Exclusive: Gingrich Considering Rick Perry as Possible Running Mate
A new report suggests that Newt Gingrich is now considering former rival Rick Perry as a possible running mate. The Gingrich camp told Carl Cameron that the two have been holding talks about a possible Gingrich/Perry ticket in the 2012 election.
Today, Perry’s office released a statement, saying, “Gov. Perry thinks Newt Gingrich is the strongest conservative to debate and defeat President Obama and truly overhaul Washington. The speculation is humbling, but premature.” Stephen Hayes calls the whole thing a “gimmick.”
Earlier on Happening Now, Hayes explained his reasoning, saying, “It just feels like a gimmick to me. It’s not the kind of fortifying move that a presidential campaign would make
, in particular, because Rick Perry struggled to gain the support of many Republicans and conservatives across the country … It’s not the kind of thing that a campaign looking to make a national move would do by suggesting this linkage between Gov. Perry and Newt Gingrich.”
He believes the hope here for the campaign is to just create some additional buzz for Perry and associate that with Gingrich.
In discussing Gingrich’s campaign, Hayes believes Gingrich’s team has been really smart to focus on gas prices, but said it seems like “it smells of gimmickry.” He continued to say that there’s no way Gingrich can actually deliver on $2.50 gallon gas prices.
