Poli Warns of Perry Gay Rumor By Retellg It

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A story by Poli predicts that if Texas ernor Rick Perry ns for print, he will aga have to al wh unproven mors that he's gay. Meanwhile, the story self is helpg spread the mors once more. The Ddge Report lked to the speculatn wh the headle "Media Digs Up Rumors." ...

Contents:

ALL YOUR RICK PERRY GAY SEX RUMORS COLLECTED ONE HANDY BOOK

Glen Maxey, the first openly gay member of the Texas State Legislature and longtime Democratic activist, spent most of last summer helpg a reporter for a "natnal news outlet" nail down persistent mors of Rick Perry's sexual relatnships wh men. The story got killed. So Maxey has published an e-book layg out the evince. Among the charg: Rick Perry has a small dick. * rick perry gay rumors *

Glen Maxey, the first openly gay member of the Texas State Legislature and longtime Democratic activist, spent most of last summer helpg a reporter for a "natnal news outlet" nail down persistent mors of Rick Perry's sexual relatnships wh men. A "Gay Bsman" iend of Maxey's emailed him this:The whole story is that i have a ex iend who hired this kid years ago o sex and they beme iends. I was out at Ra [a gay club At] wh my iend and we ran to this htler kid.

"Among the other leads Maxey and the reporter pursued were reports that a gay mallrat who always wore fancy cloths and jewelry lled Rick Perry his "sugar daddy" (he nied when reached by Maxey), that Perry had an affair wh a disgraced gay former legislator who had been nvicted for misappropriatn of funds (he nied when reached by the reporter), that there exists a photo of Perry and the nvicted legislator together, shirtls a field of bluebons (he never found ), that Perry attend a gay party wh a iend who "had his pkie fger hooked to [Perry's] belt night long, " and that Perry fired three gay staff members a hoe-cleang after the Connor mors first says the story was wrten, eded, and placed for publitn last October—along wh strenuo nials and legal threats om the Perry mp—when the rporate parent of the "natnal news outlet" killed , partly due to squeamishns about the story and partly bee Perry's mpaign llapsed. Former six-term state reprentative Glen Maxey and Texas’s first openly gay legislator, has self-published a book tled Head Figure Head: The Search for the Hidn Life of Rick Perry which he vtigat mors about the ernor’s sexualy. “Maxey scrib his own book as ‘the story of my failed attempts to expose Rick Perry’s homosexual enunters.

His characterizatn of the suatn match one outled more tail an ebook by Mike Allen and Evan Thomas, which explaed that Perry’s ais were “distrsed to learn that Jason Cherkis, a Huffgton Post reporter, was At prowlg around on a story that had been gossiped about for years the Texas pal: is Perry gay? “We looked at what we had; we realized that was not a publishable story, and was over, ” Ariana Huffgton told of early Monday morng, the book was ’s number-one bt-seller the “Gay and Lbian” tegory, as well as the number-one Kdle book the “Electns” tegory. Roughly seven years ago, Perry himself addrsed the unsubstantiated buzz that he and his wife planned to divorce and that he was gay.

RICK PERRY GAY RUMORS: GOVERNOR'S AIS PREPARED TO TACKLE ALLEGATNS SHOULD THEY RURFACE: REPORT

Team Perry Reportedly Prepared To Tackle Gay Rumors Should They Rurface * rick perry gay rumors *

The stori were remarkably wispread and remarkably specific: Perry’s wife, was said, was divorcg him after disverg Perry bed wh an ai, an openly gay man.

RICK PERRY GAY RUMORS SPARK STEPHANIE MILLER/RH LIMBGH/POLI WAR OF WORDS

Texas Governor Rick Perry seems to have a b of a Charlie Crist problem, at least acrdg to this week's Poli article dmmg up old mors that the potential 2012 Republin ndidate may be gay. The article is already on the lips of several polil mentators, notable liberal talk rad host Stephanie Miller, who wonred whether Rh Limbgh's support would dwdle if mors were te. The ment land her hot water wh nservativ, naturally, who turned the spotlight on her own sexualy and her choice to brg up Perry's. * rick perry gay rumors *

The stori climaxed on Febary 24, when a gay-rights group picketed the mansn rryg signs wh such slogans as ’s okay to be gay, guv.

“Well, sh, I’ve gone to parti wh my gay iends and I’m not gay. Yet every gay guy At knew someone, always a iend of a iend, who fely slept wh the ernor.

At one party, I had one gay guy swear Perry was a top and one gay guy swear he was a bottom.

WARNS OF PERRY GAY RUMOR BY RETELLG IT

Glen Maxey, a polician om At, Texas, recently publish an e-book about Rick Perry's alleged gay sex life. * rick perry gay rumors *

Texas Governor Rick Perry seems to have a b of a Charlie Crist problem, at least acrdg to this week’s Poli article dmmg up old mors that the potential 2012 Republin ndidate may be gay. The story begs wh Monday’s Poli piece, which argu that Rick Perry gay mors uld be the new Barack Obama Mlim mors, and that Perry’s team, should he ci to n for Print, is bracg for impact. Miller jok that “if [Perry] turns out to be gay, Rh wont be iends wh him, ” to which a -host rponds, fx-news anchor voice, “noted homosexual Rick Perry.

Conservative watchdog Newsbters immediately acced Miller of “spreadg the mor” that Perry is gay, though while beg the one to brg up the Poli article, Miller very clearly stat she se no evince to believe that. The first, of urse, is the ial mor that Perry is gay– the sort of mor that, for a social nservative, n be serly damng. The obv pot that such mors have no place the polil disurse has time and aga been proven one of the most apt at beg pletely ignored by anyone affectg the polil disurse– a sad but nohels ncrete realy perpetuated by the satiable thirst the news cycle seems to have for sex– real or virtual, gay or straight, proven or mored.

REPORT: RICK PERRY AIS BATTLED GAY RUMOR WH LAWSU THREAT

* rick perry gay rumors *

Poli may be reportg on a story about a mor, and not that mor self, but throwg a shy ltle trket like a gay mor out there is more than enough to distract the media for at least a few hours– and that Poli ran the story mak the mor fair game for someone like Miller some ntexts.

Perry's team is braced for a return of mors om years ago that suggted the Texas ernor is a closeted gay man, and that he and his wife had separated. * rick perry gay rumors *

Miller ed the story only to highlight what she perceiv as Limbgh’s homophobia– an entirely different argument altogether– but never suggted she believed the mors. Nor did her -host, whose fake newsster voice may have even been a Limbgh imprsn of how he would talk about Perry if he were gay (but was more likely jt a throwaway ment), fively “out” Perry.

Not gog to do well the ep south. Is Rick Perry gay? Rumors hnt potential printial bid - Natnal Democrat | * rick perry gay rumors *

Newsbter‘s Jack Coleman‘s issue wh the clip om Miller’s show appears to be that, bee she was permted to stay the closet until she was ready to e out, she should give the same rpect to those who may or may not be ready yet: Miller apparently wants Republin policians she spects of beg gay to e out of the closet as well, regardls of whether they are so cled, ” he wr.

Miller only acced Limbgh of homophobia– a claim that, given Elton John‘s appearance at Limbgh’s latt weddg, is more than up for bate– but did not ment on Perry.

