the national media getting its taste of rick perry unplugged. the texas governor showed off his political id, retail skills and non-essential credentials as a mob of reporter, trailed him around the state of iowa yesterday. he took on the president, his republican rival and even the federal reserve. >> if this guy prints more money between now and the election, i don't know what y'all will do to him in iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in texas. i mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treasonous, in my opinion. >> perry was also asked what he meant when he said earlier in the day people want a president who's "in love with america." >> the president had the opportunity to serve his country. i'm sure at some time. he made a decision that that wasn't what he wanted to do. >> you need to ask him. i'm saying, you're a good reporter. go ask him. >> a couple of aspects of that one exchange regarding the president. love of country. this is more to do about rick perry trying to remin

campaign of rick perry, here comes the really important reporting out of texas about rick perry. please stay tuned >>> the most interesting thing in presidential politics right now is governor rick perry of texas. the first presidential nominating process, is, of course, the iowa caucuses, they are set for february this time around, and the iowa caucuses are designed to capitalize, literally to capitalize -- iowa politics in order to capitalize to make money off the candidate's early attention to iowa, also hold the ames, iowa, straw poll. they encourage candidates to spend a ton of money to win, to give the kand candidates momentum. it's a racket, frankly, particularly the straw poll, but even the whole idea of iowa's influence and whether or not their caucus is all that important. it's not that important most years, just ask president huckabee who won last time around or president romney, who won the straw poll last time around. in republican politics, iowa doesn't matter that much anymore, but the beltway thinks it does, so the beltway is all excited about the straw poll this

campaign of rick perry, here comes the really important reporting out of texas about rick perry. please stay tuned. ♪ yes! ha ha! [ clicking ] ♪ what happened? power went out, want a hot dog? [ female announcer ] oscar mayer selects are made with 100% beef and have no artificial preservatives. oh, just booked a summer vaycay. ooo. sounds pricey? nah, with the hotels.com summer sale, you can find awesome deals for places nearby. interesting... wow, i'm blown away. you look great. hotels.com summer sale, save up to 30%. and get a free kindle. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. >>> the most interesting thing in presidential politics right now is governor rick perry of texas. the first presidential nominating process, is, of course, the iowa caucuses, they are set for february this time around, and the iowa caucuses are designed to capitalize, literally to capitalize -- iowa politics in order to capitalize to make money off the candidate's early attention to iowa, also hold the ames, iowa, straw poll. they encourage candidates to spend a ton of money to win, to give the kacandidat

moore on the rick perry candidacy. the obama jobs tour is tearing through the midwest. i'll ask my fellow minnesotans what they want to hear from the president. >> what are you going to do to create the jobs? there's no money. >> and the billionaire coach brothers have a new project. robert greenwald is here with the latest on the koch brothers role in resegregateing north carolina schools in north carolina. >> glad to have you with us. the republican party i guess has found a candidate to lead them to the promiseland. texas governor rick perry wasted no time jumping out in front of the pack of republicans trying to make barack obama a one-term president. perry showed america exactly what he's made of on the stump in iowa today. >> i get a little bit passionate about that. that's okay. i think you want a president that is passionate about america. that's in love with america. >> perry just inferred president obama is not in love with the united states of america. you know, folks, this is the same garbage with heard fro

rick perry. rick perry who really stole the spotlight here. speaking of politics. we're back in motels here on cnn. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. ♪ let me make you smile ♪ let me do a few tricks ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile ♪ so let me entertain you ♪ and we'll have a real good time ♪ [ male announcer ] with beats audio and flash, you can experience richer music and download movies straight to the new hp touchpad with webos. you've been stuck in the garage, while my sneezing and my itchy eyes took refuge from the dust in here and the pollen outside. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. it's the brand allergists recommend m

who is this rick perry? this year's bobby kennedy, shaking up the race and threatening to take all, or the latest version of fred thompson or wes clark? flameouts whose first day is their best? a tea party taker of the gop by bachmann or perry may just be what president obama needs. he comes off his worst week of his presidency in the tracking poll now at 41%. in fact, yesterday it went down to 39%. an obama low. hits minnesota ending up in iowa. will the president keep trying to compromise with republicans or is he ready to offer the public something they will buy, but the republicans can't. and raise my taxes, please. that's what warren buffett wrote in today's "new york times" in a piece entitled "stop coddling the super rich." time for the wealthy to sacrifice for the good of country and stop being coddled by congress. funny. what president obama's been saying all along. and let me finish with what has become of the republican party. a tea party with a perry on top. we start with the republican field as

