Perry for President Gains Credence as Gingrich Aides Desert

(Updates with Perry spokesman comment in ninth paragraph.)

June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Texas Governor Rick Perry's flirtation with seeking the Republican presidential nomination had people talking in Austin even before key figures in his past campaigns quit working today for Newt Gingrich.

Dave Carney, a Perry adviser, and Rob Johnson, who ran the governor's 2010 re-election campaign, both abandoned Gingrich's presidential bid. That drew more attention to the possibility that the longest-serving U.S. governor could make a run for the nation's top office.

Johnson's resignation as Gingrich's campaign manager and Carney's departure as a political adviser will prompt more talk of Perry's entering the 2012 race, said Jeff Crosby, an Austin political consultant. Johnson managed Perry's victories last year over Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary and former Houston Mayor Bill White in the general election.

"People in Austin close to Perry are saying that he's being drawn into this because the Republican field is so weak," said Crosby, who works for Democratic candidates. The upheaval in the Gingrich camp will spark "a ripple of chatter about Perry for people who think there's some meat on the bone."

Carney, a former White House political aide to President George H.W. Bush, denied that his decision to leave the Gingrich camp was related to a possible Perry bid. The governor's deliberations didn't affect his decision "in the least," Carney said by e-mail.

'Incompatible,' Carney Says

"The professional team came to the realization that the direction of the campaign they sought and Newt's vision for the campaign were incompatible," Carney said.

Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, gained prominence when he led a 1994 Republican surge that won control of the chamber for the first time in 40 years. He officially declared his candidacy last month.

Perry, 61, said May 27 that he's "thinking about running," contrary to months of denials that he was interested in trying to unseat President Barack Obama. Since then, he has raised his national profile by scheduling speeches to Republicans in New Orleans and New York, and inviting governors to a day of prayer Aug. 6 in Houston.

Today's resignations "don't change anything," Mark Miner, a Perry spokesman, said by telephone, referring to the resignations of Johnson and Carney. "The governor has said he is thinking about running, but his current focus is on the special legislative session."

No Campaign Steps

Perry hasn't taken any specific actions to begin a campaign, Miner said. The governor started thinking about the Houston prayer event in December, he said.

"Rick Perry is going to get in this race," Mark McKinnon, a political consultant who once worked for former President George W. Bush, said June 5 on ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour" show.

"Whether he runs or not, every day that passes there seems to be a greater opportunity for him," said Allen Blakemore, a Houston political consultant for Republican candidates who hasn't worked for Perry. "Nobody in the presidential race right now is catching fire."

--With assistance from Catherine Dodge and Lisa Lerer in Washington and John McCormick in Chicago. Editors: Ted Bunker, Stephen Merelman.

via sfgate.com