2012

Perry’s Gay Attacks Split Campaign

Top pollster called new ad “nuts.”

Rick Perry’s political campaign may be ending as ineptly as it began. Some of his staff is apparently in revolt over his recent antigay turn, which has included an ad attacking openly gay soldiers. According to The Huffington Post, Perry’s top pollster, Tony Fabrizio, sent the ad’s creator an email calling it “nuts.” Perry’s socially conservative turn has apparently come at the urging of the ad’s creator, longtime GOP operative Nelson Warfield. "Tony was against [the ad] from the get-go," Warfield wrote. "It was the source of some extended conversation in the campaign. To be very clear: That spot was mine from writing the poll question to test[ing] it to drafting the script to overseeing production."