On anti-government sentiment, brash Texan becomes favorite less than 3 weeks into race


WASHINGTON (AP) ― Gov. Rick Perry has ridden a wave of anti-government sentiment to the top of a crowded field of Republicans who want to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012, with some polls showing the brash Texan stealing front-runner status from the urbane Mitt Romney.

With the first state primary elections and caucuses still months away, Perry has drawn even with or passed Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and businessman, in less than three weeks since announcing his candidacy.

Romney had been cruising atop the list of Republican hopefuls when his stiffest competition came from the likes of fellow Republicans like Rep. Michelle Bachmann.

Bachmann, leader of the small-government, anti-tax tea party caucus of House Republicans, won the important Iowa Straw Poll on Aug. 13, but Perry was already stealing her message by announcing his candidacy the same day in a speech to a conservative group in South Carolina, half way across the country.

Since then he has eclipsed Bachmann and appears to be in a two-person race with Romney.

Romney began a counteroffensive Tuesday in Perry’s home state, telling the Veterans of Foreign Wars meeting in San Antonio that his vision for putting the U.S. back on a steady course was, by definition, far superior to that of “career politicians.”

That was an attempt by Romney to differentiate himself from Perry, who is in his third term as Texas governor. Before taking over as state chief executive in 2000, Perry had served as lieutenant governor, agricultural commissioner and a state representative for a total of 27 years on the state payroll.

“I am a conservative businessman. I spent most of my life outside of politics, dealing with real problems in the real economy,” Romney said. “Career politicians got us into this mess and they simply don’t know how to get us out.” The patrician Romney did not mention Perry by name, but the message was clear.

With Obama vulnerable because of the flagging U.S. recovery from its worst economic downturn in more than seven decades, Romney was trying to cast Perry as just another insider politician who doesn’t understand how to create jobs. That ignores that Texas added tens of thousands of jobs on Perry’s watch, though critics question how much credit the governor can claim.

Romney was a businessman who founded a venture capital firm, Bain Capital, in 1984 and headed the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City before serving a single term as Massachusetts governor.

Romney hopes to paint himself as the outsider ― even though he’s essentially been running for president since 2006. He lost the Republican nomination to John McCain in 2008 and spent the next couple years quietly laying the groundwork for a second bid and working to elect fellow Republicans.

In his speech, Romney pointed to his years outside Washington and in the private sector, saying they gave him a fresh perspective on how best to manage federal spending.

Republicans, however, have made a top priority of revoking Obama-backed health care reforms, a major legislative victory for the president early in his term. Romney’s problem: The health reforms he backed while Massachusetts governor became the model for the federal plan, and he’s at pains to explain how he can want to jettison the national plan while having backed a similar one for his state.

What’s more, Romney is a Mormon, a faith that many conservative Christians ― a big segment of the Republican electorate ― see as a cult.

Perry slides in nicely on both fronts with his anti-government tea party message and his public profession of his Christianity ― shown particularly when he sponsored a day of prayer in Texas, shortly before announcing his candidacy. The gathering sought God’s help with the state’s searing drought and putting the United States back on a godly course.

Perry has since called the U.S. federal pension system, Social Security, a ponzi scheme that is unconstitutional ― further music to the ears of the substantial tea party wing of his party.

With that message he has clearly undercut Bachmann, who had been playing well with the same constituency but lacks Perry’s background as executive of a huge state, and his swagger and speech patterns that are eerily like those of fellow Texan and former President George W. Bush.

Although Perry still hasn’t sold Republican Party leaders, he is rapidly attracting deeper support among its voters.

An Associated Press-GFK poll earlier this month showed that among Republicans who back the tea party, 80 percent view Bachmann favorably while 74 percent see Perry positively. Among those Republicans who don’t back the coalition, just 37 percent have positive impressions of Bachmann and 48 percent of Perry.

That gives him broad support on both sides of the tea party line.

And a Gallup tracking poll last week showed Perry outdistancing Romney among Republicans by 20 percent to 17 percent, with Bachmann at 10 percent, three points behind Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

The AP-GFK survey had Romney earning positive reviews from a broader group of Republicans either Bachmann or Perry. Majorities of both conservative and more liberal Republicans hold favorable views of him, which suggests he may be able to stitch together a broader coalition of supporters than his rivals to win the nomination.

But a major caveat needs addressing concerning Perry’s upswing in the polls. In past primary contests in both parties, there have been many instances of newly announced candidates shooting to the top of the polls only to see their fortunes decline as voters had more time to examine their backgrounds.