Perry Goes for Broke in Iowa
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on December 12th, 2011 5:40 am by HL
Perry Goes for Broke in Iowa
With three weeks until the Iowa caucuses, Rick Perry “has retooled his message from the strict jobs focus he began with in August to one promoting him as a conservative outsider,” the AP reports.
“And he’s doubled down on television advertising for the home stretch, having already spent more than $2 million in Iowa only to see his support remain in single digits. Perry’s revamped charge to the Jan. 3 caucuses is a sign of the pressure he faces to revive his faltering national campaign. And it’s far from clear whether it’s working.”
Amateur Dirt Digger
Jason Zengerle profiles Andrew Kaczynski, hobbyist oppo researcher.
“The 22-year-old spends most of his time pursuing a history major at St. John’s University. But when he’s not in class or studying, he holes up in his Briarwood studio apartment, plops down in front of his MacBook, and dives into C-SPAN’s extensive online archives. Kaczynski’s hobby is watching old political videos, the most memorable of which he uploads to his YouTube channel. It sounds harmless enough, unless you happen to be a 2012 Republican presidential candidate with a long video record. Then Kaczynski’s hobby can ruin your news cycle, or worse.”
“Just ask Newt Gingrich, who had to fend off attacks on his small-government bona fides after Kaczynski unearthed video of him offering support for a health-insurance mandate (during an appearance with Hillary Clinton!) back in 2005. Or, better yet, Mitt Romney, whose 2004 lecture on the art of flip-flopping — he was talking about John Kerry, but could have just as easily been talking about himself — showed up on countless political websites, and then in a Jon Huntsman attack ad, after Kaczynski resurrected it. Indeed, the words ‘via Andrew Kaczynski’ may now be the most unwelcome phrase in Romney headquarters.”
