GOP Primary: Perry Now the Man to Beat

Texas Governor Rick Perry, just days after announcing he will be running for president, is now the front runner for the GOP nomination.

New Rasmussen polling of likely GOP voters nationally has Perry with 29% support, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney with 18% and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann with 13%.

That's an astounding lead for just now jumping into the race.  Here are three reasons why Perry is now the man to beat:

1) Job creation.  Rick Perry will run on his record of job creation in Texas. There is no doubt that he will be attacked for many of those jobs being low-paying minimum wage jobs. In today's economy, a job is a job. Perry can deflect those charges as attacks on the hard working men and women employed at those jobs, and point to the fact that low-paying is still better than nothing at all.

2) Romney's health care problem. Mitt Romney, for all of his smart & savvy business experience, still has a problem with the fact that many in the GOP view his Massachusetts health care initiative as being way too similar to Obamacare.  Romney is also easy to define as being one who blows with the political winds. Not only was he okay with voting for health care in MA and now he is against it, he also has a similar record on flip-flopping on abortion & gay marriage.

3) The evangelical vote. Perry's prayer rally, albeit a cheap political stunt, will further position him as an evangelical leader, which will in turn bring out evangelical voters in favor of him. While it remains to be seen how important an evangelical force is in the general election, in the GOP primary, it's golden. Michele Bachmann may compete for evangelical votes, but my hunch is that evangelicals will opt for Perry as a better representative of them as a group.

Keep in mind, it's early. Very early. This race is heating up, however, and the current polls reflect Perry as the clear front runner. With Obama's approval rating hovering near 40%, Perry definitely has a legitimate chance of being the next president of the United States.

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