To raise the specter of hypocrisy at Miller bee she happens to be gay don’t exactly tackle the key problem the aris even botherg to addrs the mors as if they had any impact on Rick Perry as a polil figure that has the power to fluence lns of Amerin liv. Sure, Miller is as guilty as Poli and Newsbters for pollutg the natnal discsn wh the topic (even if Rick Perry do end up beg gay, wastg time on this and not his actual polici hurts Amerin voters)– fact, the only nocent party here on this ont is Rh Limbgh.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* RICK PERRY GAY RUMORS

Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-stroke" d="M11.7661 16.3228L4.5 20.1695V3.5H19.5V20.1695L12.2339 16.3228L12 16.199L11.7661 16.3228Z" stroke-lep="square"/></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd kdAzed gkccfO">Save</span></button></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh ledqMp viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU ePWKOF bookmark mobile"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-stroke" d="M11.7661 16.3228L4.5 20.1695V3.5H19.5V20.1695L12.2339 16.3228L12 16.199L11.7661 16.3228Z" stroke-lep="square"/></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd kdAzed gkccfO">Save</span></button></div></div></div><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP bwyLBj"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG eOdfIs"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa lnwCqV body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="has-dropp">In the history of morn printial bat, may go down as the sgle most huiatg moment sce Senator Lloyd Bentsen rmed Senator Dan Quayle that he was “no Jack Kennedy.” Except this time the damage was self-flicted.</p><p>Rick Perry, the impossibly handsome three-time ernor of Texas, the man who three months before had seemed on the verge of beg anoted the likely Republin printial nomee, had already seen his poll numbers plummet om as high as 38 percent to lows the sgle digs. He had never liked bat and strenuoly attempted to avoid them durg his mpaigns Texas— fact, he managed to w his last term whout agreeg to a sgle one. And now was easy to see why: Perry had done so poorly a strg of G.O.P. bat all through September and October, stumblg and bumblg and unsure, that his people had actually suggted he might bow out of future ntts.</p><p class="paywall">But he uldn’t do that, not wh his mpaign on life support, and so there he was, on a mid-November Wednday night Rochter, Michigan, lnchg to yet another diatribe agast the Washgton burecraci he promised to elimate as print. “I will tell you, ’s three agenci of ernment, when I get there, that are gone,” Perry told the panel of morators and a natnal televisn dience. He turned to his left, where Ron Pl, the former ngrsman, was listeng polely, and began to tick the agenci off wh his fgers.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">“Commerce,” Perry said, “Edutn, and the, uh . . . ”</p><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad---ntent"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot---ntent" data-no-id="o5hrlu"></div></div><p class="paywall">Sudnly a look of nfn crossed the ernor’s face. A se of d embarrassment immediately replaced . He poted his fger to his temple.</p><p class="paywall">“What’s the third one there? Let’s see.”</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Lghter epted om the dience. Perry turned to Ron Pl, as if seekg help. Pl raised five bony fgers.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“You need five,” Pl said. “Five.”</p><p class="paywall">“Oh, five,” Perry said, sg broadly. “O.K.”</p><p class="paywall">He dropped his head, like a sixth-grar stumped a spellg bee. “So, Commerce, Edutn, and . . . um . . . um . . . um.”</p><p class="paywall">Once aga the ernor looked toward Pl. But was Mt Romney, far down to his right, who tried to bail him out.</p><p class="paywall">“The E.P.A.?” Romney asked, meang one of Perry’s favore punchg bags, the Environmental Protectn Agency.</p><p class="paywall">“E.P.A.,” Perry said, sg obv relief. “There you go. No.” Pole applse broke out, mixed wh lghter. Perry chuckled as well, hopg to diffe what was clearly an excciatg moment. But thgs only got worse.</p><p class="paywall">“Serly?” one of the morators, the journalist John Harwood, asked. “Is E.P.A. the one you were talkg about?”</p><p class="paywall">Aga Perry appeared nfed. “No, sir; no, sir,” he said. “We were talkg about the agenci of ernment—E.P.A. needs to be rebuilt. There’s no doubt about that.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“But you n’t?” Harwood began. “You n’t name the third one?”</p><p class="paywall">“The third agency of ernment,” Perry said.</p><p class="paywall">“Y,” Harwood said.</p><p class="paywall">“I would do away wh, ah, the Edutn, ah, the, ah, Commerce, and, let’s see . . . I n’t. The third one. I n’t. Sorry.” His se fally disappeared. In s place me a sheepish look.</p><p class="paywall">The last word Rick Perry spoke was “Oops.”</p><p class="paywall">“Oops,” fact, would be an aquate summary of the Texas ernor’s entire mpaign. The morng after Perry’s epic bra eeze, the punds were all but clarg his ndidacy ad. In <em>The New York Tim,</em> the nsultant Mark McKnon lled “the human equivalent of the shuttle Challenger.”</p><p class="paywall">“I knew people who jt uldn’t watch,” says Cragg H, a former Washgton- bure chief of the <em>Hoton Chronicle.</em> “It was jt such a creepy moment. Your heart said, There he go. It’s over. He’s ad. It had a r wreck aspect to .”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB kNleGZ sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="zvvh2"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RecircMostPopularWrapper-bRuGTi jkTTgR recirc-most-popular-wrapper viewport-monor-anchor"><div class="RecircMostPopularConter-jiViNn ktrplG recirc-most-popular-sparrow-trackg hi-asi-ad" data-most-popular-id="mod-most-popular-84"><div class="RecircMostPopularHeadg-iVzhzt hBHzvB">Most Popular</div><ul 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summary-em__ntent--no-bric"><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM fPFrPI summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div data-ttid="ClampWrapper" class="ClampWrapper-kZxfkB hTTNGO clamp SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ hRVxvR summary-em__hed"><div class="ClampContent-hilPkr jVhSBH"><div class="SummaryItemHedTag-TWblf gxaOcP" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Te Crime, Te Fah: The Serial Killer and the Texas Mom Who Stopped Him</div></div></div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Julie Miller</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></li><li><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ RecircMostPopularSummaryItem-jQxxiw fHLKqj ad ad--asi"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--asi" data-no-id="c8v7ku"></div></div></li></ul><div class="RecircMostPopularFooter-enPjgs eAuebe"></div></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="9s3h2r"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa lnwCqV body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">“It was agonizg to watch, whether you liked him or not,” says Bill Miller, a top lobbyist At and a longtime Perry observer. “Is he ad? Never say never, but would have to be one of the greatt ebacks history.”</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">What on earth happened to Rick Perry? When he an­nounced his ndi­dacy, mid-Augt, he vlted overnight to the top of the Republin field, turng the race to what many assumed would be a two-man ntt wh Mt Romney, the oime Massachetts ernor. Buoyed by a strong Texas enomy, a darlg of Tea Party activists, and never havg lost a sgle race durg his 27-year reer, Perry, for a moment at least, appeared unstoppable. His honeymoon, however, proved btally brief. First me his suggtn that the Feral Rerve chairman, Ben Bernanke, was somehow “treasono.” Then me his charge that those who disagreed wh his cisn to grant tnal aid to illegal immigrants had no heart. And then, worst of all, those bat, where he looked for all the world as if he wasn’t ready for prime time. A killg blow me when <em>The Washgton Post</em> disclosed that a er lease where Perry and his father hunted wh iends 30 years ago went by the name “Niggerhead”; the name, was said, had been pated on a rock at the entrance. By mid-October Perry’s poll numbers had plunged to as low as 6 percent.</p><p class="paywall">“Perry is a classic stance of the ndidate who is almost lerally perfect on paper—he had the perfect résumé, the perfect story le, the perfect reputatn, for Republin surgents,” m John Podho­retz, the nservative lumnist. “All he had to do was make a rpectable showg and he would have been anoted. All he had to do was walk and talk and chew gum and he would have won . This race was Perry’s to lose.” Podhoretz draws a parison to Sarah Pa­l’s performance 2008: “Perry is a lot like Pal. Pal was ill-prepared; she didn’t look like she knew what she was talkg about, eher. People were burned by Pal After fendg Pal for a long time, people on the right are no mood to do aga.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The Harr They Fall</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">In At, where Perry has emerged as the longt-servg—and probably the most powerful—ernor Texas history, everyone has a different theory about why he has fared so poorly the early rounds of the printial mpaign. His team, most of whom have been at Perry’s si for a or more, is nsired very tight, very skillful, and very ntrollg; they don’t leak, and, Texas electns at least, they don’t make many mistak. Their zeal for ntrol, however, means that Perry has given fewer prs terviews over the years than many ernors. He has th never been forced to velop the nversatnal polish that televised bat and terviews mand.