Fresh off another visit to Iowa, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has successfully fueled speculation on another possible run for president. Whether he has the support of the Republican Party is a different story.
The Hill detailed Perry's potential 2016 struggles in a wide-ranging piece published early Wednesday. At the head of the list of doubters were members of the GOP, who claim that Perry has changed little since his failed 2012 run.
“The big difference was he was wearing some trendy eyeglasses," former Iowa GOP Political Director Craig Robinson told the Hill. "I just didn’t see this reincarnation of this great politician we missed out on in 2012. He seems like the same guy we saw."
Among the events still deemed head-scratchers by GOP strategists: Perry's infamous Nov. 9, 2011 "oops" debate flub, where he could not remember the third federal agency he would eliminate as president.
"Commerce, Education and the – what's the third one there? Let's see," the Texas governor said at the time.
One GOP strategist told the Hill that "you almost can't overstate the damage" those types of performances did to Perry. Two months after the miscue, he finished in fifth place at the Iowa caucuses and two weeks after that, he was out of the race.
Upon his return to Iowa last week, Perry told reporters that he "would do a number of things differently" -- beginning with fostering better relationships with folks on the ground.
“I don’t think we had enough time to go have that thoughtful conversation where people could really absorb, ‘Here are these policies and here are the results of these policies, and is that how you make your family happier?’," Perry told the Des Moines Register.
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