Gov. Rick Perry says he "stepped in it" when he couldn't remember the third federal department he would cut if elected, but insisted the debate blunder wouldn't force him out of the Republican presidential field.
"Oh, shoot, no," Perry told The Associated Press on Thursday morning, the day after making the error during a GOP debate. Asked whether his campaign, which is struggling to regain traction, could survive, Perry replied: "This ain't a day for quitting nothing."
Perry says others have made similar mistakes and that the screw-up will humanize him. "The president of the United States said there were 57 states one time. Everybody makes mistakes," Perry said.
During a May 2008 campaign stop in Beaverton, Ore., then-candidate Barack Obama said he had spent the past 15 months visiting every corner of the U.S. "I've now been in fifty -- seven states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go, even though I really wanted to visit but my staff would not justify it." News accounts at the time chalked it up to fatigue during an exhausting stretch of campaign travel.
Perry hoped to stem any fallout from his own gaffe through a blitz of early morning interviews and TV appearances.
His glaring mistake was by far the worst in a series he's made over the course of six presidential debates. The pattern plays into stereotypes that the Texas governor isn't smart enough or qualified enough to be president -- particularly as Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate to beat, has stood on the same stages and performed almost flawlessly.
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It also raised questions about whether Perry can take on not just his Republican rivals but also Obama.
In the early morning after the debate, Perry tried to cast the mistake as a humanizing one that shows voters he isn't the "slickest" politician but someone who makes mistakes like everyone else. In the AP interview, he insisted that he is more qualified than Romney to be president.
"More so," he said when asked if was as qualified as the former Massachusetts governor. "Almost 11 years of chief executive experience of an entity a lot bigger than anything that he ever ran, and created more jobs, taking our four years and overlapping them as governors. The success that Texas was going through between 2002 and 2006 far overshadowed Massachusetts. So absolutely."
"If Americans are looking for the slickest politician, the smoothest debater, I readily admit, I'm probably not their guy," Perry said.
But while Perry's earlier flubs brought him down from the top of the polls and forced a shift in campaign strategy, this one has prompted questions about whether he can even continue in the race. Donors were privately nervous -- or even panicking, though Perry's advisers said Thursday that they already have the cash they need to run through to South Carolina.
And Perry himself is defiant. "The chattering class and the political pundits will try to guide this campaign," Perry said. "I'm going to be out talking to the people in South Carolina and Florida and New Hampshire and Iowa, those early primary states, about our vision for the country."
Still, the extended debate exchange is destined for endless television replay and will provide easy fodder for attack ads.
In the debate, Perry said he would eliminate three federal agencies but struggled to name them.
"Commerce, Education and the -- what's the third one there? Let's see," he said.
Perry's rivals tried to bail him out, suggesting the Environmental Protection Agency.
"EPA, there you go," Perry said, seemingly taking their word for it.
But that wasn't it. And when pressed, he drew another blank.
"Seriously?" asked moderator John Harwood, one of the CNBC debate hosts. "You can't name the third one?"
"The third agency of government I would do away with -- the Education, the Commerce. And let's see. I can't. The third one, I can't," Perry said. "Oops."
Later in the debate, Perry revisited the question and said he meant to call for the elimination of the Energy Department.
On Thursday, Perry said he just couldn't think of it.
"There were so many federal agencies that come to mind, that I want to get rid of, that the Energy Department would not come out," he said in an interview taped for ABC's "Good Morning America."
He's trying to turn it to his advantage. On NBC's "Today" show, Perry sought to make the best of the gaffe, saying that forgetting the name of one of the agencies illustrated the "core point" of his campaign -- that there are too many agencies. He's already blasted an email to supporters asking them, "What part of the Federal Government would you like to forget about the most?" His website now asks them to vote for one.
 For the latest on Rick Perry's run for the White House, click here to see our special Tracking Rick Perry section. View videos, photos, and stories on the Texas governor's presidential run. |
