“Pawlenty . . . is widely viewed as the only candidate in Thursday night’s Fox News debate with any real chance of becoming the nominee of his party or President of the United States.”
— Ben Smith, Politico, May 6
Seems like forever ago, doesn’t it? T-Paw was “the only candidate . . . with any real chance,” and Ben Smith didn’t even bother to name the other candidates in the Greeneville, S.C., debate. But the other four are all still running, while Tim Pawlenty quit the race six weeks ago.
One of those candidates with no “real chance” was Herman Cain, who stomped Pawlenty like Godzilla stomped Tokyo that May night in South Carolina. And it was Cain’s victory that was the first hint that maybe T-Paw didn’t have “any real chance” after all.
Nobody at that time expected that Pawlenty was on his way to presidential oblivion and now, in the wake of another Godzilla-style stomping by Cain, another “real chance” victim is in denial:
Perry is little more than a month into the race, his advisers say, and he has proven that his message can resonate powerfully. Their view is that unlike Mitt Romney, Perry still has plenty of room to grow his support.
“We will continue to take our message of being a consistent conservative, who has a proven record of creating jobs and fiscal discipline to Washington,” said Perry strategist Dave Carney, pointing out that Romney came in behind Perry in the straw poll.
Yeah, Dave: That message that conservatives “don’t have a heart” really did resonate powerfully. But let’s go back to June 9, right after Dave Carney quit Newt Gingrich’s campaign:
Dave Carney, the former senior aide to Newt Gingrich who is also an adviser to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, says his departure from the Gingrich camp is entirely unrelated to growing speculation about a possible Perry presidential bid.
“This is totally unrelated to Rick Perry,” he wrote in an email just now.
Yeah, Dave: Totally unrelated. Which is why, a mere five days later, you were at Rick Perry’s side when he arrived for a New York meeting with the Big Money boys. Wonder what they those Wall Street guys think of their investment now that the first drafts of Perry’s political obituary are already online. Here’s Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post:
Perry’s debate debacle was not an isolated event. It simply crystallized the quietly expressed worries that he lacks serious ideas and the ability to advocate them. Reaction from operatives, officials and other GOP insiders ranged from disgust to dismay.
And by the way, to paraphrase Michele Bachmann’s new fund-raising appeal, if you don’t hit my tip jar, you don’t have a heart!
they have replaced all the paper money (remember the pink 500’s?) with credit cards, the properties are (terribly realistically) priced in the millions, instead of hundreds and there’s the electronic “chance” that interrupts every now and then for comic relief. You actually swipe your credit card to load the $2M when you pass “GO!”