Romney hones Perry attack plan

NY Times:

Gov. Rick Perry and his aides in Texas have spent hours studying old footage and records of Mitt Romney, stretching back nearly two decades, building a list of issues on which they believe Mr. Romney has waffled or wavered, seeking to brand him as inauthentic.

 Mr. Romney’s team is honing plans for an attack on Mr. Perry’s readiness to be president and commander in chief. They intend to press Mr. Perry on foreign policy, demand that he produce a national jobs plan and relentlessly pursue the case that Mr. Perry is out of step with his party on how to address illegal immigration.      

On both sides, well-financed allies are preparing nominally independent efforts on behalf of both men, from attack ads to get-out-the-vote efforts.

The lines of argument are hardening as the party’s leading presidential candidates, who delivered speeches here on Saturday, continued to dig in for what Republicans believe could be a long and bitter fight for the nomination that extends into the spring as new rules allow contenders to pick up delegates even in states where they lose.

After three debates that have shaped the race into a Perry-Romney contest, even while highlighting the imperfections and vulnerabilities of both men, the campaign is entering a new phase. The candidates have a week to make their pitch to donors before the third quarter ends on Sept. 30, a point that could further narrow the field.

The animosity between Mr. Perry and Mr. Romney has deepened as they compete for contributors, endorsements and, ultimately, the soul of the party. But the prospect of a two-man race has only intensified the thirst for more options, including new calls for Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey to reconsider a candidacy.

For Mr. Perry, the glow of his arrival to the field has given way to the rigors of campaigning, which his advisers say has been more difficult than he expected.

He has generated enthusiasm among many grass-roots conservatives and posted strong showings in many early polls. But his shaky debate performance Thursday night in Florida underscored concerns among establishment Republicans and donors about his electability and his skills as a candidate on a national stage — and the difficulty he has had planting serious doubts about Mr. Romney. He also finished a distant second place to the former business executive Herman Cain in a weekend Florida straw poll.

“Yep, there may be slicker candidates and there may be smoother debaters,” Mr. Perry said Saturday, drawing modest laughter from a luncheon crowd here. “But I know what I believe in, and I’m going to stand on that belief every day.”
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Perry is going to have to get a top notch debate coach if he is to survive the debate circuit.   He is going to have to go after Romney with campaign spots that hone the flip flop message in a more articulate way than he has done in the debates.He also needs to get out with the voters where he is more effective.