GOP power rankings 8/21/11...

Howdy, Mr. Perry!!!

Rick Perry officially joins the race, Romney is business as usual, Bachmann promises $2 dollar gas while Huntsman prepares for his last stand...

This week's rankings:

1) Mitt Romney - Romney stays #1 because no one else has really made him sweat just yet. Best organisation and deepest coffers of all the candidates, Romney is staying on message. While newcomer Rick Perry seems to speak his mind freely, Romney is a more polished, more national, more electable candidate. Perry may be more fun to cover right now, but sooner that style catches up with you. Romney may get some grief about his plans to build a much larger home (quadruple the size of his current three thousand square foot home in California in favor of a eleven thousand square foot residence. (Last Ranking: #1)

2) Rick Perry - Welcome to the campaign, Governor. Since the official announcement last weekend, I've heard a lot of expert analysis of Mr. Perry's chances. He's the new shiny thing right now, but there's a lot of chinks in that armor. First off, what works in Texas doesn't necessarily work everywhere else. Secondly, he needs money and lots of it to compete with Romney. There's a boatload of cash on the way, but he's still months behind the man from Massachusetts. Thirdly, he seems to appeal mostly to the Tea Party voter, which is bad news for him. Its bad news because Perry's already got the far right vote locked up. I wonder how many independents watched him over the last week and said, "YES! That's the guy we need..." So far at least, I don't think its very many...(Last Ranking: #3)

3) Michelle Bachmann - Uh-oh...That crazy guy from Texas is stepping on my toes. They both play well to the far right/Tea Party electorate, but as I said above, the GOP nomination is already going to get those votes. Bachmann pronounces that she's going to get us back to $2 .00 gas prices. Kind of like President Obama was going to cut the deficit in half during his first two years. Right. She might be missing Pawlenty soon...(Last Ranking: #2) 

4) Ron Paul - Jumps over Santorum to the number 4 slot. When a candidate complains about not getting enough air time due to the partiality of the news media that's one thing.When John Stewart agrees with you on national tv, that's another. September's debates are huge for Mr. Paul. (Last Ranking: #5) 

5) Sarah Palin - Her bus tour is back on!!! Her bus tour is now off!!! Name recognition wise she rules but that's it. Gallup shows her positive intensity (PI) score as equal to Romney's at 15, which is behind Cain, Perry and Bachmann. I know Karl Rove predicts she'll run, but I just don't see it. Its possible, certainly...but I say she's not running and will continue to make big bucks for Fox news. (Last Ranking: #8) 

6) Herman Cain - At the top of Gallup's PI rankings and coming off a 5th place finish in the Ames straw poll, Cain has moved onto New Hampshire. He is not currently part of the "upper tier" of candidates and will need to score some big points in the three September debates. If he tags Romney and/or Bachmann/Perry a few times, he'll remain viable. If he's not able to take on a high profile position in September, he may begin to plan his departure from his Presidential aspirations. (Last Ranking: #6) 

7) Rick Santorum - Eager to see how he does at the upcoming debates. He scored points in the last one, especially against Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Not likely to be a cross over candidate, I think he'll plan his exit unless he really injures one of the big guys. As he continues to toss his constituency red meat on issues like abortion, the environment, etc. he excites his base, but at the likely expense of broader appeal. (Last Ranking: #4) 

8) Newt Gingrich - How's Hawaii, Newt? (Last Ranking: #9) 

9) John Huntsman - Threw bombs over the weekend to cast his competition as too far to the right and that some have "zero substance." I liked his reasonable stances on global warming and evolution. Huntsman's trying to position himself as a reasonable, rationale alternative to the Romney, Bachmann's and Perry's of the race. It makes sense, as the far right of the field is pretty crowded. Will it work? Not well enough to matter, it won't. (Last Ranking: #10) 

Overall Rankings: (The lower the score, the better...)

(After 6 rankings...)

 

1. Romney - 6
2. Bachmann - 13
3. Perry - 24
4. Cain - 29

5. Palin - 33

6. Paul - 40

7. Santorum - 41 

8. Huntsman - 52
9. Gingrich - 55

(NOTE: Rankings are compiled by simply adding the rankings each week to a running total of same...)