Rick Perry is in New Hampshire this week with one mission: to see whether Republican primary voters believe in second chances.
His presidential ambitions started to fade here more than three years ago when he delivered a speech in Manchester that was so bizarre he later had to deny being drunk or drugged. Any hopes of moving to the White House vanished a few days later during his infamous “oops” moment when he forgot the name of one of three federal agencies he proposed to eliminate during a nationally televised debate.
In his first trip here since leaving the Texas governor’s mansion last month, the bravado from his last presidential campaign was gone — right along with the cowboy boots he no longer wears. He’s hoping he can convince voters he’s now ready to be who everyone thought he was in 2012: the man to unite the entire Republican Party.
“Granite Staters want to see you often, two or three times isn’t enough,” Perry said knowingly.
Voters here cherish their first-in-the-nation primary, particularly the influential role it plays, and seem willing to reconsider Perry’s second pitch.
“He’s much better this time. I even told him!” said Denise Pressinger, who helps run a food import and export business in Portsmouth.
–
Nancy Sununu, the wife of former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, said that Perry’s Texas-based message resonated.
“I think that he’s perfectly on line. But I think it’s a lot more difficult to do on the national level than it is to do in a state,” she said.
The trip seemed to help Perry advance his effort to put 2012 in the rearview mirror.
Ruth Cunniff, a Durham retiree, said Thursday night before Perry spoke at the Strafford County Lincoln Day dinner that he is “possibly tainted.”
“But he can come back from it. What I really like about him is how he really took it all in stride,” said Abigail Rooney, an accountant in Milton Mills. “He was able to laugh at himself — I really appreciated that.”
“And,” she said, “he admitted that he wasn’t as prepared as he should have been, and is planning on being more prepared if he makes another go at it.”