</p><p class="paywall">Another explanatn, typilly voiced only whispers, is that for all Perry’s obv polil strengths—his populary wh nservativ, excellent polil stcts and timg, the immense fund-raisg mache he has built Texas, the *hair—*he simply may not be the sharpt tool the shed. After watchg him march up the polil ladr the last 20 years, few At believe Perry posss any genue tellectual cursy; at Texas A&M, his amic rerd was ltered wh C’s. “A&M was full of the guys like Rick om ty towns who wanted to be vets—none of them had a chance,” rells Don Mro, an At attorney who was a member of Perry’s class. “It wasn’t that Rick was stupid. It was that he me om a [high school] class of 13 people. He had no tn. I mean, Rick is not dumb. He is jt not ted.”</p><p class="paywall">But “ndidat who aren’t that smart n be really good,” pots out one Democratic nsultant At, “bee they stay on msage. A guy like Rick, you tell him there are three thgs you have to say, and ’s all you have to say, he’ll do .” If he n remember them, that is.</p><p class="paywall">The most trigug explanatn for Perry’s llapse has been quietly circulatg At for weeks. This theory suggts that the ernor is sufferg om the after­effects of his low-back surgery July, six weeks before he announced his ndidacy; his surgeon, a iend who operat a Hoton “medil day spa” specializg liposuctn and laser hair removal, fed two of Perry’s vertebrae and then jected the ernor—for the first time the surgeon’s reer—wh two teaspoonfuls of stem cells that had prevly been cultured om fatty tissue taken om Perry’s hip.</p><p class="paywall">“Ever sce, and you saw this at the very first bate, he jt seemed to be very unfortable, you know, twistg his torso,” observ the an of Texas polil wrers, Pl Burka of <em>Texas Monthly.</em> “I thk he’s got back pa and may be takg meditn for . He is not on his game. He stopped wearg [his tramark black wboy] boots and started wearg orthopedic sho and a back brace. Of urse, the mpaign ni there is any problem. But he don’t seem to have any energy. He jt do not look like the same man to me. It’s shockg.”</p><p class="paywall">How do Perry expla his stumbl to date? Lord knows. A young woman his mpaign office polely accepted *Vany Fair’*s requt for an terview, sayg would be “put the file.” After that, not a sgle e-mail or telephone ll was ever returned.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Image may nta Human Person Clothg Apparel and Text" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div></figure><p class="has-dropp paywall">To many outsirs, pecially those who live on the asts, Perry is jt another sry Texas right-wger who talks too much about the Lord J Christ and all the thgs he learned readg the Bible, who publicly qutns evolutn and even the validy of Barack Obama’s birth certifite (an issue he has lately backtracked on). The pens of eastern lumnists fairly drip wh nscensn when they stoop to wrg about him—not that they unrstand much more than that he grew up the middle of nowhere and was a hotshot yell lear (the male cheerlears who lead boistero crowds at bonfir and athletic ntts) at Texas A&M. If Perry was known outsi Texas before the last year, was as the ndidate Karl Rove groomed—and dropped—to take on Gee W. Bh.</p><p class="paywall">And while all that may be te, took more than an evangelil bent and zealo nservatism for Perry to rise Texas polics. Watchg his alternately pugnac and eerily visible performanc durg the fall’s Republin bat, was easy to fet that, as even his tractors acknowledge, he has always been extraordarily well liked, ready wh a big se, a firm handshake, excellent manners, and a strong clap on the back—social niceti many Texans value highly. As a Texan myself, I’ve always thought that Perry was so popular bee he embodi an ialized versn of Lone Star manhood. It’s the boots (one set is emblazoned wh the word “liberty”). The dropped *g’*s: lik’, fight’, smok’. It’s that until he entered polics he was an thentic Wt Texas rancher, a votn many Texans still fd enormoly appealg. Above all, though, ’s that craggy wtern face; Perry is forever beg pared to the Marlboro Man.</p><p class="paywall">Durg his first statewi mpaign, for agriculture missner, 1990, “there was a poster of Perry they put out, wearg chaps, feet up on a bale of hay, his crotch ont and center,” remembers the lobbyist Bill Miller. “I saw that poster everywhere, every office I went to, and I thought, This guy is hot. In every sense of the word.” Mil­ler lghs. “I remember havg lunch wh a liberal lady iend of me, and she leans over to me and says, ‘Bill, do you thk Rick Perry puts socks down the ont of his pants?’ That’s when I realized he was really gettg unr some people’s sks.”</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">On all matters of Texas machismo, fact, Perry sr pretty close to a 10 out of 10. “Weather, football, huntg, fishg, all that—he’s expert at Texas bullsh,” Miller says. “He works hard at beg liked, and that’s a big part of his appeal.” Another lobbyist, who has vatned wh Perry ais, says, “He n be the most crass guy you’ve ever met. I mean, public, he’s smooth. But when he’s wh the guys? Oh, God, ’s a different program. He tells dirty jok a whisper. He’s a whisperer, pecially groups. It’s the old mentaly here At, you know, wh the old lobbyists. A guy they don’t like the place and they lean over and whisper, ‘He’s gay.’ Perry’s got a real locker-room si.”</p><p class="paywall">“Perry once said somethg my prence that jt appalled me,” says Pl Burka. It ncerned a polil rival at the time, the popular Democratic Speaker of the Texas Hoe, Pete Laney. “A iend’s dghter was a softball game,” Burka ntu. “Perry asked me to e out wh him. To see him wh the guys. Perry was late gettg there—he had a doctor’s appotment. So he fally shows up. You know, everyone go, ‘Oh, how’d go?’ He go, ‘It was awful. He gave me a Laney,’ meang an enema. How uld he do that? Comparg Pete Laney to an enema? Laney was loved.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-4 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">That Perry n overplay the machismo rd was evint the skepticism that greeted his story of shootg a yote. As he told , the cint occurred last year, when he was joggg wh his dog a ral area of southwt At. He claimed—and has sce repeated—that when the yote menaced his dog he shot and killed wh a laser-sighted .380 Ruger pistol ntag hollow-pot bullets. Perry said he rried the gun bee he feared rattlnak, but even Texas, many uldn’t image dog such a thg—never md the qutn of how and where one rri a pistol sweatpants.</p><p class="paywall">“We were at a Boy Sut functn, and I said to him, ‘Rick, man, I have to ask you: Did you really kill that yote?’” says Don Mro.</p><p class="paywall">“And he go, ‘Yeah, I did.’</p><p class="paywall">“‘Wh a pistol?’</p><p class="paywall">“‘Yeah.’</p><p class="paywall">“‘While you were joggg?’</p><p class="paywall">“‘Yeah.’</p><p class="paywall">“‘And had a laser sight on ?’</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-5 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“‘Yeah.’</p><p class="paywall">“And then he showed me a picture of the gun, on his phone. I did fd that kd of strange, but you know what? He didn’t. <em>At all.</em>”</p><p class="paywall">Grand Old Party School</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">This kd of behavr n ed seem strange, at least until one unrstands who Rick Perry is and where he me om. He is a product of extreme ral Texas the 1950s and early 1960s, raised on a prairie farm, where he rose early, put on unrwear his mother had ma by hand, and fed the livtock. He is a fifth-generatn Texan, the scendant of a long le of small-time policians; a great-great-grandfather moved to the state after fightg for the Conferacy and served the legislature before settlg Haskell County, 55 north of the neart cy, Abilene. Ever sce, the Perrys have been ranchers and farmers, pryg tton om the th soil. Rick’s father, Ray, married his wife, Amelia, 1947 and, startg out as a tenant farmer on 312 acr, eventually built to a sprawlg farm of 10,000 acr. A unty missner for 28 years, Ray Perry raised Rick and his sister, Milla, a 1920s-style bungalow so rickety that Rick has told of dt clouds billowg through the wallboards durg wdstorms. Pat Creek self is more an area than an actual town—jt a ty school, a church, and a muny center.</p><p class="paywall">In terviews over the years, Perry has characterized his boyhood as idyllic, given over to farm chor, 4-H fairs, and Boy Sut troop meetgs. On a Sut trip to Texas A&M, he fell love wh the mp, a haven for generatns of ral-Texas teenagers, which began acceptg women as full-time stunts only 1963, five years before Perry’s arrival. Then, as now, stunt life was domated by the Corps of Cats, the gung-ho source of “Aggie” pri, which divid g stunts to an array of ary outfs affiliated wh the four service branch. Frhmen, known as “fish,” endured boot-mp-style exercise and disciple so harsh that one of Perry’s classmat dropped ad.</p><p class="paywall">“My first rellectn of Rick was that first day, late Augt ’68. Our heads had jt been shaved, and they had blue jeans and tennis sho and whe T-shirts, teachg how to stand formatn,” remembers John Clar, then a fellow fish, who is now a veterarian Jourdanton, Texas. “I look down and he had a rattlnake belt on, and I said, ‘O.K., he’s probably om Wt Texas.’ Afterward I remember Rick’s father, Ray, walked over to our outf manr, Gee Schriever, standg unr a ltle oak tree by the dorm, and said, ‘Make a man out of him.’ Gee shook his hand and said, ‘Thank you, sir, we will.’”</p><p class="paywall">“Fish” Perry, as he was known, drew a spartan room, lled a “hole,” Dorm 8, home of Squadron 6, the “Flyg Tigers,” which was affiliated wh the air force. His hole was adjacent to that of Schriever and his executive officer. When the olr ts banged on the wall, Perry and his roommate had 10 sends to htle to their room and do “whatever they wanted: ‘Make my bed,’ ‘Get me a cup of ffee,’ ‘Take off my boots’—whatever they say, you do,” Clar rells.</p><p class="paywall">Perry’s clost chum at A&M, John Sharp, was a stunt lear who would go on to a long reer of his own Texas polics. Sharp’s favore tale of their A&M days, told repeatedly over the years, is of the time he and Perry realized that they uld flh an M-80 firecracker down an upstairs toilet their dormory, to explo a downstairs toilet—a trick for which the two ts received two weeks of extra duti as punishment.</p><p class="paywall">Perry hoped to bee a veterarian, but by his own admissn he stggled his class, pecially anic chemistry. His gra transcripts were led wh C’s and D’s. Vet school began junr year, but near the end of his sophomore year Perry returned to his dorm downst after meetg wh the an. As Clar rells, “Rick told me, ‘Well, looks like I’m gog to go flyg [ the air force].’ I said, ‘What’s the al?’ He said, ‘Let me tell you what the an told me. He put his arm around my shoulr and told me, ‘Son, you are sted for great thgs. But they’re not veterary science.’”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-6 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">A&M was then the procs of wrenchg change. There were still only around 1,500 women on a mp of almost 15,000—and membership the Corps was no longer mandatory. Stunt lears fell to two mps: those favor of further mornizatn and those ristg change, many of them the Corps, whose shrkg membership found self on the fensive. Relatns between the two sis all but llapsed Perry’s sophomore year, when a new Corps manr ordaed that fish uld no long­er speak wh eher women or civilian stunts, known as “non-regs.” “There was a tremendo amount of tensn between the Corps and the non-regs,” rells Clar. “This was at a time of long hair and psychelics and anti-war protts, and here we were the Corps wh shaved heads. It was agast the world. At least that’s how we felt.”</p><p class="paywall">“Rick fell wh the Old Guard,” remembers Garry Mro, a yell lear two years ahead of Perry. “The Corps of Cats was one of those plac where the more extreme you were the, quote, ‘better’ you were. That was Rick. You had a hard-re group of people that were really nasty. You’re supposed to speak to everyone on mp. They wouldn’t allow their hmen to speak to the non-regs, and they did nasty thgs to women—not talkg to them, ignorg them. Rick was really, really tough about that.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="rv1m1q"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RecircMostPopularWrapper-bRuGTi jkTTgR recirc-most-popular-wrapper viewport-monor-anchor"><div class="RecircMostPopularConter-jiViNn ktrplG recirc-most-popular-sparrow-trackg hi-asi-ad" data-most-popular-id="mod-most-popular-85"><div class="RecircMostPopularHeadg-iVzhzt hBHzvB">Most Popular</div><ul class="RecircMostPopularItems-dCAajf 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Tell Tmp About a Sealed Search Warrant and Potentially F--k Up Jack Smh’s Crimal Invtigatn</div></div></div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Bs Lev</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></li><li><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff jnQVDN summary-em summary-em--has-borr summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-si-by-si summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard RecircMostPopularSummaryItem-jQxxiw jkeAv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hlQxkn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Riley Keough on Growg Up Prley, Losg Lisa Marie, and Inherg Graceland" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent summary-em__ntent--no-bric"><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM fPFrPI summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div data-ttid="ClampWrapper" class="ClampWrapper-kZxfkB hTTNGO clamp SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ hRVxvR summary-em__hed"><div class="ClampContent-hilPkr jVhSBH"><div class="SummaryItemHedTag-TWblf gxaOcP" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Riley Keough on Growg Up Prley, Losg Lisa Marie, and Inherg Graceland</div></div></div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Brt Hennemuth</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></li><li><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff jnQVDN summary-em summary-em--has-borr summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-si-by-si summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard RecircMostPopularSummaryItem-jQxxiw jkeAv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hlQxkn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Te Crime, Te Fah: The Serial Killer and the Texas Mom Who Stopped Him" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent summary-em__ntent--no-bric"><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM fPFrPI summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div data-ttid="ClampWrapper" class="ClampWrapper-kZxfkB hTTNGO clamp SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ hRVxvR summary-em__hed"><div class="ClampContent-hilPkr jVhSBH"><div class="SummaryItemHedTag-TWblf gxaOcP" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Te Crime, Te Fah: The Serial Killer and the Texas Mom Who Stopped Him</div></div></div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Julie Miller</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></li><li><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ RecircMostPopularSummaryItem-jQxxiw fHLKqj ad ad--asi"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--asi" data-no-id="x8g0p"></div></div></li></ul><div class="RecircMostPopularFooter-enPjgs eAuebe"></div></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="w9w4ef"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa lnwCqV body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Other stunt lears, however, don’t remember Perry as beg so bative. Elected his junr and senr years as one of five yell lears, Perry was proment on mp but only peripherally volved stunt polics. “Rick was one of the tradnalists, ’s te, but he was unfailgly pole, even grac,” says Mac Spears, an Indian­apolis bsman who as a stunt favored mornizatn. “He was well liked, not ntroversial, jt a really good guy,” says Kent Caperton, a classmate of Perry’s, who later beme a Democratic state reprentative. “I will say, I don’t thk you’ll fd any of his classmat that would have predicted he would be a printial ndidate.” Adds Glenn Honaker, who roomed wh Perry, “He didn’t stand out as a world lear by any means.”</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">Upon his graduatn, 1972, Perry joed the air force, where he was traed as a pilot and was eventually assigned to fly C-130 transport plan. He has sce asserted that his travels while the air force, which took him to South Ameri, Europe, and the Middle East, tght him much about the rt of the world and s ernments. In fact, several of those who served wh him downplay the amount of time they spent engagg wh foreign cultur; most of their time was spent on U.S. ary bas. Perry mgled mostly wh iends om A&M; when he was a -pilot, one of his first pilots had been his superr officer the Corps of Cats. “The air force was really more of an extensn of A&M than anythg else,” says one old iend. Perry left the air force after five years, returng home to Haskell County 1977.</p><p class="paywall">The next stage of his life, om 1977 to 1983, when Perry turned 33, amounts to his personal dark ag, a time when by his own admissn he stggled to terme his life’s directn. In one way was the classic se of “How <em>you</em> gonna keep ’em down on the farm?” For Perry, who had spent the prev seven years leadg crowds of screamg Aggi and flyg airplan around the world, Haskell County seemed sufferably small. He moved back to his childhood bedroom. “Dad still thought I was there to do chor,” he wrote his 2008 book, <em>On My Honor.</em> “I remd him that I had jt fished mandg a multi-ln-­dollar piece of ernment equipment and a number of grown men. He remd me that the chor still need tendg to.”</p><p class="paywall">Wh a year, Perry cid to give up ranchg to bee a pilot for Southwt Airl. In Augt 1978, he was poised to jo Southwt’s trag program when the ranch was undated by more than two feet of ra a day. “But we got real by for one thg. That much ra a 24-hour perd of time do amazg damage to farmg and ranchland. So I jt ma the cisn that this is where I need to be,” Perry told the <em>At Amerin-Statman</em> last year.</p><p class="paywall">For the next five years Perry worked alongsi his father. He married his longtime girliend, a nurse named Ana Thigpen, and they moved to a 600-square-foot hoe outsi Haskell. Perry, however, was still not ntent. As he tells the story, was after a send bout of severe weather, a wter storm that cut his power, that he emerged to learn that Haskell’s state reprentative had cid not to n for re-electn. Ray Perry had been volved unty polics for years, but his son’s iends suggt a more likely fluence on Rick’s cisn to seek the vant seat was the sheer number of his old A&M iends who had grown active Texas polics.