Rick's masterful entry into the 2012 presidential race...

Rick's entry into the presidential race was truly amazing. Bachmann's win in Iowa's straw poll was rendered irrelevant. Then Rick schooled Bachmann on her own turf in Waterloo... some are already calling it her "Waterloo" as in her big folly of arrogance that caused her to fall. Politico tells the story (link). Excerpt follows...

 But the contrast that may lift Perry and undermine Bachmann in their high stakes battle for Iowa had less to do with what they said than how they said it — and what they did before and after speaking.
Perry arrived early, as did former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. The Texas governor let a media throng grow and dissolve before working his way across the room to sit at table after table, shake hand after hand, pose for photographs and listen politely to a windy Abraham Lincoln impersonator, paying respect to a state that expects candidates, no matter their fame, to be accessible.
But Bachmann campaigned like a celebrity. And the event highlighted the brittle, presidential-style cocoon that has become her campaign’s signature: a routine of late entries, unexplained absences, quick exits, sharp-elbowed handlers with matching lapel pins, and pre-selected questioners.
She camped out in her bus, parked on the street in front of a nearby Ramada Hotel, until it was time to take the stage. Even after a local official’s introduction, Bachmann was nowhere to be found. It was not until a second staffer assured her that the lighting had been changed and a second introduction piped over the loudspeakers that she entered the former dance hall here. By the time she made her big entrance to bright lights and blaring music, the crowd seemed puzzled.
Bachmann’s stump speech drew mostly polite applause until she closed by giving a large apple pie to “the oldest mother in the room” — a local centenarian.
Then she stayed on stage, signing T-shirts from above, which her staff then distributed to a steady but not overwhelming crowd.
Finally, she swept through what was by then an empty ballroom behind a phalanx of six aides who shielded her from reporters and the handful of Iowans who remained.
“She kept us waiting, she was not here mixing — then she was talking about what a great evening it was. How do you know? You just got here,” said Karen Vanderkrol, of Hudson, Iowa, who said she agreed with the substance of Bachmann’s speech, but that one line in particular rang false: “I am a real person.”
“She can say she’s real and part of the people, but that’s not what we do,” Vanderkrol said of the congresswoman’s behavior.
Several other attendees seemed to leave similarly disappointed.

Ouch for Bachmann... Bachmann spent all of that money and put in all of that work almost for nothing...

Perry's peeps put out this masterful video which is exactly the right tone and tenor... not too overboard like Tim Pawlenty's videos, but not boring either... just very well done...

Then Rick seemed to stick his foot in his mouth by criticizing Ben Bernanke extremely strongly... but my hunch is that this Bernanke moment is a big parallel to the secession stuff.

On both issues, Rick never said what people want to believe he said... he certainly never advocated for secession and never said Bernanke was treasonous... but the impact is still there... Rick is scoring major points with voters for speaking bluntly on an issue they agree with... that Bernanke is a bad fed chairman and the fed is printing too much money...

Then Ed Schultz took Rick's comments about debt being a black cloud not just out of context but just plain lied about what Rick meant by "black cloud." Insinuating racism, MSNBC threatened to dominate the news all week before I am sure Obama's peeps forced Ed Schultz to apologize to make it go away so they could get back to attacking Rick unfairly in other ways (link)...



These unfair criticisms of Rick have caused peeps to rally to his defense... even peeps who don't support him necessarily yet...

On the economy, the MSM and liberal bloggers are failing to assail the unassailable... and speaking of peeps who don't even support Rick... even bloggers supporting other candidates have come to the defense of the Texas miracle... for example Political Math... the guy who did those videos with the pennies I think... has this detailed blog about how the left is not being truthful about Texas while Rick is being modest if anything (link)...

My advice to anti-Perry advocates is this: Give up talking about Texas jobs. Texas is an incredible outlier among the states when it comes to jobs. Not only are they creating them, they're creating ones with higher wages.

What has all of this wrought so far? Rasmussen has Rick winning by double digits (link)... which should trouble all the other candidates yes... but I would be troubled by these numbers if I am Rick's peeps... if it gets down to a single digit race next week then suddenly Rick has stalled and lost momentum and all of that... and people like to pounce when a candidate slips a little in the polls... and the press will try to blame his Bernanke comments or the fact that more peeps have gotten to see the "real" Rick... which is all pretty shoddy and unfair but that is how it goes... even if a different pollster with completely different methodology comes out and shows Rick down by 5 points or 7 points the story might be that Rick is fading already which would not likely be true...

It is interesting to see Rick be attacked from almost every side... some on the right are fringing themselves by suggesting Rick is some kind of pro shariah candidate or that miracle vaccines are suddenly bad (link)... all while the left works itself into a tizzy about Rick being a Dominionist crazy right winger who hates science and progress... they need to get their stories straight because the stories do not match up...

Really I think Rick has seized Romney's inevitability from him... and seized Bachmann's thunder from her... the next big event will be the September 7 debate... in the meantime Rick has less than a few weeks to hone his message and raise a ton of money... If Rick can post a solid fundraising number at the end of this quarter while withstanding unfair attacks from all sides he probably solidifies support and cruises to a victory in the caucuses and primaries.

He may not be perfect to all GOP voters, but he is as close as it gets to the vast majority of them. You want a strong social conservative who is pro life and pro 2nd amendment? Check, check and check. You want a strong fiscal conservative with a strong record on job growth and keeping spending, debt, and taxes in check? Check, check, check, and check. You want a national security conservative who may be wary of some of our adventures but certainly is not suicidal or isolationist... check and check...

Rick has all the check boxes covered... he looks the part... he gives one hell of a speech... he is a fighter which is what voters want... he drives Obama and his cadre of peeps insane...

Rick has entered the race masterfully thus far... although I do believe he can perfect his stump speech and not have to read off the page... and I do believe he will have to have a much more extensive online operation out there fighting misinformation from all sides and promoting his side of the story.