rick perry, rick perry, rick perry. this is perhaps the larger role of rick perry in our national politics today, to make stuff obvious. and maybe that is a metaphor for his broader role in the campaign. but is rick perry's being this blatant about this any different legally than anybody else going around and nudging and winking about their monlaundering? laundering? thank you for joining us. >> thank you, rachel. >> you probably do not see this as money laundering. but in what ways is it not money laundering? >> one person's money laundering is another's free speech. and it happens in this case the other people who saw it that way was the supreme court, so that's the law. the problem is, you know, what you've really laid out pretty well is just how far back we've come from where we were nine years ago, 2002. mccain/finegold, which was the result of years of pushing and underscoring the role of special interest and big money in american politics. and let's not forget, it was the champion cause of the last republican pre

more insight rick perry. he's good buddies with fellow anti-union governor from wisconsin, scott walker. check this out, back in february perry cut a youtube video supporting radical agenda in attack of work men and women in wisconsin. take a look at how bad a political prognosticator rick perry is. >> you've got 13, 14 senators who instead of reporting the democratic process, they run off and somehow or another think that's going to be a productive. i don't think it is. i think that people -- they look at this like you know like the kid who takes his ball and goes home. i can't win. i can't play. then you know nobody else is going to. that is immature, it's juvenile, and at the end of the day, i'll bet you the folks of wisconsin, they punish those senators rather than heralding them as heroes. >> really? perry cropped out on that bet big time, didn't he? not a single member of the wisconsin 14 team was recalled this summer. still employed by the people and the only senators punished were two republicans. if

it is rick perry. >> rick perry has the evangelical support, conservative support. she has experience as a tax lawyer and congresswoman. he has experience for 26 years. >> 26 years in office. >> of course, the downside of that is that he has 26 years of consecutive office. unlike mitt romney, he can't say he has run a real business. and that is a very strong narrative right now, especially this year. >> steve king was pretty offended rick perry announced today. he said why not on friday or sunday. this is iowa. we do know iowa republicans are offended that rick perry stepped on this a little bit. >> there are. and this is the organizational strength that builds the caucus. it is basically 10% of the caucus. >> and a big fund-raiser for the party. >> that said, when you talk to others in the party, i think that if rick perry builds momentum and looks like a real serious candidate against barack obama, they will forgive very quickly. >> rick perry now says he'll make iowa -- he is putting equal focus on the early stage. pressure on mitt romney to play in iowa now? >>

in joining the race, rick perry brings serious baggage from, but if rick perry does well, as many are expecting him to do, if rick perry is still in this several months from now, you will know that democrats are winning against him if the race is not about religious convictions or social conservatism, but instead about rick perry's belief that social security and medicare are unconstitutional and must be taken apart. joining us now, howard dean, former governor of vermont and former chairman of the democratic national committee, howard dean, thanks so much for your time tonight. >> thanks for having me on. >> social security and medicare are unconstitutional in addition to what i quoted in the intro, he also called them a ponzi scheme. this sounds to me the same sort of republican argument that's been a gift for democrats all year, do you see it that way? >> this is going to be interesting, you'd think this might appeal to the tea party, the problem is he's got some other problems, for example, he talks a lot about the jobs created in texas since he was governor. there have been a lot

americans like southern governors. >> the problem with rick perry. look at that first clip you showed. the one where he's talking about being a right wing extremist. i think americans like social conservativism but they don't like mean and this gets to where the country is at the moment. the tone. chris: reagan used to talk about well fare queens, the young buck using food stamps to buy liquor and then all of a sudden he became the guy who just talked about the economy. >> he did. and i was interested in the whole premise, but one of the things i think is most similar between rageen and perry is that reagan was very, very much understood estimated. chris: my main reason is why i think romney doesn't wear well is you have to vote for manage -- something and i'm not sure what romney stands for. do people vote strategically? >> i don't think so. there are a lot of republicans who think he's fine and they say they somewhat approve -- approve of him. very few say they really like him. the level of intensity behind romney's support is very shallow. and tha