</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">‘The perd when Rick was at A&M was a real breedg ground for state ernment and public service,” says Roger Miller, an At lobbyist and Aggie. “On other mp there was a dropout mentaly the early 70s, but A&M was so nservative public service was still seen as a good thg. Especially that perd afterward, the mid-70s, you had so many A&M people who served the Hoe and the Senate. There was this whole Aggie mafia.” At least a half-dozen of Perry’s Corps pals, cludg his clost iend, John Sharp, were already the legislature, along wh Garry Mro and Kent Caperton.</p><p class="paywall">“Rick’s parents, Ray and Amelia, were great supporters of me when I ran 1978,” rells Charlie Stenholm, the former Democratic ngrsman who then reprented the area. “I had never really known Rick. He ntacted my district people, and they enuraged him to n. They then said would be good for me to meet wh him. We met the parkg lot at the Irell Co-op gym, one of our pickups, eher his or me. We had about a two-hour talk, and I enuraged him to n. We said we would back him every way, lend him our mailg lists, ask our supporters to support him. And we did, he did, he won.”</p><p class="paywall">Right Place, Right Time</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">His fay—he and Ana have a son, Griff, and a dghter, Sydney, both now their 20s—remaed behd Haskell when Perry attend his first legislative ssn At, 1985. He soon attracted notice wh his taste for very tight blue jeans and a hab of ... um ... adjtg himself, for which he earned the nickname “Crotch.” In the Texas hoe, a hman’s fluence is termed by two thgs, his iendships and his mtee assignments. Perry chose his buddi well. Much as he had beiend John Sharp at A&M, Perry found his two clost At iends a savvy pair of hmen, Cliff Johnson, of Palte, and Ric Williamson, of Weatherford; both would go on to distguished legislative reers. The three rented an apartment together and found a mentor Bob Johnson, who tutored them on the fastt ways to rise the legislature.</p><p class="paywall">“I remember my first imprsn of Rick very clearly,” says Mike Millsap, who served alongsi Perry the Hoe. “What I was stck by was here is a very handsome guy, married to a betiful woman, who was very popular the Hoe and jt seemed he had all. He was tremendoly well liked.” Millsap ps for a moment. “You know, state legislators are amatr policians—they’re people that go back home and sell surance or work at the pharmacy or practice law. We were all amatrs. But not Rick Perry. From the begng, Rick was a profsnal. When I look back on that era, I realize now he was so much better than the rt of . He had the tensy and the mment and the drive to rry on.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-7 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Perry attracted enough notice durg his first term that, after an unntted re-electn 1986, he earned a spot on the prtig Hoe Appropriatns Commtee. There he joed his roommat, Cliff Johnson and Ric Williamson, and a third new iend, Mike Toomey—later his chief of staff—to form a group of budget cutters so zealo they were known as “the p bulls.” (The nickname ially rived om the junr legislators’ seats the lower level, or p, of the Hoe room where they regularly met.)</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">Still, by 1989, durg Perry’s third term, Texas and s polics were changg quickly. Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s populary, Republins, until the 1960s an afterthought the state, were gag ground the legislature. A number of proment nservative Democrats, most notably Senator Phil Gramm, had changed parti. Workg wh natnal G.O.P. lears, Gramm spearhead a csa to lure even more, pepperg state reprentativ like Perry wh telephone lls at all hours urgg them to swch parti. The Texas Democrats’ nservative wg, meanwhile, was dyg. Perry and Ric Williamson lost a climactic budget-cuttg battle that year; more often than not, they found themselv votg wh the Republins. Both began talkg about swchg parti. At a Dallas gatherg, a young Gee W. Bh urged Perry to do . The turng pot, most believed, me when the Hoe Speaker, Gib Lewis, passed Perry over for a mtee chairmanship.</p><p class="paywall">“He already had the equivalent of his own mtee, Appropriatns, and I had put him on the Calendars Commtee too,” Lewis rells. “I thk most members would have asked, you know, ‘What more uld he possibly want?’” After the Calendars Commtee chairman rigned and Lewis chose someone else, Perry was nvced that a nservative Democrat had no future Texas polics.</p><p class="paywall">Perry nsired qutg and gog home to Haskell County, or beg another At lobbyist. But Phil Gramm promised him he had a shg future the Texas G.O.P. Fally, Perry, like several of his iends, succumbed, beg a Republin. “Phil Gramm was all over like fli on, well, you know,” says Millsap, then Gib Lewis’s chief of staff. “When Rick swched, I remember que clearly. I was walkg out to my r outsi the pol, and he and Gramm and a bunch of people were settg up their prs nference on the steps. I remember feelg a sense of sadns but also a sense of ‘What else is new?’ We all sort of shgged. I don’t thk Gib said a word about . There was not a thg we uld do about .”</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">What no one unrstood at the time was that Perry’s cisn to swch parti was part of a larger plan orchtrated by the man who would later oversee Gee W. Bh’s rise to the Whe Hoe: Karl Rove. Then a Republin mpaign nsultant based At—Gramm was one of his most important clients—Rove had spent the prev shepherdg Republin ndidat, who methodilly molished one Texas Democrat after another. He would suffer a setback the 1990 electns, however.</p><p class="paywall">“Remember, Karl Rove was not Karl Rove then,” says Bill Miller. “He [would lose the 1990] ernor’s race. He was vulnerable. And Rick was gog nowhere the Democratic Party, I don’t thk. He had gone as far as he uld go as a Democrat. He was fucked. Jt fucked. Karl and Rick, they kd of need each other at that pot.”</p><p class="paywall">Rove, fact, was ls terted Rick Perry’s reer than the feat of the state’s most visible—and loust—liberal Democrat, Jim Hightower. From the unlikely platform of Texas agriculture missner, Hightower had grown to a natnal media darlg, a phy populist who loved ridiculg nservativ. He had won electns 1982 and 1986 by enormo margs, and until Rove targeted him, there was every sense he would do so aga. When Perry announced he would challenge Hightower the 1990 electn, most policians sffed. Few outsi At had ever heard of Perry.</p><p class="paywall">Durg the mpaign, Perry and iends like Cliff Johnson crisscrossed Texas, reachg many stops a battered Csna that Perry piloted. Back At, Rove crafted a seri of negative advertisements that slowly unrcut Hightower. The most ntroversial showed Hightower sg and posg wh Jse Jackson, whom he supported durg Jackson’s 1988 printial mpaign; unrneath were the words “Do Hightower share your valu?” The mercial ed a furor the Ain-Amerin muny, and Hightower later claimed was racist. But Rove raised enough money to n that and other hard-htg ads until the last moment, and when the Hightower mpaign ran low on funds, they were the only ads on the airwav.</p><p class="paywall">To wispread amazement, Perry won. In 1990 he moved his fay to At and took over the Agriculture Department, where he bied himself promotg Texas farm products and retoolg ptici regulatns. “Agriculture is not a hard job and he didn’t really do anythg,” says Pl Burka. “He was most notable for surroundg himself wh Aggi. He draws that ner circle tight around him.”</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">Perry easily won re-electn 1994 and then, 1998, told iends he was nsirg a n for what is arguably the most powerful job Texas polics, litenant ernor, which entails supervisg the legislative procs. (Rove, by wh Gee W. Bh, brought a New Hampshire nsultant named Dave Carney to n Perry’s mpaign; Carney remas at Perry’s si to this day.) The problem was that Perry’s opponent would be his close iend, John Sharp, then the state’s popular ptroller. Perry, however, would not be terred. “I got lls om my clients sayg, ‘Tell Rick we don’t want him to n for litenant ernor; tell him to n for ptroller,’” rells Bill Miller. “So I lled Rick [and said], ‘I’m jt the msenger. My people say you should n for ptroller.’ [His] rponse was ‘Fuck that, and fuck them if they don’t want to help me.’”</p><p class="paywall">“The race agast Sharp, that was the cisive race his reer,” says Pl Burka. “The story of the race is that Sharp had this killer ad, a retired Texas Ranger sayg Rick Perry is soft on crime. At the very end Sharp cid he would pull that ad and go posive. That was the cril moment.” Remembers a Sharp staffer, “Yeah, there was a huge fight over that, but John wouldn’t budge. I don’t thk he felt good about attackg Rick. I don’t thk Rick had any such qualms, let me tell you. That’s why he won the race.