Inevitable, he was not. But will losing the first place position actually boost Mitt Romney?
When Texas Gov. Rick Perry grabbed the spotlight and the lead in the GOP presidential race, the former Mass. Gov. definitely took a step back. He had long held a lead in the 2011 national polls. Then Perry, the viable candidate hard right conservatives had been looking for all along, displaced Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) as Tea Party favorite and, this being the Republican primary, took those votes to build a lead. Then voters of all kinds got to know Perry more fully, and he went ahead and touched the third rail of American politics.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=106849