Rick Perry proved that all streaks ultimately end.
The Texas governor, who entered the 2012 GOP primary as the on-paper front-runner to become the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, ended his campaign Thursday on a note of grace and pride that belied a debacle of a five-month candidacy. It?s the first election he has lost ? and it wasn?t pretty.
Continue ReadingPerry ends his presidential run
Pundits react: Perry drops out
Below, POLITICO?s five reasons why Perry tanked:
1) The fire in the belly wasn?t there at the start
There were many things that ailed Rick Perry. But it is every candidate?s job to get himself elected.
Quite simply, Perry was either not ready, or his heart wasn?t in it ? or both.
Perry began with a head of steam when he declared his candidacy the day of the Ames Straw Poll on Aug. 13, stepping on Michele Bachmann?s win there and sucking the media oxygen out of the room. He was all bravura and tough talk, telling Iowa crowds he wanted to get rough with Ben Bernanke and blowing kisses to Romney for the cameras.
But he had almost no second act after that. The moment he was forced to talk issues he revealed just how ill prepared he was to be a candidate. He had clearly thought little about foreign policy and his answers to questions about the topic had the feel of a student who had crammed for an exam by committing a few lines to memory. He was more at ease discussing domestic affairs but never veered far from the sort of platitudes he?d been reciting for years in Texas.
Perry?s calling card was supposed to be retail politicking, but he was never quite able to connect with Iowa voters. A powerful governor for the past decade who either stiff-armed or simply ran around his state?s press corps, Perry was unaccustomed to the 24-hour news cycle and the relentlessness of the national press corps.
Most importantly, Perry never seemed to have the fire in the belly. His wife, he?d said, told him to ?get out of your comfort zone? and run. In addition to whatever physical issues may have come from experimental back surgery he underwent shortly before kicking off his campaign, Perry ? who had ruled out running for president late last year, only to have his longtime aides tell him that all that really mattered was raising vast sums of money ? often said in speeches that he did not wake up every day with a burning desire to be president.
It showed. Given how hard it is to run, that burning desire is essential for every candidate.
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