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-8 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Perry beme the state’s first Republin litenant ernor sce Renstctn but served only two years, ascendg to the ernorship when Bh rigned to bee print, December 2000. Dpe 16 years state polics, Perry was “still a mystery to most Texans,” as <em>Texas Monthly</em> noted a ver story tled, “Can Rick Perry Stand on His Own?” Among At polil veterans, the article noted, the “standard view” was that Perry was basilly a male bimbo: “Don’t know much, hasn’t done much, don’t articulate much, don’t re about much, wouldn’t have achieved much except for a God-given attribute other than his bra ... [his] looks.”</p><p class="paywall">Then, as now, Perry was evably pared to his precsor, Gee W. Bh, though the two are very different men. Perry and Bh have tted each other for at least a ; if anythg, a iend says, Lra Bh is even more horrified by Perry than her hband is. In At jt about everyone has a different explanatn for the Perry-Bh rift. Some trace to Rove’s heavy-hand sistence that Perry hold off on attack ads his 1998 race agast John Sharp at a time when Bh, then nng for ernor, wanted to avoid negative mpaigng. Others ce Bh’s 1995 refal to name Perry’s brother--law, Joseph Thigpen, to the Texas appeals-urt bench.</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">Once power, Perry proved an unremarkable admistrator. For all his nservative crentials, his sgle most amb project was a nservative’s nightmare (bee would have required that a half-ln acr of private land be acquired by ement doma): a $175 billn plan to privatize and expand Texas highways, layg muter rail and tele pipel up and down 4,000 of roadways; other than a few highway expansns around Hoton and Dallas, most of died the legislature. Elsewhere, Perry phed a hard-re nservative agenda, appotg three nsecutive creatnists to head the state Board of Edutn, fightg csantly wh the E.P.A., and approvg the executns of more ath-row mat than any ernor morn history. His ma claim to broar fame has been the extraordary Texas enomy, which durg his tenure has, as Perry repeatedly ntends, created more jobs than almost all the other stat bed. Wonrful luck has been a domant theme of Perry’s reer, however, and his crics argue—nvcgly, some s—that Perry did ltle to create all those new jobs. He was simply lucky enough to ern Texas at a time when the oil-and-gas dtry was gog through a prolonged expansn. Which is te. But you would be hard-prsed to fd a ernor anywhere who looks more kdly on big bs.</p><p class="paywall">Perry got ltle rpect, even after he cisively won the 2002 gubernatorial electn. In the legislature pecially, the Democratic speaker, Pete Laney, and his top ais all but sneered at the mentn of Perry’s name. Perry, perhaps the most important move of his polil reer, clared war. “He wasn’t gettg the rpect he felt he served,” says Pl Burka. “So that first year Perry vetoed 82 bills. Eighty-two bills. No ernor Texas history me even close. He jt vetoed everythg. It was jt one big ‘Fuck you.’ After that, well, Perry got pretty much everythg he wanted.”</p><p class="paywall">Texas Democrats, stunned to be domated by a polician they thought so ltle of, scrambled to fd dirt on Perry. They found ltle of e. For years reporters bed through a seri of real-tate als which Perry reportedly ma almost $1.5 ln by flippg a seri of parcels the At area; the als, some assisted by At velopers, seemed to serve no purpose other than to make Perry wealthy. “You n look at round or flat, but that real-tate dirt? It’s not stickg,” says Bill Miller.</p><p class="paywall">The most lurid gossip about Perry, however, has always revolved around sex. The Inter me alive last Augt after an At gadfly swore he had briefed any number of lol strippers who claimed they had serviced the ernor; no one much believed any of . By far the most threateng set of mors Perry has endured all but overwhelmed At early 2004. The stori were remarkably wispread and remarkably specific: Perry’s wife, was said, was divorcg him after disverg Perry bed wh an ai, an openly gay man.</p><p class="paywall">“Everyone At believed ; I swear, people were watchg for movg vans to pull up outsi the ernor’s mansn,” rells Jason Stanford, a Democratic nsultant who is wrg a book about Perry. The stori climaxed on Febary 24, when a gay-rights group picketed the mansn rryg signs wh such slogans as ’s okay to be gay, guv. At a Democratic gatherg Hoton, the then chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, Charl Soechtg, publicly lled attentn to the mors: “For those of you that know, there’s a lot of stuff happeng at the state pol. And you’re gog to be exced when you learn more and more about . So I wish I uld tell you more, but I thk if you’ve got someone stg next to you [who] knows what’s gog on, jt get them to whisper to you.”</p><p class="paywall">Forced to nont the mors, Perry and his wife gave an unprecented terview to the <em>At Amerin-Statman</em> which they swore their love and bterly cricized the mor-­mongers. For the most part the story died then and there. “People say they saw Rick Perry and [his ai] gog to parti together,” says Jason Stanford. “Well, sh, I’ve gone to parti wh my gay iends and I’m not gay. Good God. Yet every gay guy At knew someone, always a iend of a iend, who fely slept wh the ernor. At one party, I had one gay guy swear Perry was a top and one gay guy swear he was a bottom. It was jt bullsh. Look, this is still basilly a small town. It would be very hard to nceal an actual affair, and if you were, you wouldn’t be out public wh the guy. I mean, e on.”</p><p class="paywall">So ltle did many Texas journalists thk of Perry that took years for them to realize how thoroughly he had nsolidated power. Until Perry, Texas was known as a “weak ernor” state, meang the ernor has ltle ntrol over state agenci such as Transportatn and Agriculture. “Texas agenci are all n by boards and missns, all appoted,” says Pl Burka. “Even our two strongt morn ernors, John Connally and Gee W. Bh, appoted people and told them, ‘Jt go do your job and stay out of the papers.’ That’s what Bh told people. Until Perry, the ernor never ran the agenci. The ernor was not nsired a chief executive officer. What Perry did was [he told people] if you wanted to be on a board he would appot you, but only on the grounds that you had to do what he told you to. Perry termed policy. No other ernor has done that. Not one.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-9 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Quid Pro Quota</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">Demandg that kd of loyalty has not only given Perry unprecented ntrol over every lever of Texas power, has transformed the state ernment to somethg like a te polil mache—every ounce of armg Perry wh jobs and money. Acrdg to Texans for Public Jtice, 921 of Perry’s appote to ernment posts donated money to his mpaigns or had their spo do so, amountg to more than $17 ln, a whoppg 21 percent of all the money he raised while ernor. On the rare ocsn when a board or missn member has stepped out of le, as wh a Texas Tech Universy regent who supported Perry’s opponent the 2010 ernor’s race, he or she is “allowed’’ to rign.</p><p class="paywall">“Perry’s guys are tough. They play real hardball,’’ says a Dallas bsman who has given generoly to Perry’s mpaigns. “Tell you what they did to me: In the last electn, I got prsured to givg some money to Perry’s opponent. It was a favor. So one of Perry’s top guys is playg golf wh my son, who’s active too, and he tells him, ‘Your dad gets a pass on the 35K he gave, but we don’t want to see any more of that sh. Or else.’ That’s the kd of game they play, man.’’</p><p class="paywall">Ined, unr Perry, At has unrgone an old-style revisn to “pay for play’’ ernment; there is a wispread perceptn that anyone who wants somethg om ernment mt ntribute to Perry. “Early on, the lobbyg bs, we were told no uncerta terms that didn’t matter how Rick feels about you—if you want time wh Rick ’s gog to pend on how much your clients give him,’’ says one At lobbyist. “They were absolutely clear about that.’’ The most monly ced example of this is the ntroversy that epted 2007 when Perry attempted to troduce mandatory jectns for HPV, a mon sexually transmted vis—for sixth-gra girls. The vacce was ma by Merck, whose At lobbyist was Perry’s former chief of staff and close iend, Mike Toomey. “Toomey got rich off . And he’s not the only one,’’ says another At lobbyist. Toomey, return, started a pac, Make Us Great Aga, wh a proposed $55 ln budget that has so far given more than $5 ln to Perry and plans to spend the remar on him by June.</p><p class="paywall">Perry’s crics, fact, n reel off lerally dozens of multi-ln-dollar favors the ernor has done for his biggt donors: the bill mandatg mengis shots for every llege hman the state, g a vacce ma by Novartis, which donated $700,000 to the Republin Governors Associatn, om which Perry (a former chairman) has received $4 ln; Perry’s petng of the E.P.A. to waive feral ethanol mandat, a boon to the chicken-farmg magnate Lonnie Pilgrim, who has donated $600,000; the executive orr Perry signed to speed nstctn of 17 al-fired power plants, 11 of which would be built by the TXU utily (now lled Energy Future Holdgs), which has given more than $1 ln.