>> rove attacked rick perry because he knows rick perry doesn't have the smarts to pull this off. more importantly, he knows what rick perry said before rick perry came out on the national scene. the short list is, he wanted to ban social security, ban medicare, he wanted to ban teaching evolution in schools. interestingly enough he wanted to ban america. he wanted texas to secede from the united states. >> he never said it. >> mike -- >> it's not true. >> let me finish what i'm saying. >> he didn't say it. >> he said in part, because he did -- he didn't have the intellect to understand what a shallow simple ton proclamation that was, and you're worried about it, because you know that's going to come up in this campaign. and you have to defend this simple ton shallow statement. more importantly, michael, this is a guy who said, we should abandon the 16th and 17th amendment to the u.s. constitution. and you know when you go on your radio show, you have to tell your listeners the front-runner candidate, perry, your guy, is the guy who said, we need to abandon the 16th and 17th amend

we want you to vote for rick perry too. but not their rick perry, our rick perry. (laughter) on august 13th write in rick perry. that is perry with an a for america, with an a for iowa. -- (laughter) >> stephen: that's right. (cheers and applause) i'll join you. i'll join you. folks, i want everyone in the iowa nation to go to the ames straw poll, this saturday, going to be a beautiful day. there's food. there's booze and write in rick perry with an a. why a? because there's no "e" in team. and this evening-- (laughter) and this evening at 1700 hours we struck again with our second ad in the greater des moines metropolitan area. jimmy? >> iowa, a land of good people who can make up their own minds. but outside groups like jobs for iowa superpac are trying to panned err to iowans with pro perry ads feet oouring -- corn october fee that will-- just so you will vote for rick perry at the ames straw poll. but americans for a better tomorrow tomorrow believe that iowans deserve better. and we're going to give it to you. >> oh yeah. on august 13th, write in rick perry. t

governor, rick perry. who has had the courage today to call this time of fasting and prayer just as abraham lincoln did -- [ speaking in a foreign language ] -- in the darkest days of the civil war. >> hagee was not inspired to repeat his previous statements about hitler following god's wishes by killing jews or that catholicism is "a godless theology of hate." hagee explained why he likes to hang with a fake preacher like hagee. politico reports governor perry plans to admit he's running for perry at his speech in charleston, south carolina, this saturday, the same day america's political attention was supposed to be focussed on the ames straw poll in iowa. joining me now is howard fineman, editorial director for "the huffington post" and senior political analyst. is he running? >> i think so. >> is this official breaking news from howard fineman? >> no, this is howard fineman talking into a very plugged in senior republican. >> not the engines running, plane set to go to new hampshire and he decide he's

rick perry, everyone was all excited to have him there there. they're already talking about paul ryan and chris christie. >> can we stop the noise on that already? the reality is this field is set. you have the top tier. how many times have you heard that term in the past week. but you have the three folks that will be leading the charge. you have herman cain and newt gingrich, who i think did himself really well in the last debate in terms of laying out some policy. >> jon: so newt gingrich is still runing? >> he's still running, believe it or not. he's still running. but i think this conversation by a lot of the establishment type, particularly in washington... >> jon: you're talking about establishment republicans. >> karl rove or the "wall street journal," they need to cut that noise out... >> jon: they're not satisfied. >> too bad. get over it. the reality is these are the folks that are going to be running. all those other individuals are not going to get into this race at this point because they have to get on the ball yacht in 50 states,

, rick perry? >> oh, you bet. hey, we're from west texas. absolute. >> those cowboy boots actually go into stirrups, occasionally. unlike the first w. who was scared to death of horses as we know. this is really for both of you guys. wayne, you can start. rick perry would seem to have some real deficits when it comes to policy ideas. he wants to do away with social security. thinks it's unconstitutional. apparently wants to do away with the federal income tax. which provides 80% of federal income. how is this a winning platform for a presidential candidate from any party? >> you know, it's interesting. you pointed out his book. when that book came out less than a year ago, perry said, this is evidence that i am not going to run for president because anybody who wanted to run for president wouldn't be saying social security is a ponzi scheme. we ought to change medicare. medicaid is bad. the voting rights act has questions about it. the fed is a problem and we ought to get rid of the income tax and

