Speaking on CNN last night, Perry campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan lowered expectations for Perry’s attendance at the upcoming Republican presidential primary debates.
“There is a time and place for these things.” Sullivan stated, “But as you’re talking about 18 more debates, particularly now as people are starting to thinking about heading to the polls, we are about 60 days from votes being cast.”
The Perry campaign has agreed to attend the CNBC debate in Michigan, but say they will discuss Perry’s attendance in other upcoming debates on a case to case basis.
“There are 18 more in the planning phase, Sullivan said, “There’s no way all the candidates are going to all of these debates.”
It’s understandable why Perry would want to start skipping some of these debates, but he’s probably the only candidate who wants to skip them.
Romney likely wants to force Perry onto the debate stage as much as possible, while the lower tier candidates are prepared to do anything to fight their way into the conversation. Herman Cain might not appreciate his new ‘pinata’ status, but he owes much of his campaign success to good debate performances.