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="vs1fn3"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RecircMostPopularWrapper-bRuGTi jkTTgR recirc-most-popular-wrapper viewport-monor-anchor"><div class="RecircMostPopularConter-jiViNn ktrplG recirc-most-popular-sparrow-trackg hi-asi-ad" data-most-popular-id="mod-most-popular-86"><div class="RecircMostPopularHeadg-iVzhzt hBHzvB">Most Popular</div><ul class="RecircMostPopularItems-dCAajf gqcRrp"><li><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff jnQVDN summary-em summary-em--has-borr summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-si-by-si summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard RecircMostPopularSummaryItem-jQxxiw jkeAv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hlQxkn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet="" 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class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Bs Lev</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></li><li><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff jnQVDN summary-em summary-em--has-borr summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-si-by-si summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard RecircMostPopularSummaryItem-jQxxiw jkeAv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hlQxkn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Riley Keough on Growg Up Prley, Losg Lisa Marie, and Inherg Graceland" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent summary-em__ntent--no-bric"><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM fPFrPI summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div data-ttid="ClampWrapper" class="ClampWrapper-kZxfkB hTTNGO clamp SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ hRVxvR summary-em__hed"><div class="ClampContent-hilPkr jVhSBH"><div class="SummaryItemHedTag-TWblf gxaOcP" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Riley Keough on Growg Up Prley, Losg Lisa Marie, and Inherg Graceland</div></div></div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Brt Hennemuth</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></li><li><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff jnQVDN summary-em summary-em--has-borr summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-si-by-si summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard RecircMostPopularSummaryItem-jQxxiw jkeAv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hlQxkn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Te Crime, Te Fah: The Serial Killer and the Texas Mom Who Stopped Him" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent summary-em__ntent--no-bric"><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM fPFrPI summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div data-ttid="ClampWrapper" class="ClampWrapper-kZxfkB hTTNGO clamp SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ hRVxvR summary-em__hed"><div class="ClampContent-hilPkr jVhSBH"><div class="SummaryItemHedTag-TWblf gxaOcP" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Te Crime, Te Fah: The Serial Killer and the Texas Mom Who Stopped Him</div></div></div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Julie Miller</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></li><li><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ RecircMostPopularSummaryItem-jQxxiw fHLKqj ad ad--asi"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--asi" data-no-id="qrs0l6"></div></div></li></ul><div class="RecircMostPopularFooter-enPjgs eAuebe"></div></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="dtzcqti"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa lnwCqV body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">The list go on and on. Perry’s chumms wh rporate donors acunts for the staggerg $17 ln his printial mpaign raised s first six weeks, the sgle thg that has kept afloat; whout that money, he would have had ltle stayg power. But ’s not jt money Perry receiv return. As a printial ndidate, he has taken sr of flights on his donors’ private jets. When <em>The New York Tim</em> snooped to this, s reporters disvered that Perry’s sh reimbursements for the flights fell a quarter-ln dollars short of what was required by law.</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">Perry’s poll numbers were already sgle digs on the November night he suffered that epic bra eeze. Overnight he beme a natnal punch le. “What’s the difference between Ldsay Lohan and Rick Perry?’’ asked Jay Leno. “It only tak Ldsay four and a half hours to fish a sentence.’’ Jimmy Fallon: “Big news om last night’s Republin bate, you guys. It turns out Gee Bh was actually the smart Texas ernor.’’ Even Craig Fergon got his licks : “Personally, I hope he don’t get out of the mpaign. I need Rick Perry. I don’t want to spend the next year tryg to do jok about Mt Romney.’’</p><p class="paywall">Immediately after the disastro bate performance, the mpaign went to damage-­ntrol overdrive, phg their ndidate to the post-bate “sp room’’ to joke wh reporters. The next night he appeared on <em>Late Night wh David Letterman,</em> to read a list of “Top Ten Rick Perry Exc.’’ At the same time, the mpaign bought nearly $1 ln of air time on the Fox News Network. At a foreign-policy bate the followg Saturday night, Perry sed and joked once more about his fetfulns, drawg appreciative applse om the dience.</p><p class="paywall">“Their rponse to the gaffe may be the mpaign’s ft moment,’’ says Matt Mackowiak, an At polil nsultant. “I thought they actually handled thgs brilliantly.’’ The qutn remas, however: Once a printial ndidate be a lghgstock, n he ever tly be taken serly aga? Dpe Perry’s good-humored revery, much of the polil muny has all but wrten him off as a ad man walkg. “When you bee the object of lghter and py,’’ says Mark McKnon, “you’re done.’’</p><p class="paywall">“The first thg I saw was that Rick Perry me face to face wh the fact that nng for print is unlike nng for anythg else the world,’’ m Cragg H. “In any other kd of settg, you uld have passed this off. But this is beyond whe-hot glare. His glibns and irksome spontaney jt failed him. The tch-up was better than the screwup, I have to say. You saw some stcture, the Letterman appearance, all that. You know, he has a cent wall of strategists and technicians behd him, but you put him out there whout a script? It’s pretty rough. Is he not the sharpt knife the drawer? After all this, how n you not thk that?’’</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-10 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Others, potg to the volatily of the G.O.P. field, still refe to unt Perry out. “There are so many tim ndidat have been pronounced as ad this race,’’ says Mackowiak. “Newt Ggrich was ad last sprg. Look at him now. At one pot Rh Limbgh said Mt Romney was ad. All the old l are out the wdow this year. Herman Ca went through all this sexual-­harassment-sndal stuff and he stayed first place Iowa. It’s been the most volatile Republin field my lifetime. Conservativ still haven’t uned behd one ndidate, and there’s really only three ndidat who n bee the anti-Romney: Ca, Newt, and Perry. And Perry, even after all this, has the fewt weakns and the most money.’’</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">The se for Perry’s ntued viabily is a long shot, however. His supporters pot out that Romney’s natnal poll numbers have rarely risen above 26 percent, meang 74 percent of Republin voters may vote for someone else. And Ca’s numbers have remaed strangely high, but no one serly believ they n endure wh all the background noise of sexual harassment. Worse, Ca, unlike Perry, has almost no actual anizatn to get out the vote any primary state. If Ca evaporat, and ’s wily assumed he eventually will, his supporters have to go somewhere.</p><p class="paywall">His partisans argue that Perry has as good a shot at securg Ca supporters and other nservativ as anyone at this pot. His bt chance at wng the nomatn, most agree, is to somehow clear the table of the “mor’’ nservative ndidat and force Romney to a one-on-one ntt, even though ’s far om clear Perry uld bt him. The math is dntg. Of the three early-primary stat, ’s assumed that Perry will surrenr New Hampshire to Romney, who hails om neighborg Massachetts. That means Perry needs a w, or at least a strong showg, South Carola and pecially the very first ntt next month, Iowa, where Romney is weak. Already Perry is pourg money to televisn mercials there. The state has a large evangelil populatn, and Perry, as a former agriculture missner Texas, “knows how to speak the language,’’ as one At nsultant puts .</p><p class="has-dropp paywall">“Is he ad?’’ asks H. “I thk he is. But voters have such a short memory. You know, stranger thgs have happened.’’</p><p class="paywall">“I was surprised to see him stumble like he did,’’ says Kent Caperton, the At Democrat. “I’ve never seen him stumble like that a performance that was so important. Havg said that, as remarkable as the stumble was, jt as remarkable was the way he handled . That says a lot about his riliency. I still would not unt him out. I do not by any stretch of the imagatn believe he is ad. I thk Herman Ca will fa. If he do, ’ll be a Rick Perry–Mt Romney ntt. I hontly believe that. And Mt should not unrtimate Rick. That’s when Rick is most dangero, really, when he’s down.’’</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="3b1gq"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="ContentFooterContributorSpotlightWrapper-jglHff edmTAt"><sectn 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src="></picture></span><div class="ContributorNameAndTleWrapper-jlSeaF ifAFdg"><h1 data-ttid="ContributorHearName" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContributorHearName-fNrWXe iUEiRd cSfQOi clPwUE">Bryan Burrough</h1><h2 class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContributorHearTle-kiBYJJ iUEiRd cSfQOi gglfXw">Bryan Burrough is a special rrponnt at *Vany Fair.