Rick Perry has gone on the attack ahead of tonight’s sixth GOP primary debate in New Hampshire. In an attempt to recover his status as frontrunner in the race to be the Republican’s 2012 presidential nominee, the Texas Governor has released a controversial new video, only to be broadcast online, designed to cast doubt over Mitt Romney’s conservative credentials.
The sixty second film — which runs like a trailer for a Hollywood action blockbuster, replete with dramatic score — features an image of President Obama facing a mirror that frames Romney’s reflection and a clip of Romney confessing that there are “lots of good reasons” not to elect him. It also claims Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare legislation (“Romneycare”) cost $8bn to implement and “killed” 18,000 jobs. It ends with the tag, “Romney: Change you can believe in?” — an appropriation of the slogan Obama used, successfully, in 2008.
However, Perry’s decision to go on the offensive could backfire. Since he entered the field in August, his poll ratings have slumped: the most recent survey of Republican voters, published last week by Zogby, placed him third, behind Romney and Herman Cain, with just 12 per cent support — and this latest move may serve to confirm the impression that his campaign peaked too early following an initial surge. Romney’s task tonight is to articulate a simple message in direct, old-fashion terms. Desperation is not a good look.
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