Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, hoping to revitalize a collapsing campaign, put up new a television ad in Iowa and struck out against same-sex marriage in New Hampshire only to have his efforts blunted by a viral video of a speech in which he behaves somewhat bizarrely.
In the video, which has been circulating on the Internet since Friday, Perry is seen gesturing awkwardly — particularly while accepting a bottle of maple syrup from his host — and talking disjointedly during the annual banquet of Cornerstone Action, a conservative advocacy group in New Hampshire.
“This is such a cool state, I mean, come on, ‘Live Free or Die’ — you gotta love that,” an exuberant Perry says in the video.
“I come from a state, you know, where they had this little place called the Alamo where they declared ‘victory or death,’ ” he added. “You know we’re into those kind of slogans, man. It’s like ‘Live Free or Die’ — ‘Victory or Death,’ ‘Bring It.’ ”
Political analysts criticized parts of the performance as “bizarre” and “wild,” potentially weakening Perry’s re-branding campaign.
The video of Perry went viral just as the Texas governor was taking advantage of a two-week break in the scheduled presidential debates to reintroduce himself to voters and revive a campaign that has plummeted in the polls.
That effort includes a new TV ad in Iowa in which Perry tries to downplay his lackluster debate performances by declaring himself a “doer, not a talker.”
“If you’re looking for a slick politician or a guy with great teleprompter skills, we already have that, and he’s destroying our economy,” Perry says in the ad that began airing Monday. “I’m a doer, not a talker.”
The debates were so damaging to Perry that his campaign said he might skip future gatherings. He backed off that claim following a barrage of criticism and now says he’ll participate in at least the next five scheduled debates.
As part of his re-branding effort, Perry is casting himself as the only “true” conservative in the race for the Republican nomination. In New Hampshire, Perry reaffirmed his commitment to conservative values by calling for the repeal of the state’s 2009 law legalizing same-sex marriage.
“As conservatives … we believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage,” Perry said.
The “new” Perry was all smiles in New Hampshire, appearing much looser and more relaxed than he appears on the debate stage.
“Whether it’s town halls or coffee shops, [Perry] is the best at retail politics,” said Bob Haus, Perry’s Iowa campaign manager, explaining the campaign’s emphasis on more intimate events.
“When we put him in that environment, whether it’s real or manufactured, he shines,” he said. “On the debate stage, under those lights, that is lost. That is completely lost.”
But the viral video of Perry raised questions about whether he was too loose. “A little too giddy for his own good,” is how one GOP strategist described it.
Still, Todd Eberly, a political science assistant professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, said one video won’t cripple Perry, especially since the public is much more focused on one of his opponents, Herman Cain, who this week was accused of having sexually harassed two women with whom he once worked. Cain denies the charges.
