ORLANDO, Fla. – Delegates who will be voting in Florida’s presidential straw poll on Saturday say they are looking for a much stronger performance from Texas Gov. Rick Perry than the one they witnessed at the Republican debate Thursday night.
Perry will get a chance to address Florida Republicans Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Michele Bachmann and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich addressed the conference Friday morning.
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Delegates criticized Perry for lackluster, tentative responses to Romney, who slammed Perry’s views on Social Security and his endorsement of in-state college tuition rates for the children of illegal immigrants.
“He’s not doing well in the debates,” delegate Cheryl Mullings said. Mullings, from Palm Beach, came Orlando Thursday a strong Perry supporter. By Friday she wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t like his stand on immigration, or at least his answers on immigration,” Mullings said. “And I noticed he got booed last night, which is not good.”
One of the most heated exchanges during Thursday’s debate wa Romney’s attack on Perry over the in-state college tuition rates for young illegal immigrants.
Romney called the policy a “hundred thousand dollar discount,” that served as magnet for more illegal immigration.
Perry responded, “I don’t think you have a heart” to oppose a program to educate children “who have been brought to this country through no fault of their own.”
On Friday, Perry’s answer wasn’t resonating with this gathering of conservative delegates and Romney exploited that sentiment during his morning speech to the delegates.
“It’s simply wrong to create that kind of magnet and it cannot be sustained,” Romney said. “I think if you are opposed to in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, it doesn’t mean you don’t have a heart, it means you have a heart and a brain.”
Delegate Richard St. John left the morning round of speeches still prominently wearing a Perry sticker, but his support has softened, in part because of Perry’s in-state tuition answer, and not he’s not sure who he’ll pick at the straw poll Saturday.
“I think Perry is the most electable member that was up there,” St. John, a Fort Lauderdale precinct captain, said. “But only if he does his homework and handles the subjects better.”
