Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, is using a debate gaffe that many thought might end his presidential campaign to appeal to Iowa voters by emphasizing his outsider status.
The ad opens with video of Perry forgetting the third government agency he would cut as president (Energy Department) and closes with the governor saying, “I’m Rick Perry and — what’s that line again? I’m Rick Perry and I approve this message.”
Perry adopted a damage-control strategy of self-deprecating jokes in the days following the gaffe. Now, he’s spinning the gaffe into an opportunity to push the policy plans that he’s developed as an attempt to revive his campaign.
“If you want a slick debater, I’m obviously not your guy,” he says in the ad. “But if you want to clean house in Washington with a balanced budget amendment, a flat tax, and a part-time Congress, I’m your man.”
The television ad will run for one night in Iowa, during Perry’s interview with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.