*</h2></div></div><a href="/ntributor/bryan-burrough" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ContributorHearSeeMoreLk-iRIKOz iUEiRd bJVYxx UDwfc gkcXuI">See More By Bryan Burrough <!-- -->»</a></div></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM eHLzLy grid--em"></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"></div></div></sectn></div></div></sectn></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div data-ttid="ContentFooterBottom" class="ContentFooterBottom-jwWZfC kcbyiW"><div class="ntent-bottom-anchor"></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-footer" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-footer"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="recirc-list-wrapper viewport-monor-anchor"><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan ContentFooterRelated-kEBiFe kVUuwq"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 SummaryCollectnGridComponent-ktyEog bdTTVU summary-llectn-grid RecircListDefltOverlaySummaryCollectnGrid-AHJhY bEaXiL recirc-list__ems summary-llectn-grid--four-lumns summary-llectn-grid--TextBelowLeft"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="SummaryCollectnGridContent-eVUpRm gOErDJ"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq gZGsZC SummaryCollectnGridSectnTle-fCmYwG izjbVn" data-ttid="SectnTle"><hear class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa ktpdQe jttyjJ">Read More</hear></div><div class="SummaryCollectnGridItems-DZShR ctWPkx hi-read-more-ad" data-ttid="SummaryCollectnGridItems"><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff jCBznZ summary-em summary-em--has-le summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-50-50 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm ktxezM" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hlQxkn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The 5 Worst Printial Debate Fails, Ranked" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX hXRWeY bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Polics</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cxlTHI summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div data-ttid="ClampWrapper" class="ClampWrapper-kZxfkB hTTNGO clamp SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ drYWLe summary-em__hed"><div class="ClampContent-hilPkr jVhSBH"><div class="SummaryItemHedTag-TWblf gxaOcP" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The 5 Worst Printial Debate Fails, Ranked</div></div></div></a><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd ijSOpT jDyfzW summary-em__k">As 2024 Republin ndidat prepare to h the stage, here are the most wherg meltdowns—and tra secrets for avoidg them.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Mark McKnon</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff jCBznZ summary-em summary-em--has-le summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-50-50 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm ktxezM" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hlQxkn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><img alt="This Sneaky Antiabortn Ballot Measure Oh is Also a Direct Asslt on Democracy" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX hXRWeY bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Polics</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cxlTHI summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div data-ttid="ClampWrapper" class="ClampWrapper-kZxfkB hTTNGO clamp SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ drYWLe summary-em__hed"><div class="ClampContent-hilPkr jVhSBH"><div class="SummaryItemHedTag-TWblf gxaOcP" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">This Sneaky Antiabortn Ballot Measure Oh is Also a Direct Asslt on Democracy</div></div></div></a><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd ijSOpT jDyfzW summary-em__k">Voters head to the polls Tuday to vote on a Republin-backed measure that would make harr to enshre abortn rights the state nstutn.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Eric Lutz</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff jCBznZ summary-em summary-em--has-le summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-50-50 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm ktxezM" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hlQxkn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><img alt="First GOP Printial Debate Is Next Month, But No One Seems to Know Who's Attendg" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX hXRWeY bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Polics</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cxlTHI summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div data-ttid="ClampWrapper" class="ClampWrapper-kZxfkB hTTNGO clamp SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ drYWLe summary-em__hed"><div class="ClampContent-hilPkr jVhSBH"><div class="SummaryItemHedTag-TWblf gxaOcP" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">First GOP Printial Debate Is Next Month, But No One Seems to Know Who's Attendg</div></div></div></a><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd ijSOpT jDyfzW summary-em__k">The venue and date are set but no word on who will take the stage Milwkee on Aug. 23.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Jack McCordick</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm ktxezM ad ad--read-more"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--read-more" data-no-id="5m8odr"></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff jCBznZ summary-em summary-em--has-le summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-50-50 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm ktxezM" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hlQxkn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Falls and a Freeze-Up: Mch McConnell’s Health Sr Prompt Succsn Chatter" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX hXRWeY bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Polics</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cxlTHI summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div data-ttid="ClampWrapper" class="ClampWrapper-kZxfkB hTTNGO clamp SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ drYWLe summary-em__hed"><div class="ClampContent-hilPkr jVhSBH"><div class="SummaryItemHedTag-TWblf gxaOcP" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Falls and a Freeze-Up: Mch McConnell’s Health Sr Prompt Succsn Chatter</div></div></div></a><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd ijSOpT jDyfzW summary-em__k">The 81-year-old mory lear is the longt-servg party head Senate history. But a spate of health issu has fellow senators wonrg whether McConnell’s reign is slowly g to an end.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY gRtaxp summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH iNSiTG byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd bIbWCO gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Pablo Manríquez</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryCollectnGridToActnWrapper-gnReGN eGayfk"></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="TaboolaWrapper-hMVdpE iYfBhy"><div class="TaboolaWidgetWrapper-egPIjc hkSrgt TaboolaWidget-eUSdED hQCCRa" data-ttid="TaboolaWidgetWrapper"><div class="TaboolaWidgetContent-iBEQTO eXroXG TABOOLA" id="taboola-below-article-thumbnails" data-ttid="TaboolaWidgetContent"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--footer should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--footer" data-no-id="zbw"></div></div></div></div></div></ma><div class="BasePageMaFooterFiller-hTlZph jSriYf page__ma-footer-filler"></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--cm-footer" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--cm-footer"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan BasePageSeFooterRow-kpEBGH jqlJed"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 BasePageSeFooterRowGrid-iBGjXL zQNeb"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><footer class="SeFooterWrapper-bXjkRY bwIeHh se-footer--wh-store"><div class="SeFooterGridNoMargs-jSrXSj kdlxBX" data-ttid="SeFooterGridNoMargs"><div class="SeFooterBrandInfo-cdoqKy cdkwFG"><div class="SeFooterLogo-eYlNHY eigdAF se-footer__logo"><a href="/"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset SeFooterLogoRponsiveAsset-ckjzWk kubVDn se-footer__rponsive-image"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SeFooterLogoRponsiveAsset-ckjzWk kubVDn se-footer__rponsive-image rponsive-image"><img alt="Vany Fair" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="/verso/static/vany-fair/assets/" srcSet="" siz="100vw"/></picture></span></a></div><div data-ttid="SeFooterAbout" class="SeFooterAbout-lflfWa XEKOX"><div class="SeFooterAboutText-XXKBX blTbmF"></div></div><div class="SocialInsWrapper-hKMEXV hwdgCG social-ins social-ins--footer SeFooterSocialIns-cLAKVY pJQob"><ul data-ttid="socialInslist" class="SocialInsList-cHVTIA gBoIvv social-ins__list"><li class="SocialInsListItem-mbhR gQILrJ social-ins__list-em social-ins__list-em--facebook social-ins__list-em--footer"><a aria-label="Follow on Facebook" class="external-lk SocialInExternalLk-huuzOU bjORTK social-ins__lk social-ins__lk--facebook" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><div class="SocialInContaer-huXzUC pMzVC social-ins__in-ntaer"><svg class="SocialInNetworkInComponent-cZaKGz dlOAhZ in in-facebook" focable="false" viewBox="0 0 32 32" width="32" height="32" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Facebook .

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