rick perry is definitely different than barack obama. the question about rick perry is, can he really speak to and relate to people outside the core base? look, it's no coincidence he's going to south carolina. he spoke in alabama last night. again, even in texas, this jobs record of his is a loser, what he's brought in is illegal immigrants taking low paying jobs or government jobs. this is not something that anything he did really had anything bearing on. so i think he's got a lot of explaining to do. is he going to go outside the fox news audience? if he does, i hope you get a good whack at him. >> let's talk about what's going on in ames, iowa. brent, what are you looking for when they announce the results around 6:00 tonight? >> i'm thinking about everybody that ate the greasy food at the state fair yesterday. >> this is just the start. >> i think there's going to be indigestion. i don't think you're going to see a lot of people switching to rick perry at the last minute. >> we should remind people that people can write in. >> that'

campaign of rick perry, here comes the really important reporting out of texas about rick perry. please stay tuned for that. woman: day care can be expensive. so to save some money, i found one that uses robots instead of real people. 'cuz robots work for free. robot 1:good morning... robot 1:...female child. sfx: modem dial-up noise woman: flaws? yeah, um, maybe. anncr: there's an easier way to save. anncr: get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the

it might be in rick perry world, right? he's in the -- in the past two days he's demonstrated why people, republicans i know in texas, have said this guy is going to blow up. it may be that this is just who rick perry is, that these intemperate things he says are, yes, part of his design, but, in fact, are off the -- just out of bounds and are going to get him in serious trouble. i don't think the carl roves of the world like going back to this mean, i think it's been done, and he killed osama bin laden, so it really doesn't have the kind of traction that it once had. >> when you're talking about republicans who are skeptical of rick perry's chances and see a line like this as something indicating he's not going to last in the long term, i see it as evidence of his discipline, he's going to run with the you come down to texas, we'll show you what a f.e.d. chairman has to face when he does something i can't explain about federal policy, military doesn't respect america, he never served in the military, he's just going back t

because that's how rick perry plays at politics. not to be outdone by rick perry, however. i'm the only pundit in the whole country who thinks that sarah palin is running for president this year. but i'm sorry, sarah palin keeps acting like she's running. look what she did today. remember the one nation bus tour she did in may? the conceit of that bus tour was that it was really a family vacation. how your vacation was. you know, you gave your family vacation a name, you hired a chartered bus with a driver. you put a $13,000 vinyl wrap on the bus with the name of your vacation with your signature on it and patriotic images of the nation's heartland. one nation bus tour was a professionally produced family vacation touring historic sites in america. the "i swear this isn't for me running for president wipg, wink" bus tour started back on may 29 in arlington, virginia. one of the interesting things is it petered out the week after it started. she announced today, quote, we're happy to jump on the bus for another leg of our one-nation tour. the family vacation is starting up a

i concur -- to rick perry. i concur. the media thinks his statements are inflammatory, but there are so many inflammatory statements from both sides. i concur with the last caller, that if believes that in his heart, say it. it is a good read, and i would suggest that rick perry look to our neighbor, louisiana, and pick him for vice president. host: according to this resolution early gop primary poll, rick perry with 29% of the poll, mitt romney, 18%, michele bachmann, 13%. all of you can comment on our facebook page. if you go to facebook.com \ c- span. some ofon the vaccination, heree washington post." perry reversed his stance on the hpv vaccination. "that. nick in palmdale california. good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: what do you think about governor rick perry? caller: i think rick perry, on the federal reserve issue, is following ron paul. ron paul has been there, and rick perry as these issues. i did not know about the vaccination issue. but he also has a differing opinion from ron paul on israel. he

let's talk about rick perry. he gave a strong speech today. big theme of jobs, unemployment, talked about black unemployment, hispanic unemployment. really reached for an economic message. you know, hammered the president on both the economy and foreign policy. was talking texan. he was as deep south and texan as he could be. has evangelical support k. he put together a real campaign? >> oh, i think he can. and i think that the texas creating more jobs than any other state in the union, we're going to hear that over and over again. i think he's going to be coming right at michele bachmann in sort of that 2/3 of the republican party that's more conservative. i think he's coming right at her. she's going to be more social. he's going to be a little bit more economic. a lot of spillover. i think they're competing for the same sort of bandwidth in this campaign. >> when we talk about rick perry and mitt romney, what is the divide that you see now in the republican party between, you know, the perry candidacy, the rom

