ALIPAC NOTE: Looks like Latino Fox news is trying to salvage the Rick Perry campaign. Their efforts will fail.

---


Rick Perry Hopes Florida Straw Poll Gives Him Momentum After Attacks on His Immigration Views

Published September 24, 2011
| Fox News Latino



Texas Gov. Rick Perry has taken hard hits in the last two GOP debates and his views on immigration, social security and public health have led a once leading campaign to stumble.

He is hoping that an early test vote Saturday in the battleground state of Florida will help him defend his campaign and calm jitters about him.

Republicans in early voting states, once excited about the Texas governor's presidential bid, are openly questioning the strength of his candidacy. High expectations have been met by the sudden national scrutiny that comes with the front-runner bull's-eye.

Related Slideshow

'Knights Templar' Drug Cartel Lives by Medieval Code

Related Slideshow

Faces of the Immigrant Archive Project

Related Slideshow

9/11 Stories Ten Years Later

Related Slideshow

"Barack Obama and the Seven Latin American Dwarves"

Related Slideshow

Twitter Terrorists, NJ Disses Ecuador Prez and The X Factor: It's The Week In Latino News

Related Stories
Rick Perry's Immig Views Under Fire
Perry to Meet with Latino Biz Leaders
Brian Sandoval Won't Be Rick Perry's Vice PrezPerry is leading national polls, but he is also facing intensifying criticism from the right and left. Some Republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire are expressing doubts, especially after debates in which rivals raised questions about his record on immigration, public health and Social Security retirement benefits.

Perry was looking to send a message to his rivals with a strong showing in a nonbinding straw poll Saturday of Florida Republicans. But two of his main rivals, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, both left Florida before the voting began and their campaigns discounted the straw poll's role in the campaign.

Other first-tier candidates hadn't actively organized for the Florida vote, either. So the results, expected in the evening, probably won't shuffle the campaign's standings and were shaping up as little more than a popularity contest among the delegates selected by local party organizations.

Ahead of the test vote, Perry's campaign bought breakfast for hundreds of the party faithful assembled for a three-day conference and debate. Perry said skipping the straw poll was a blunder.

"I think that's a big mistake. I think it's very important," Perry said, citing its history.

Previous straw polls have predicted the Republican nominee.

Ronald Reagan won in 1979, George H.W. Bush in 1987 and Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in 1995. The Republican Party of Florida, however, has not organized the test vote in recent years.

A Florida poll victory could prove helpful, especially ahead of Friday's deadline for reporting the latest quarteerly fundraising figures.

From Florida, Perry was headed later Saturday to a Republican gathering on Mackinac Island in Michigan. Romney, the son of a former Michigan governor, also was set to address the crowd in the state where he spent his youth.

Perry, a late entrant into the Republican primary who quickly led national polls, stumbled in recent weeks.

His strident defense of cheaper in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants put him on the wrong side of the Republican Party's conservative base. His rivals worked to exploit his opposition to a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border and his support of a mandatory vaccine for girls against a sexually transmitted disease.

One national immigration group says Perry is finished, and conservatives are slamming his support of education benefits for illegal immigrants.

The campaign dismisses the criticism. After all, supporters say, he entered the presidential race just six weeks ago.

Things looked rosier then. Perry arrived to great fanfare and seemed poised to steal significant support from his top rival, Romney. Many influential Republican activists saw Perry, with his executive experience and good jobs record, as an attractive alternative to Romney, who has struggled to win over conservatives who make up a sizeable portion of the party base.

Since then, the Texan has campaigned repeatedly in New Hampshire and Iowa, states that host the nation's first presidential voting contests in roughly four months.

And unaligned Republicans in those states -- including some who backed Romney four years ago and are looking for an alternative -- have watched Perry closely this month to see if the early buzz would become lasting campaign strength. But his debate performances, including bobbled attempts Thursday night in Florida at painting Romney as a flip-flopper, did not impress some influential activists.

"Perry has been doing damage to himself over the last couple weeks," said Jamie Burnett, a New Hampshire-based Republican who led Romney's political operation here four years ago but is unaligned this year. "Perry's on shaky ground, but I'm not willing to say there's no path to victory. But he's definitely not in the place he was during the first two weeks of his campaign."

Besides accusing Romney of being a flip-flopper, Perry suggested that those who oppose Texas' immigration law are heartless and he gave a wobbly response to a question on Pakistan, making him seem unprepared.

"The guy just isn't ready for prime time. It's not the issues themselves. It's how he handles them," said Doug Gross, a Des Moines lawyer who was Romney's Iowa co-chairman in 2008 but isn't backing any one candidate yet this year. "He doesn't look like a president."

Veteran Republican strategist Mary Matalin, who is not affiliated with any of the 2012 campaigns and is neutral, said that while debating is not Perry's strong suit, it's only one aspect of the early campaign.

"His support in the states that are the foundation of his strategy is not slipping," Matalin said. "Romney has been consistently really good, is solidifying his establishment support, but is far from closing the deal with conservatives."

Activists have discovered policy differences as they get to know Perry better.

He has drawn sharp criticism for requiring 6th-grade girls in Texas to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cancer, a position that frustrates libertarians and social conservatives alike. And on immigration, Perry's opposition to a border fence and support for education benefits for illegal immigrants who came to the country as children have been unpleasantly eye-opening to some in Iowa.

"Immigration and the vaccines are just tough sells," said former state Republican chairman Richard Schwarm, a Romney supporter in 2008 who has not yet committed to a candidate. "There are a lot of things people like about him, but those issues cause people a lot of problems."

Some national groups have been less diplomatic.

"Rick Perry is finished," said Americans for Legal Immigration's campaign arm in a statement Friday.

Perry also raised eyebrows for coming in a surprising fourth in a New Hampshire poll this week, getting just 8 percent and ranking well behind Romney while also trailing Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

Rivals are looking to take advantage of Perry's woes in Iowa.

Romney is expected to step up his campaign presence in the state after visiting only twice this year. And Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is focusing on Iowa to reclaim the attention she stirred in the state before Perry entered the race.

Top Perry strategist Dave Carney said the notion the governor is floundering is "more wishful thinking from other camps."

The campaign hopes for a boost at the end of the month when it releases its quarterly fundraising totals, Perry's first such report. He is known as a prolific fundraiser and has devoted considerable energy to filling his campaign coffers. A strong showing could help quiet questions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politi ... z1YywyBSIr


Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politi ... z1YywPvSXM