PPP: Texans Done With Perry

[Talleyrand]

I know times are different, but wasn't he also behind Kay Bailey Hutchinson? By a more significant margin?

Either way, if Greg Abbott wins the Republican Nomination, he wins.

You're right. I caution against counting this guy out- in either the primary or general election. I don't think it will be a blowout either way, assuming Abbott pulls the trigger, but Perry will have a much tougher time than in any prior race.

[Talleyrand]

Perry's approval ratings have been consistently bad since the end of his first full term. He always wins through a combination of fracturing his opposition and convincing voters that if they vote him out of office, the state is going to be overrun by UN shock troops out to shut down the oil refineries and confiscate the guns. His reliance on personal graft and engendering fear of "meddling outsiders" is not unlike that of someone running an ex-Soviet petro-state in Central Asia.

He won't be able to portray Abbott as a "meddling outsider" in the way he was able to portray Kay Bailey Hutchison as someone who had gone "Washington". That's going to something tough to overcome, I think.