Perry tests his Texas twang in key states
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 15th, 2011 4:35 am by HL
Perry tests his Texas twang in key states
GREENLAND, N.H. — Rick Perry, who entered the 2012 GOP race Saturday, greeted his first crowd of voters here with two words rarely heard in these parts: with a wave, he let out a boisterous “Hi, y’all” to a crowd clad in khakis and button ups gathered around a backyard pool.
There was also this: “Y’all holler outta question” to open up a question and answer session.
And this when it got going: “There’s hands going up everywhere, somebody just get after it.”
Republican race snaps into focus with unlikely top tier of Romney, Bachmann, Perry
WATERLOO, Iowa — A Republican presidential campaign that has been slow to take shape suddenly snapped into focus Sunday, with an unlikely three-person top tier of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and the newest entry, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
After three eventful days — beginning with Thursday’s lively debate in Ames, Iowa, and running through Perry’s formal declaration of his candidacy, Bachmann’s victory in the Ames Straw Poll and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty’s decision to drop out of the race — the Republican Party is now looking at a nomination battle that is far different from the one envisioned at the beginning of the year.
What the next 60 days will tell us about the presidential race
In the next 60 days, there are five presidential debates scheduled — a series of standoffs that amount to a testing ground for the top-tier Republican candidates as the campaign picks up momentum.
The debates will come in quick succession after Labor Day: Sept. 7 in California, Sept. 12 and 22 in Florida, Oct. 11 in New Hampshire and Oct. 18 in Nevada.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who has slow-walked the race to date but remains its frontrunner, has committed to attending all five debates. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is confirmed for the three September get-togethers but has made no decision about the two October debates, according to spokeswoman Alice Stewart.
Cases lining up to ask Supreme Court to clarify Second Amendment rights
A funny thing has happened in the three years since gun-rights activists won their biggest victory at the Supreme Court.
They’ve been on a losing streak in the lower courts.
The activists found the holy grail in 2008 when the Supreme Court’s 5 to 4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller said the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual right to own a firearm unconnected to military service. The court followed it up with McDonald v. Chicago two years later, holding that the amendment applies not just to gun control laws passed by Congress but to local and state laws as well.
