Could the favourite start to put off donors? Over the past 48 hours all the money on the Republican party nominee has gone on Rick Perry – the flamboyant governor of Texas who joined the race at the weekend. Some bookies have priced him at 5/4 – which is an amazingly tight price on an event that won’t be settled for at least a year. As the clip above shows that Perry has attracted the wrath of veteran GOP campaigner…
Betfair Politics And one-time 2nd favourite Pawlenty quits the race There’s been a fair bit of activity on the betting markets following the formal announcement of Rick Perry’s declaration that he’s running and the aftermath of yesterday’s straw poll at Ames, Iowa. The Texas governor, Rick Perry, has edged into the favourite slot on Betfair while Pawlenty is to make a statement today that he’s pulling out. He was the big loser yesterday in Aimes after throwing a huge amount…
Will all the signs suggesting that Michelle Bachmann is heading for victory in the Aimes Straw poll – the first electoral test of the 2012 race – the big news tonight is likely to be the entry into the contest of Texas governor, Rick Perry. Bachmann’s victory, expected to be announced in the next half hour, enhances the credibility of her campaign, help with fundraising and also puts the spotlight on the losers. Although the Aimes event has no binding…
Can she win the Ames Straw poll? In a few hours time thousands of Republican party activists will be arriving at the Iowa state university campus in Ames for what has become the traditional kick off in the party’s race to find it’s candidate for the White House. Early next year the state should be the first to hold a primary – in its case through the caucus system – and a good performance today is critical for several of…
Is mixing church and state going too far? The big event this weekend the 2012 White House race has been a massive prayer event at a stadium in Houston attended by thousands of people. A key participant was the Texas governor and the man said to be just about to declare his candidature, Rick Perry. It seems that the whole event was devised as part of the build-up before his announcement. His detractors say that he’s going too far in…
Is this a “Must Win” for the GOP’s third favourite? A week on Saturday at a university campus at Ames in Iowa what’s generally regarded as the first serious test of opinion about who should be the Republican party nominee takes place. The Ames Straw poll can be a hugely influential and in 1999 attracted more that 23,000 participants. There’s a whole series of things from barbecues to concerts going on during day finishing off with a vote amongst participants…
Politico Will GOP voters view Romney any differently in 2012? The influential US site, Politicos, has an article up under the provocative title “Why Romney can’t win” in which the authors look at the fate of previous losers in White House races when they’ve sought to run four years later. Paul Goldman & Mark Rozel recently set out what they described as their first law of presidential motion which applies to Sarah Palin: “Losing vice presidential nominees never win the…
Is he more important as a foil for Romney? Nothing would make me happier than for Our Genial Host to better his May 2005 50/1 bet on Barack Obama to become the next POTUS by seeing Jon Huntsman win him the 200/1 bet made in November 2008. I still don’t think it likely – the Republican Party has not yet served its ‘Time in the Wilderness’ and been brought back round to the hungry pragmatism that oppositions need to generate…