Rick Perry's Bitter End...

"Common people do not pray;
they only beg..."
- George Bernard Shaw, Misalliance

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

AUSTIN, Texas - The governor was said to be on his way back here, coming back a beaten man. Rick Perry left Iowa issuing a fond farewell to the Hawkeye state last night following the caucuses vote that saw him lose big. His words spoke of trying, of putting himself out there for God, of Texas being the "model" for good national governance. But in the end, as in all westerns, he rode alone into the sunset.

Rick Perry is out in the race for the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nomination. He finished in 5th place last night, grabbing barely 10% of the 122,000 votes cast after spending a ton of cash on radio and television advertisements. How much? Well, as things turned out, Perry spent $480 for every one of the 12,000 votes he got - much more than Romney and the others. So much for the self-described fiscal conservative.

You'll notice Perry is not in the photo atop this story. Those are the guys going onto the next primary in New Hampshire: Iowa winner Willard "Mitt" Romney, who got 25% of the vote and beat out second-place finisher Rick Santorum by 8 votes, disappointed favorite Ron Paul, who finished 3rd and Big Time loser Newt Gingrich, who entered Iowa as the frontrunner and saw his campaign lashed mercilessly at every turn by his opponents. Candidate Michele Bachmann, as expected, brought in the rear.

When he entered the contest last August, Perry shot to the front of the Republican pack. For days, he was the darling of the news media and appeared to be setting sail on one of his fabled Texas-style campaigns, political contests of the sort he'd never lost before. That streak ended in last night's convincing defeat. In making his concession speech, Perry looked more like a beaten smalltown Texas mayor, someone say from San Angelo or Midland, than a national candidate. Indeed, his God-awful performances in a series of candidate debates sealed his fate early. Perry can walk the walk, but he can't talk the talk. His stuttering, stammering style coupled with hilarious forgetfulness brought him empathy of the sort one reserves for the retarded. Rick Perry was way over his head, and, while he was considered somewhat favorably by some Texans before this debacle, he now comes home more a cartoon than a leader.

For Republicans, the first contest was dramatic, but it also highlighted the weakness of the field out to win party favor - a victory that would set-up that desired match against Democratic President Barack Obama. This field, however, is better suited for selection of the next Commissioner of Major League Baseball and not the next president. Iowa winner Mitt Romney is not the hellbent Republican the party's noisy Far Wight Wing wants. Santorum lost his re-election for the U.S. Senate in 2010 by 18% of the Pennsylvania vote. Gingrich leaves Iowa a bitter, bitter man, the result of Romney's mind-blowing blitzkrieg of negative Ads against the former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Texas Libertarian Ron Paul remains the enigma for Republicans.

Paul got 23% of the Iowa vote, which spells trouble for the other Republicans in the race. He has managed to roust the younger voter and somehow still rail against most of what is the United States government. Paul wants all U.S. soldiers home, from everywhere in the globe. He would live & let live with Iran and he would abolish to many government agencies to list. He is a Libertarian and Libertarians believe that the best government is less government. How far he gets is the question, but the nomination will never be his. An independent run would be his out, but most pundits say Paul won't go that route. That's iffy, however. All politicians are egomaniacs of the First Order. They are no different than the grotesque number of fat people in America - they will eat and then go out to eat again. Their appetite for votes is unsatiable.

So, did Iowa matter?

In the long run, no. It is becoming more irrelevant every year. It is merely a trampoline allowing a jump into the more meaningful primaries. New Hampshire is next, followed by South Carolina and Florida. It'll be Florida before a clearcut winner emerges.

In Texas, the last words of Rick Perry will ring as hollow as his losing campaign, assuaging only himself: "I've decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race."

Embarrassed Texans are heaving a huge sigh of relief today...

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