Perry and Gingrich: It's complicated

Gov. Rick Perry’s decision to end his presidential campaign and endorse former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is sure to bring up more examination of the pair’s unusual history.

Before becoming primary rivals, Gingrich and Perry spent years as allies.

In 2010, Gingrich wrote a glowing foreword to Perry's last book, "Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington."

That year, the pair appeared together at a book signing at a Barnes & Noble in southwest Fort Worth. At the signing, Gingrich praised Perry's leadership and suggested President Obama seek out Perry for advice.

"I have to say there are very few people who I think could do a better job leading the country than Gov. Perry," Gingrich said.

Yet the relationship took a turn last June, when several of Gingrich’s senior campaign aides abruptly resigned en masse and ended up joining Perry’s presidential bid. At the time, Gingrich’s campaign was being written off by many pundits as over. Gingrich dismissed the public defections and implied that the strategists weren’t interested in running a serious campaign focused on the issues.

More recently, Gingrich and Perry have occasionally attacked one another, though often with less attention than they have given to other contenders such as Mitt Romney.

In September, Gingrich was asked if his writing the forward to Perry's 2010 book amounted to an early endorsement. Gingrich replied it didn’t, but said: "If he wants to write another book, I'll write another forward."

Later that month, Perry said his perfect running mate would be some combination of Herman Cain and Gingrich.

Perry's tone shifted later in the year once Gingrich surged to near the front of many polls. Perry and a Perry-supporting super PAC started pointing out Gingrich’s political liabilities. In early December, Perry called Gingrich’s multiple marriages “an important issue” in the race. The campaign also accused Gingrich of flip-flopping on the issue of government-mandated healthcare.

Just like Perry's campaign did after beating Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2010 Republican primary, it took down a video critical of Gingrich from YouTube page this morning. 

Yet as of noon today, Make Us Great Again, the Super PAC that spent millions backing Perry's presidential bid but was not allowed to coordinate with the campaign, had not taken down this video criticizing Gingrich and Romney.

In his speech today ending his campaign, Perry appeared ready to look past Gingrich's foibles. 

"And Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?" Perry asked. "The fact is, there is forgiveness for those who seek God and I believe in the power of redemption, for it is a central tenet of my Christian faith."

-Aman Batheja

Comments

[Al]

The only thing these two share is the fact that their both jokes. Why is Gingrich still running? He's not on ballots in all 50 states. Ugh, 4 more years of Obama here we come.