Rick Perry is the bright-red tea-vangelical candidate with governing credibility, with a record, and political skills to stand a realistic chance of claiming the party’s nomination. Neither Michele Bachmann nor Sarah Palin are remotely qualified for that slot. Rick Perry manifestly does

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New York Magazine -
Perry’s GOP Shock Treatment -
Five ways the Texas governor’s entrance is jolting the Republican race. -
By John Heilemann -
August 21, 2011 -


Perry’s GOP Shock Treatment


Some excerpts :

It’s no secret that the White House would prefer to run next fall against the likes of Perry (or, perish the thought, Bachmann) than Romney, the easier to paint Obama’s opponent as unacceptably outré and even scary. Less appreciated is how significant a player Obama’s reelection team—along with its allied outside groups—may be in the Republican primaries. By spending millions of dollars on anti-Romney ads and pointing out the similarities of his Massachusetts health-care plan to Obamacare at every opportunity, they may be able to function effectively as a pro-Perry “super pac”—and one with greater resources and media reach than anything Perry and his allies can muster. The irony here would be rich, for sure, and the effect bordering on perverse. But don’t kid yourself: The possibility of things playing out just this way is one of many nightmares that keep Romney’s advisers awake at night.

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For the past two and a half years, among the central questions in our politics have been these: What exactly constitutes the contemporary GOP? Is it now fully in the thrall of its populist, insurgent forces? Or does some semblance of your father’s Republican Party remain? And if so, how much?

A presidential campaign should be, among other things, a place where such essential questions are hashed out and the answers revealed for all to see. What was needed, then, was a clear contest between the Establishment and tea-vangelical wings of the party. What was lacking, though, was a credible standard-bearer for the latter: a bright-red tea-vangelical candidate with governing credibility, with a record, with the political skills to stand a realistic chance of claiming the party’s nomination. Neither Michele Bachmann nor Sarah Palin, whatever their strengths and the extent of their appeal, remotely qualified for that slot. Rick Perry manifestly does. What he brings to the race is a welcome clarity, and the prospect of a kind of challenge to Romney that has been lacking until now. How Romney handles that challenge will tell us all we need to know about him. And how the Republican electorate ultimately judges them will tell us everything we need to know about the party.

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