
Rick Scott endorses Rick Perry.
Rick Perry hates Mitt Romney.
They’re trying to Rick-roll Romney!
October 24th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
I find it more interesting is that this guy was Bob Dole’s spokesman, and the other guy was on Mitt’s team last cycle… in other words – don’t read too much into this stuff – these guys are all about making some coinage while the campaigns are a running and I suspect that see Perry’s big ol’ pile of cash and figure they can make a buck.
October 24th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
#3 What will work better in Florida, ads attacking Romney for hiring a company to mow his lawn, that hired an illegal, or ads of Rick Perry calling Social Security a “Ponzi Scheme”??? I think he would do well to forget about Florida and focus on Iowa and South Carolina. Those 2 states are his only hope. He needs to go after Cain, but that means he’ll have to overcome personal pettiness and stop focusing on Romney since he’s not competing with Romney in those 2 states. He’s competing with Cain. But don’t give him my advice cause I don’t want him to win
October 24th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
#5 LOL!
October 24th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
#4 Cain Vs. Gingrich in a debate?? Cain better be more prepared than he has EVER been to defend 999. This isn’t going to be good for Cain.
October 24th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
7.
This Florida news was all about going after Romney NOW. Sorry if the truth hurts, Rombot.
October 24th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
9.
You don’t see the stuttering Willard Romney wanting anything to do with Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas type debates.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Will Cain do a better job defending 9-9-9 than Perry will do defending his flat tax?
October 24th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
11. There is no question that Romney and Newt have been the best two debaters by far. I would love to see those two go head to head on some real policy issues. I think that debate would be one for the ages.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Coming up with an anti-Romney ad that isn’t half-truth, half-fact, half-fiction, half deletion has been really tough for Perry. I’m not saying it can’t be done, just that he’s stumbled and bumbled, he’s recycled, he’s sputtered, he’s gone to the Mike Tyson school of debate rules, and still he cannot land a punch.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
#10 In the end, you lose. I’m sorry.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Only 15 comments so far… Seems no one cares to comment on Rick Perry either way.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Perry hasn’t made a positive case for himself with the voters because he entered the campaign with nothing but his personality and debate skills. (Ouch!) No policies, no issues, just a swagger and thick hair. Rick Perry now is going to promote the flat tax, steal as much interest from Cain’s 9-9-9, and look like he’s making it up as he goes along.
Because he’s making it up as he goes along.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
#4
GOOD GOD!!!
Newt is going to wipe the floor with Cain.
How did Newt get this done?
This is the single greatest day of the Newt campaign yet.
HOLY SMOKE!!!!
October 24th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
#18 That’s what I’m saying!
October 24th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
18. Yikes, Smack, hold your waters! Are you a Newtonian now?
October 24th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
13# agreed … I am a strong Romney guy, but appreciate Newts’s skills. I would love a lengthy debate/discussion between these two men. The ideal would be those two alone in a closed room, purely reasoning with each other. I would love to see them stripped of any need to win over voters but just be two smart guys dueling for a common goal. Imagine being a fly on the wall and listening to where that discussion would go. Today I heard rush talk about how we should have an idealogue as a candidate because they are the ones who inspire us. It seems rush is talking emotion now. I am all for passion, but if you havent got the skill set to get anything done all the passion in the world simply religates you to being a radio talk show host.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
looks like they’re trying to set up to have FL bite Romney in the hind parts again…
October 24th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Newt is looking to challenge the number 2 (Cain) hoping that beating him (which will be done fairly easily) he gets a boost in becoming the next number 2.
He would have challenged Perry, but that would be seen as beating up on the helpless.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Newts no dummy. He has to battle Romney and the only way to get to him is beat up the others at what he does best according to him. What’s telling is Perry not arguing to jump in which he should considering it’s Texas? Newt ever the clever politician.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
24 – Newt is a very smart and shrewd man beating up on two candidates. Cain taking the bait shows how naive he is.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
No, not a Newt guy…but I know a blowout when I see one.
Tele will be happy about this news.
Horrible mistake by Cain to agree to this…..again, Craig is out to lunch.
October 24th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
26. Right. What does Cain get from this? Maybe he wants to play the part of stalking horse for Romney.
If the debate moderator does a good job, what will Gingrich even have to say?
Is there any way Cain can keep 9-9-9 sounding fresh? Nope. It’s already strecthing its shelf-life.
Weird.
October 24th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
There is no way Rick Perry will ever be considered as a serious candidate if this is his campaign strategy. Please don’t resurrect this birther crap!
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-perry-obamas-birth-20111024,0,4493311.story
October 24th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Of all the places he chooses to double down, he picks Florida? Seriously? Who does this guy have advising him, and why are they still employed?
October 24th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Newt knows he is never going to be the nominee. Why is he doing the debate? Could it be to help another candidate? Splitting the conservative Mitt haters three ways would be great for Romney.
October 24th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Here’s the thing about Newt – he’s a classic pseudo-intellectual.
He goes to great pains to position himself as some kind of original out-of-the-box thinker, but he really isn’t. And, deep down, he knows it – so he desperately overcompensates.
I saw guys like Newt all the time in college – most of them assistant professors, which not-so-coincidentally Newt once was.
Scratch the surface of Newt’s “smarts” and you’ll see there’s no there there. And, maybe, Cain senses that.
October 24th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Matt,
I disagree with your analysis that Perry is “doubling down” on Florida like Guliani did. Yes, he’s flailing, but he’ll probably fight back in Iowa. If he was winning in Iowa, this would just be a savvy move – and Rick is not planning on losing. But, if Perry loses Iowa and SC, he’ll probably drop out before he even gets to Florida.
October 24th, 2011 at 5:16 pm
The biggest get not included in this post is Joe Allbaugh, Bush’s 2000 campaign manager. Allbaugh is listed as a senior adviser to the Perry campaign as of today, but don’t be fooled by the title, he’s now running the show.
October 24th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
Perry is in single digits in Florida, Romney right now is beating Perry by nearly 20 points. Perry is in 6th place in Iowa, 5th place in Nevada; and Romney is beating Perry by nearly 20 points in South Carolina. Oh, and Romney is winning in New Hampshire by nearly 36 points over Perry!
Where is his path for victory?
Run all the negative ads you want Perry, the best they got on Romney is (gasp), the landscaping company he used may have hired an illegal alien. Meanwhile, Perry subsidizes college education to the tune of $100k per student, refuses to back E-Verify, and opposes building a border fence.
I can’t wait to see Team perry go back to Texas crying in 8 short weeks.
October 24th, 2011 at 11:52 pm
I have to ask if these guys did anything to actually change the outcome for Rick Scott in the 2010 campaign, or would he have easily have been elected Governor of Florida without them?
Better yet, would he have done even better without them?
A little online research answers these questions. Rick Scott spent nearly $75 million of his own money in the campaign, and he clearly benefited from a rising GOP tide in 2010.
It looks like these “campaign tailors” who worked on Rick Scott’s 2010 campaign really had little to do with him winning the election.
October 25th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Maybe this time Perry will remember to black out the part of Romney’s book quote that redeems the part Perry is taking out of context in the ads?