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A Tale of Two Texans
An operative slogan in the Reagan White House was “personnel is policy.” Thus it’s worthwhile to note two very different sets of personnel decisions last week by two very similar Republican 2016 presidential candidates.
First, Texas Governor Rick Perry. Perry has been burnishing his image since his disastrous 2012 run, developing some foreign policy chops, wooing the conservative grassroots, and spending time with some domestic policy wonks too. He’s been building a reputation as an effective executive and touting his role in Texas’s economic outperformance. Breitbart collects reports that Governor Perry has made some new hires (emphasis added):
Perry is working with Henry Barbour [nephew of Haley Barbour], whom conservatives want the Republican National Committee to censure for his group’s smearing of conservatives in the Mississippi Senate runoff, and Steve Schmidt, who has elevated his profile by maligning conservatives, especially former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Politico’s Maggie Haberman reported on Tuesday that Schmidt, the infamous hack from Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign whose gamble to go “all-in” and suspend the campaign during the financial crisis turned up snake eyes, “has joined the team” helping Perry “with the strategy around his indictment.” After McCain’s poll numbers plummeted after Schmidt’s reckless gamble, Schmidt attempted to re-write history and try to smear former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to the mainstream press and blame the 2008 loss on her.
Meanwhile, US Senator Ted Cruz, another Texan, has also been assiduously laying the groundwork for a 2016 presidential run. This includes beefing up his political staff, too. From Politico:
Joel Mowbray, a consultant for a foreign policy think tank, has been volunteering for the political operation and “will end up playing a role” on the paid political staff, the adviser said. Nick Muzin, a former top House Republican Conference aide that now works in Cruz’s congressional office as a deputy chief of staff, will be working on coalitions building and outreach for Cruz’s political operation.
Jason Miller, who’s advised prominent conservatives like Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), has been brought on to “to put together a more robust communications operation,” the adviser said, while longtime GOP presidential campaign hand and Axiom Strategies founder Jeff Roe has been brought on board to build out the political organization. Lauren Lofstron will work on fundraising. Those three hires were first reported by the Washington Examiner.
The new hires may signify that the two Texas candidates, despite many surface similarities, are pursuing different sets of funders and primary voters. For now, though, Perry and Cruz risk splitting a common base of support:
Some Texas donors are already bracing for the prospect. “I’d be splitting dollars, no question,” said George Strake, Jr., a former Texas secretary of state and Perry 2012 donor who also served as Houston finance chairman for Cruz’s Senate campaign. “It’s going to split up a lot of people who used to give to the same one, or who maybe even used to be friends.”
Astute GOP competitors are probably pleased to see the Texas donor base diluted.
Personally, I share Rob Long’s bias in favor an executive (a doer) over a legislator (a talker), even if the legislator says the right things. But when I see hires like Perry’s, it makes me question his executive judgment. Hiring people who are most famous not for election victories, but for trashing their own team? That’s a big black mark in my book.
One thing’s for sure: This is going to be a very long, very bitter GOP primary season.
Published in General
Perhaps Perry’s playing 4-dimensional chess. Get Schmidt on the inside of the tent for the initial run then publicly hang him out to dry later on, shoring up his credentials as an outsider, getting La Palin on his side, and leaving Cruz with the beltway team…
Good post. Perry’s appointments are indeed troubling.
Certainly, Cruz and Perry draw from the same pool of primary voters. I doubt either can secure the nomination while the other is running. There are other pairings, like Chris Christie and Scott Walker, who would share a segment of the Republican base and weaken each other. Bobby Jindal would lose votes to both the Southern anti-DC types and FiCons, but he might be just far enough outside those pairings to benefit.
Once again, the pattern repeats itself. The Republican status quo will be preserved because a wealth of “reform” candidates must split votes. Romney would probably be the front runner at this point.
Sad to see this. I was a big Perry fan before he imploded last cycle, and is definitely a strong second now (Walker being first). Hopefully, this represents a “big tent” approach to get the GOP insiders on board rather than an interest in pursuing their campaigning style. Or the 4D chess; that works too.
-E
Ugh. Starting out with the same ol’ GOP foolishness. Rick Perry was my #1 choice because Cruz wasn’t an executive. Shows how much that is worth.
Go, Ted.
+1 to the comments above. Sigh.
I’m telling ya’, Rick Perry was unimpressive in his interview with Britt Hume about the border crises. He was mobilizing Texas’ national guard troops as a “show of force” even though there was nothing they could do but stand there. And when Hume pressed him on it, he repeated “show of force.” Hurm… very discouraging. Even the smart glasses didn’t help.
These baker’s dozen primaries are driving me psycho. I’m about ready to bring back the smoke-filled room of deciders. Whadda we know?! You political operatives pick one. At least we’d have someone to blame!
What is a foreign policy chop?
Another name for a Pork Chop?
As a Texan, I would like my junior Senator to use his persuasive powers inside the Senate while doing the job we elected him to do and serve at least a full term before running for the highest office in the land. First, being a Senator is the best elected job there is. Second, serving on some important committees would teach him some legislative skills and broaden his expertise.
As for our departing Governor, I would hope that he adopts a Jim DeMint posture, a king maker for conservative candidates and an advocate for conservative causes. In the meantime, if he wants to get out of the house and travel, go make some money.
Jeff Sessions for President.
Who else is Perry hiring? Look at the whole picture.
Since Perry and Cruz aren’t particularly similar politically. For both their chief national focus has been on immigration, an issue on which they take opposite sides. Otherwise, Perry has been a compromiser with a long history who has achieved huge success; the Texas budget has grown like Topsy, but so has the Texan economy. Cruz has a short history of rarely compromising and almost no successes that do not fall into the “raising awareness”/ “inspiring excitement” category.
If you’re giving to both, it’s because what matters to you is that your candidate is from Texas. Since being Texan does not seem to correlate with Presidential quality, I’m happy to see that influence split. There are many bases on which we can choose a President, and “home state” seems like one of the silliest. In a primary it might make some sense if the state is a swing state, but that obviously does not apply here (and, oddly, hasn’t applied for a while; we’ve had no swing state leaders other than Southern Democrats since Ford).