>> i think it's all about rick perry actually. rick perry drew his districts to get rid of me. split my district in five pieces because i stood up for texas schools. he wanted to take federal money and essentially use it to plug the state budget gap that his mismanagement created. i wanted to see it actually get into the classroom and it became very clear that if i stood by the amendment and protected the schools, rick perry was going to mess up my district. i'm going to beat him at his own game. uniting austin and san antonio will give me an opportunity to work with some people and provide the same kind of representation across that district that i provided to my neighbors here in austin. if governor perry didn't think i could win among my neighbors, he wouldn't have denied so many of them an opportunity to vote in the election. >> rick perry's not the only candidate zeroing in on south carolina, though, it's shaping up as the next battleground between the texas governor and his republican rival michele bachmann, nbc news campaign imbed shelly weinberg has been covering this s

meanwhile, rick perry is officially in the race. the texas governor announced his bid for president earlier this afternoon in charleston, south carolina. >> that is not a recovery, that is an economic disaster. [ applause ] >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in ames, iowa, where the voting is ending and officials are starting to count those votes. we'll soon learn who wins the first real test of candidates for the primary. the candidates made their case during the past few hours. >> you know what america needs, but unfortunately barack obama has absolutely no clue. he is like a manure stuck in a windstorm. >> together we are going to make barack obama a one-term president! >> time to bring the troops home. [ applause ] >> let's empower people! empower businesses! >> we can focus on the jeopardy, or we can seize the opportunities. >> i had to wave my hand and ask for recognition. this is the little engine that could campaign. >> checked out is nbc news correspondent and political director joins me now, are you in your element, bro

but rick perry is just getting into this race. so whether those numbers move even more in his direction remains to be seen. but it's probably not a bad bet that they will. >> we're also going to be joined by paul steinhauser who's joining us from ames, iowa, keeping a close eye on this as well. jim just mentioned, paul, nikki haley, she got great support from the tea party, she was already on the stage there at this conservative gathering. but you have to wonder. the tea party -- would the tea party and its backing of governor perry be as influential going into this race as perhaps the tea party has been backing other candidates before so much recent criticism of congress? >> reporter: yeah. this is going to be fascinating how the tea party plays in the race for the white house on the republican side. no doubt about it. remember, the tea party activists were extremely influential in 2010, last year, in the mid-term elections and influencing those republican primary battles. they've got a lot of favorites, it seems, right now. mich

rick perry in iowa yesterday. bill clinton was back in manhattan talking to a group of fire fighters. taking issue with some of perry's policies that really liking his good looks. >> i got to tell you, i watched governor perry announce for governor. he's a good looking rascal. he said, you know, i'm going to washington to make sure that the federal government stays as far away from you as possible. well i ride on air force one in the marine one helicopter and go the camp david and travel around the world and have a good time. i mean, this is crazy. >> i think you can like small government and still ride on air force one. >> a bit of a lame -- >> he is a good looking rascal. >> good looking rascal. >> the good looking rascal at the iowa state fair chowing down on pork chops and a stick and the way they do it back in texas. >> how is it, governor? >> that's plenty good. that's plenty good right there. >> pork like that in texas? >> they probably do. you just have to chase them down on the river. >> skinny this year.

perry and how rick perry responded today in new hampshire. listen to this. >> mr. perry just gt into the presidential race. i think everybody who runs for president, it probably takes them a little bit of time before they start realizing this isn't like running for governor or senator or congress. you've got to be a little more careful about what you say. but i'll cut him some slack. he's only been at it for a few days now. >> the president said i needed to watch what i say. i just want to respond back, if i may. mr. president, x as speak louder than words. my actions as governor are helping create jobs in this country. >> the two most controversy value things he said. ben bernanke could be engaged in treasonous acts. that it could be pretty ugly if he came to texas. the u.s. men and women would respect the commander-in-chief as opposed to the current commandner chief. are you surprised by these kinds of comments? >> i think the treasonous comment probably went further than the perry folks wanted. he wants to establish himself as a fighter. a

