Rick Perry A Tea Party Lock? Not So Fast.
WASHINGTON — Rick Perry was with the tea party before the tea party wielded any clout.
The Texas governor publicized and attended the 2009 Tax Day “tea parties” that launched the movement created to rein in government, becoming one of the first and most prominent governors to do so.
But his early embrace of the movement may not be enough to vault him to the top of the tea party heap if he decides to enter the 2012 presidential race. As a late-announcing candidate, Perry would face a tough fight for tea party supremacy with candidates who have been running for president — or courting national tea party activists — for years.
The political stakes are high. According to a Gallup Poll, 28 percent of Americans identify with the tea party and, in some states, a majority of likely Republican primary voters support the tea party’s stated goals of slashing government spending and regulation. If anyone doubts the clout of the movement, just look to Washington, where the roughly 80 tea party Republican House members are blocking an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling without trillions of dollars in spending cuts.
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