AUSTIN, Texas ó After charging to the front of the pack in less than four weeks, Texas Gov. Rick Perry will make his debut in a national presidential debate this week when he goes face-to-face with Republican rivals eager to undercut his surging political momentum.|By Dave Montgomery, McClatchy Newspapers
AUSTIN, Texas ó After charging to the front of the pack in less than four weeks, Texas Gov. Rick Perry will make his debut in a national presidential debate this week when he goes face-to-face with Republican rivals eager to undercut his surging political momentum.
Perry has brushed up on research, met with experts and gone through at least one mock debate to prep for Wednesday’s prime-time match-up at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif., according to his campaign team.
With polls showing him as the current Republican front-runner, Perry will be under pressure to turn in a top-of-his-game performance that solidifies his lead. He will also be seeking to appeal to a broad cross-section of the electorate to demonstrate his ability to beat President Barack Obama in the 2012 general election.
Perry is facing essentially the same challenge that confronted his predecessor, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, more than a decade ago.
Bush was also the Republican front-runner going into his first national debate in Manchester, N. H., in December 1999. Bush deftly fended off attacks from his rivals, according to media accounts, but later lost the New Hampshire primary to Arizona Sen. John McCain before recovering and ultimately winning the presidency in 2000.
The Simi Valley showdown will be the first of several Republican debates over the next six weeks. Another major test for Perry will come in a Sept. 12 debate sponsored by CNN and the Tea Party Express at the Florida Fairgrounds in Tampa.
Perry, who entered the race Aug. 13, has campaigned heavily in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina ó states that hold early contests ó by touting Texas’ robust economic growth, denouncing intrusive federal policies and assailing Obama’s economic track record. Judging from his performance in the polls, the message is resonating with a large swath of voters, and Perry will presumably hope to further spotlight those themes during his coming-out debate in California.
“Unless he starts speaking in tongues, I predict Rick Perry wins the debate,” said Texas humorist Kinky Friedman, who debated Perry in 2006 as an independent gubernatorial candidate and now says he would “absolutely” support his former rival over Obama.
Nevertheless, the tightly scripted debate format will also force Perry to constrict his talking points while moderators and Republican rivals exploit possible weaknesses. Rival campaign operations have conducted extensive opposition research into Perry’s nearly 11-year record as Texas’s longest-serving governor, the fruits of which may become more evident Wednesday night.
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, the only other Texan in the race, has portrayed Perry and other candidates as being part of “the status quo” that he says Americans now resent. A super-PAC supporting U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, one of Perry’s chief rivals for Tea Party support, has unveiled ads that accuse Perry of increasing state spending, suggesting a possible line of attack for Bachmann in Wednesday’s debate. Perry’s campaign has dismissed the ads as erroneous.
The debate will also be a major test for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who was widely acknowledged as the Republican front-runner before Perry eclipsed him in the polls. Romney will use the forum to contrast his record as “successful businessman and a fiscally conservative governor to President Obama’s record of failed leadership, exploding deficits and fiscal mismanagement,” said Romney spokesman Ryan Williams.
Analysts say that Perry’s Republican opponents must be careful that any attacks on the Texas governor don’t hurt their own support within the party’s conservative base. For his part, they say, Perry must have an error-free performance that shows he would be worthy of the 2012 Republican nomination. “I think he has to really show that he is deserving of this surge,” said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida.
