Perry Insiders: Early Campaign Was Clueless

Rick Perry's campaign is playing the blame game as it limps towards the finish line in Iowa. Insiders who joined the campaign in the fall say Perry may be beyond saving because of mismanagement by the team of longtime advisers he brought with him from Texas. "There has never been a more ineptly orchestrated, just unbelievably subpar campaign for president of the United States than this one,” a senior Perry adviser tells Politico.

The advisers say Perry's Texas team was running his campaign exactly like his gubernatorial ones, with no polling or focus groups and next to no debate preparation. Top strategist Dave Carney spent millions in New Hampshire, where Perry had little hope, but failed to get him on the ballot in Virginia, they note. "You see a campaign like this for Herman Cain, you say, ‘Well, that’s what you’d expect.'" one strategist says. "But for a governor from one of the biggest states in the country and someone who can raise a ton of money? It’s mind-boggling. I’m more offended by that than losing." (More Rick Perry stories.)