We’re already starting to see ‘what happened to Rick Perry?’ articles, usually very clear that he’s in no way out of it yet. But there is a lot of surprise about just how quickly things have gotten rocky for him.
This is precisely what I was talking about when I said a month ago that Perry wasn’t ready to really do what it takes to run for president.
His performance in the debates reflects someone who was expecting to just be able to use his tremendous natural charm and devout right wing credentials. But he seemed to have failed to recognize just how much gets tossed at people in these circumstances. You can’t just skate by on generally good credentials – people will challenge you. And when they’ve done that (at least so far) Perry doesn’t seem to have the skill or temperament to deflect the attacks.
To be clear, there is plenty of time for him to shore up, and he may still run away with this. But Mitt, just by being Mitt, has reminded people of how good a candidate he is.