Rick Perry may have forfeited his lead in the Republican
presidential field during Thursday night’s debate in Orlando when
he declared that those who oppose subsidizing college education for
illegal immigrants are heartless.
“If you say that we should not educate children who have
come into our state for no other reason than they have been brought
there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart,”
Perry said, after being criticized by former Massachusetts Gov.
Mitt Romney for a Texas policy providing in-state tuition for
illegals.
Romney, who vetoed a similar tuition bill in
Massachusetts, pointed out that this amounts to a $22,000-a-year
discount for illegal aliens, as compared to the tuition that would
be paid by U.S. students from the other 49 states attending
universities in Texas. “That doesn’t make sense to me,” Romney
said.
It didn’t make sense to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick
Santorum either. “You’re sort of making this leap that unless… the
taxpayers subsidize it, [immigrants] won’t be able to go [to
college].… The point is, why are we subsidizing it?… And why should
they be given preferential treatment as an illegal in this
country?”
The crowd at the Orlando Convention Center cheered loudly,
as Santorum
continued: “And so, yes, I would say that [Perry]
is soft on illegal immigration. He doesn’t want to build a fence.
He gave a speech in 2001 where he talked about binational health
insurance between Mexico and Texas. I mean, I don’t even think
Barack Obama would be for binational health insurance.”
Debate observers — including a Fox News focus group
assembled by pollster Frank Luntz — seemed almost unanimous in
agreement that Perry lost Thursday’s debate, which would make him
now 0-for-3 in debates since entering the GOP field last month. The
Texas governor has seen a clear erosion in his lead over Romney. In
six of the first eight
polls taken after Perry announced his
candidacy Aug. 13, he had a double-digit lead over Romney
nationally, whereas the past five polls show Romney within single
digits. A Rasmussen poll released Wednesday showed Perry with just
a 28%-24% lead over Romney. And given Perry’s weak showing
Thursday, he and Romney will probably be neck-and-neck in the next
round of national polls.
As in last week’s debate in Tampa, Perry seemed to tire
midway through the Orlando debate. Smiling and confident at the
outset, he became irritable and even at times confused as the
evening went on. Perry’s attempt to paint Romney as a flip-flopper
was so badly fumbled that Mark
Hemingway of the Weekly Standard suggested that Perry
had suffered a stroke. While Perry scored some points, he also
committed what
Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post judged a
potentially damaging gaffe when he “declared that he
wouldn’t move an inch away from his book.” Rubin said, “In the
book, he favors states being allowed to legalize pot and gay
marriage, and repeal of the 16th and 17th Amendments. Moreover, it
is in that book that he argues Social Security is
unconstitutional.”
Romney obviously stands to gain most from Perry’s
stumbles, but other Republican candidates also helped themselves
Thursday. Santorum was praised by Rubin and by
Jon Ward of the Huffington Post, who said
“Santorum gained enormously from another strong
performance. He has gathered momentum with every debate — speaking
with authority and expertise on policy and with obvious passion on
issues in a way that resonates with the conservative grassroots.”
Ward suggested Santorum may be positioned to supplant Minnesota
Rep. Michele Bachmann as a favorite of social conservative voters.
(Bachmann’s campaign is reportedly suffering
fundraising problems.) And conservative columnist
Michelle Malkin declared: “Herman Cain’s passion
and personality really stood out.… [H]is personal story, business
experience, humor, and faith in the American dream really do add a
grass-roots Tea Party flavor to an otherwise bland establishment
field.”
One quick gauge of the impact of Thursday’s debate will be
the result of a
Florida Republican straw poll Saturday. But however that vote
turns out, the question now is whether Rick Perry can live up to
his early promise as the conservative alternative to the more
centrist Romney. And many of Perry’s supporters may agree with
former American Spectator reporter Philip Klein, now with
the Examiner, who
said last night that the Texas governor is “going to have to
step up his game.… In short, Perry has not blown it, but he is
blowing it.”
