Rick Perry hasn’t lost the Iowa Caucuses yet, but his campaign is already in its post–mortem, finger-pointing phase. From Politico‘s story, “Perry campaign plays blame game,” by Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman:
“Their explanations for the nosedive come against the backdrop of a campaign riven by an intense, behind-the-scenes power struggle that took place largely between a group of the governor’s longtime advisers and a new cadre of consultants brought on this fall. In the end, the outsiders won out — and ever since have marginalized Perry’s longtime chief strategist while crafting a new strategy in which the Texan has portrayed himself as a political outsider and culture warrior.
“[S]ources close to the campaign depict a dysfunctional operation that might be beyond saving because of what they describe as the political equivalent of malpractice by the previous regime.
“‘There has never been a more ineptly orchestrated, just unbelievably subpar campaign for president…than this one,’ said a senior Perry adviser.
“Yet the view of the outsiders who took over Perry’s campaign is that the candidate was set up for failure by an insular group led by Dave Carney, the governor’s longtime political guru, which thought they could run a presidential campaign like a larger version of a gubernatorial race….
“In a blistering indictment, sources…describe a new team that was stunned to arrive in October and find a campaign that wasn’t executing the most rudimentary elements of a modern presidential campaign: no polling or focus groups, no opposition research book on their own candidate to prepare for attacks and debate prep sessions that were barely worth the name.
“‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’ said a strategist. ‘At least not at this level for this serious of a candidate. … But for a governor from one of the biggest states…who can raise a ton of money? It’s mind-boggling. I’m more offended by that than losing.'”
Embattled Farmers 