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Rick Perry=Retail Politics

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ba-perry16_PH1_0503956102_part6Rick Perry’s in the race of a lifetime and he’s loving every minute of it. Running for president has most likely been in his plans since he first entered politics. He’s been training for this day and now he gets to put all those skills into action now that he’s running for the highest office in the land. Regardless of the message, Perry knows how to campaign and actually enjoys it more than anything. But with a stage as big as the United States and with such a larger media environment, will that style of retail politics benefit his race for the White House?

Before we get too deep into this discussion, it might be worthwhile to understand what “retail politics” really is. Oxford Dictionaries defines retail politics as “a style of political campaigning in which the candidate attends local events in order to target voters on a small-scale or individual basis.” It’s what we all have known as elections at a local level. It involves shaking hands, visiting events, and maybe even kissing some babies in the mix, although the later may have gone the way of the buggy whip in a more health conscious America.

Retail politics takes a special kind of person to effectively leverage it in a campaign. You have to be comfortable talking to people, pressing the flesh, and sometimes ready to field an attack from a disgruntled voter. In local campaigns, there really is no substitute for retail politics because candidates have to get to as many voters as possible to get their name out. However, as campaigns get larger, including the crowds, it’s much more difficult to really connect with the average voter.

Former Pres. Bill Clinton is probably my best reference for a retail politician at the national level. Regardless whether you agreed with his message or not, when Clinton would enter a room or work a rope line almost every person on that line felt they had some sort of connection with him. He knew how to talk to you, could look you in the eye, and could share your frustration or excitement in such a way as if you’d known him all your life. Clinton loved retail politics and it showed in his “never on time” campaign trails. It wasn’t that Clinton was late because he didn’t want to meet the people. In fact, his lateness was always because he always wanted to shake one more hand at every event he attended.

While every successful candidate has had to learn how to practice retail politics, the current Republican field of candidates had not seen a true master of the craft until Rick Perry entered the mix. That contrast between him and the other candidates was most clearly demonstrated the second night of his campaign in Waterloo, IA. Perry, Michele Bachmann, and a few other candidates were scheduled to appear at a dinner in Bachmann’s birth city. According to media reports, Perry had been scheduled for the event weeks in advance. Bachmann added it at the last minute, realizing her expected win of the Iowa Straw Poll was going to be upstaged by someone not even in the poll if she didn’t attend.

As reported by Politico, Perry came into the event and worked the crowd an hour before the event even started, walking around talking to people and looking them in the eye. Perry spent the time with the voters of Iowa, working to gain their confidence even though he had skipped their straw poll event. By the end of the night, any possible animosity to his absence was quickly overlooked and he probably had won over several converts.

Bachmann, on the other hand, may have been born in Waterloo and lived their during the early years of her life. But you couldn’t tell it based on her appearance and attitude. Pulling up to the event in her campaign bus she stayed on the bus until time for her speech. Even then she delayed entry until everything was just right. After the event, she signed a few t-shirts and quickly exited the hall. As Politico wrote “Bachmann campaigned like a celebrity. And the event highlighted the brittle, presidential-style cocoon that has become her campaign’s signature: a routine of late entries, unexplained absences, quick exits, sharp-elbowed handlers with matching lapel pins, and pre-selected questioners.”

More telling was how some of the event attendees viewed her appearance. From the article “’She kept us waiting, she was not here mixing — then she was talking about what a great evening it was. How do you know? You just got here,’ said Karen Vanderkrol, of Hudson, Iowa, who said she agreed with the substance of Bachmann’s speech, but that one line in particular rang false: ‘I am a real person. he can say she’s real and part of the people, but that’s not what we do,’Vanderkrol said of the congresswoman’s behavior.”

This campaign attitude was not unique to that event. As the Wall Street Journal reported today, Perry was just as friendly at other events across Iowa. “At the Hamburg Inn in Iowa City, where Mr. Perry stopped off for a meet-and-greet and a sip of a ‘pie shake,’ Erin George said she was impressed because he seems genuine. After driving an hour and a half with her two children and her mother, Sandy Land, the 32-year-old Ms. George found no room inside the small diner. Afterwards, however, the governor invited the family onto his campaign bus to sit for a picture.” said the article.

But will this style of politics usually reserved for local campaigns translate well in a presidential race? If you consider the first states to hold primaries each have populations less than that of the Houston MSA with one, New Hampshire, equal to the population of San Antonio, it’s pretty easy to see how a candidate will get the opportunity to shake some hands with the locals, especially considering the first primary isn’t until February. Winning or making a good showing in those early states sets the tone and potential victory for a candidate in his party’s nomination.

Let’s face it. Perry’s humble upbringing in rural Texas and the nature of Texas politics may have trained him well for this day. After all, Texans are much more friendly than those in other parts of the country. In Texas, if you can’t look a voter in the eye, most likely you’ll not get his or her vote. It’s just the way we do things in Texas. With so much attention being placed early on this factor, Bachmann’s and Romney’s campaigns will take note and try to rectify the situation. But if you have to develop the skill in a crash course, most likely it’s going to come off as very plastic.

If you’re Rick Perry, it just comes natural.


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