Infighting

Rick Perry’s Team Begins Sniping

Top adviser decries “unbelievably subpar campaign.”

Iowa hasn’t even happened, but this article sure reads like an obituary: Politico picks over Rick Perry’s presidential campaign, saying some of his advisers “have begun laying the groundwork to explain how the Texas governor bombed so dramatically.” The article looks at “an intense, behind-the-scenes power struggle” between Perry’s longtime, Texas advisers and outside consultants who were brought in to revive his hopes. “There has never been a more ineptly orchestrated, just unbelievably subpar campaign for president of the United States than this one,” says one senior Perry adviser. Another top adviser faults Dave Carney, Perry’s longtime aide: “They put the campaign together like all the other Perry campaigns: raise a bunch of money, don’t worry about the [media coverage], don’t worry about debates and buy the race on TV. You have to be a total rube to think a race for president is the same as a race for governor.”