When former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty turned down the chance to take on GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney during Monday night’s Republican presidential debate, he appeared to offer an opportunity to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a man many conservatives feel would not be as quick to let Romney off the hook.
Perry’s not one to shy away from confrontation — he once shot a coyote while jogging — but he has yet to decide whether to join a list of eight candidates vying for the GOP nomination. Some experts feel Pawlenty’s non-aggressive performance against Romney translates into an invitation for Perry to jump in.
“Pawlenty got thrown a huge softball at the debate and chose to not even swing,” said Mark McKinnon, a Texas political strategist and former advisor to President George Bush. “And I think it will have devastating consequences, which creates an even greater opening for Rick Perry. (Perry) is a veteran and aggressive campaigner, he does not shrink from a fight.”
The buzz around Perry has been getting louder in recent days and by Tuesday night, it was deafening. He was scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the Lincoln Day dinner in Manhattan. Hours earlier, he told Fox Business that he is giving a presidential run “an appropriate thought process,” and is being encouraged to get into the race by trusted advisors after he earlier declined to get in.
“They basically said, listen, our country is in trouble and you need to give this a second thought,” Perry said.
Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is no favorite of the far right, having authored his state’s health care reform law that requires residents to purchase heath insurance policies. Romney’s plan became the model for the national heath care law that Republicans want to repeal. Romney has also flip-flopped on abortion and recently stated that global warming is partly man made.
During Monday’s debate, host John King, of CNN, asked Pawlenty why, after criticizing Romney on the campaign trail and coining the phrase “Obomneycare,” in recent days, he was refusing attack Romney in person.
“Your rival is standing right there. If it was Obamneycare on “Fox News Sunday,” why isn’t it not Obamneycare standing here with the governor right there?” King asked Pawlenty during the debate.
Pawlenty demurred, instead explaining that his Fox News comments were merely paraphrasing President Obama, who said he looked to the Bay State plan when he authored the national health care reform law.
“The issue is that Pawlenty threw down the gauntlet last week when he was was aggressive with Romney in the press, but when he was asked the question in front of Romney, he backed off,” said Ryan Hacker, a member of the Houston Tea Party Society and author of the Tea Party manifesto, ‘Contract from America.’ “If Perry had taken a stance against Romney, he would have stood up to him in person because it would have been the smart thing to do. Perry is a very smart political actor.”
Former GOP presidential nominee John McCain, R-Ariz., said Perry would be an “attractive” candidate, “But more important than that he has a very successful record as governor of Texas.”
