Bill Hughes: Perry Romneyizes Himself, Opens Door For Palin

With Palin in the race, the tea party will finally have a candidate with a record of reform.
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Bill Hughes, at City on a Hill Political Observer, explains why rick Perry's poor performance in last week's GOP debate may have been the game-changer that opens the door for Sarah Palin:

Perry came away from this debate extremely damaged. The talking heads such as Dick Morris (who earned his credibility as a political prognosticator by correctly predicting the 2008 matchup of Hillary Vs. Condi) insist that Romney scored major points in the debate and would reap the benefits of Perry's demise.

Maybe. But the problem with Romney is that he has been so politically duplicitous that the vast majority of tea party folks and many in the GOP no longer listen to a word that he says. He's lost all credibility and no longer possesses enough political clout to re-invent himself for the tenth time. So Perry's loss is not Romney's gain.

Who did gain? Well among the also-rans, Herman Cain scored some major points. He won today's Florida CPAC poll by a wide margin. Newt Gingrich presents himself well in the debates, but he's got the same credibility gap that Romney has. Santorum is a good guy but can't seem to generate any excitement. And Hunstman and Johnson simply amuse as dueling Don Knotts doppelgangers.

Perry's collapse will free up mainly tea party support. That tea party support is not going to Romney. And Romney's support will begin collapsing and heading to Don Knotts Jon Huntsman or the late entry of Chris Christie. In primaries, however, the tea party and the conservative wing of the party will be picking the winner this time. Not the media, the establishment or the ruling class RINOs desperately pushing the abrasive New Jersey governor into the race.

No, the person who benefited the most from this debate is Sarah Palin. Every day the justification for her entrance into this race gets bigger and bigger. Her national polling has dramatically improved and the crazed scouring of her emails, the documentary of her political career and her savvy political op-eds and speeches have been driving the political debate for months. Case in point: She gives a speech on crony capitalism and suddenly all of the GOP field is obsessed with rooting it out. Even folks who have been sidled up to its teat for some time.

With Perry on the verge of collapse, Palin's moment has arrived...

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Take the jump and read Bill's full post.

- JP

NJ for Palin: Gearing Up for Palin 2012

"Make no mistake: Sarah Palin is running."
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Our friend and colleague Bill Hughes at New Jersey for Sarah Palin has no doubts:

She's not running yet. And if you listen to the "experts" in the mainstream media, you'd have to conclude that she's not going to be running. After all, she's "best friends" with Michele Bachmann and preparing to endorse Rick Perry (unless she runs merely to "run interference" for his candidacy like a loyal soldier.) She's just promoting herself, blah blah blah.

Yet any other Republican candidate mentions the word "president" in a public pronouncement and vast throngs of media talking heads begin placing them at the top of the list of nominees with 100% certainty of their getting into the race.

Make no mistake: Sarah Palin is running.

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Given the opportunity to directly halt organizing being done on her behalf while she was in Pella, Iowa for the premiere of her film, Governor Palin instead thanked people for their hard work and talked about how much it meant to her.

While operating independently of Governor Palin or SarahPAC, the Organize 4 Palin higher-ups have had personal contact with Palin in the past. Palin has a very personal and special relationship with her army of grizzlies scouring the nation for additional resources, connections and venues with which to promote her candidacy. She knows exactly how much work is being done on her behalf--and how much is being sacrificed on the part of those folks who are doing it. Everything about Sarah Palin's character indicates that if a presidential run was not going to happen, her troops on the ground would have been told long before.

Read Bill's full post at NJ for Palin.

- JP