months. >> we know rick perry is michele bachmann's new challenger, but what do we know about rick perry? >> people are trying to figure out who exactly is rick perry. >> people are disconcerted about the religiousness of his campaign. >> no interest in running for president. >> his big idea is almost everything the federal government does is unconstitutional. what he said was social security is a ponzi scheme. >> he's got to go out there and beat somebody in iowa. >> rick perry mitt romney's worst nightmare? >> mitt romney is campaigning in new hampshire. >> go up to new hampshire and knock off mitt romney. >> might as well with legos. >> i'm a real person. >> for bachmann it's all about iowa, iowa, iowa. >> waterloo, waterloo, waterloo. >> they have good hair. >> he's an attractive candidate. >> last word favorite tim pawlenty is out, lawrence o'donnell responds. >> pawlenty's out. >> i'm from a small state. >> it was time to bow out. >> i tried to read tim pawlenty's book, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. >> and president obama gets a boost from a billionaire class trad

know about rick perry? >> he really believes in this stuff. >> unstoppable chuck norris-like figure. >> rick perry runs to the right and right away from the facts. >> governor perry is really big on miracles. >> rick perry does things rick perry's way. >> debunked the texas myth about job creation. >> not the high-paying jobs. >> jobs that got moved from one state to another. >> the tea party and the texasen. >> i don't think people in the tea party are going to be going for mitt romney. >> i welcome governor perry. >> rick perry also managed to offend carl rove. >> you know when you know you've gone too far? >> i got in trouble not talking about the federal reserve yesterday. >> you don't accuse the chairman of the federal reserve of being a traitor. >> cowboy from texas. >> we don't charge people with treason because we disagree with this. >> president obama kind of sort of should figure out if he loves america. >> i'll cut him some slack. >> you want a president in love with america. >> and michele bachm

rick perry will not make that mistake. he's practically instructing the crowd to rustle up a lynch mob. the perry campaign could not be more clear he had no regrets when he said this afternoon, "look, i'm just passionate about the issue, and we stand by what we said." a perry spokesman told "the washington post" in a statement the governor was expressing his frustration with the current situation, out of control spending that persists in washington. many agree spending more money is not the answer. technical note here, the federal reserve is not involved in spending anything. carl rove sharply criticized rick perry last night on fox news. >> you don't accuse of chairman of the federal reserve of being guilty of treason and suggesting we treat him pretty ugly in texas, you know, that's not, again, a presidential statement. >> now, rove and perry have a little bit of history, and like nearly every member of the bush camp, rove has no love for perry. but you know what, good old carl is still right. joining me now, alex wagner

rick perry will probably be the. the media will run such an onslaught of negativity, comparing him to george w. bush that he will not win a there. i will make one prediction and what everybody in the nation to hear this -- when the super group gets together to make the decision on the debt ceiling cuts and everything, if they come to a decision, obama will win the presidency because the powers that be and the super wealthy need to keep the confusion and commotion going on months the american people host: along those lines is a front-page story -- several lawmakers have pointed to the palle and sounded unexpectedly eager to find common ground. that is from the front page of "the washington post." next is dan from allentown, pa., good morning. caller: i want to make a comment regarding ron paul in this trouble. -- in the straw poll. it is not particularly important as far as the primary goes, i want to say that his positioning as close to michelle bachmann is a huge signal that people are starting to recognize him for

rick santorum and rick perry. the mccain side of it used to be huntman and pawlenty and romney but now pawlenty is out of it. so even though romney is definitely the front-runner here's your wild card issue. he doesn't fit into any pigeonhole, ron paul. after a shockingly strong showing when he ran in 2008 a lot of elements of his political message got co-opted over the past four years by other republican candidates this time around criticizing the federal reserve, arcane and elaborate ideas about policy and leave me alone rhetoric while being big government when it comes to abortion. a lot of others have developed ron paulisms. but what he has been getting cheers for and what he seems to be connecting on is bring the troops home. bring the troops home, end the wars now, isolationism that's always part of his message. jon huntsman who picked up a top pawlenty staffer from new hampshire is the only other candidate other than ron paul who is trying to tap into that well about the wars. who is trying to work public e