Rick Perry's Hiring Spree: Why a Hawk Is Turning to the Establishment (Time.com)

Narayan Mahon / The New York Times / Redux

Narayan Mahon / The New York Times / Redux

Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry campaigns in Wilton, Iowa, Oct. 22, 2011.

Texas Governor Rick Perry?s troubled campaign announced on Monday that it would be adding staff, including veteran national GOP strategists Nelson Warfield, Curt Anderson and Tony Fabrizio. But Perry?s campaign in Austin was quick to swat down allegations of a tumultuous shake-up. ?This is the natural expansion of a growing campaign,? said communications director Ray Sullivan, sitting in his office, comprised of four blank walls and a desk scattered with a few papers and a laptop. ?No one is leaving. No one is being demoted or forced out.?

The Perry campaign prides itself on running a low-key, outside-the-Beltway campaign. The very idea of hiring national Republican strategists had seemed out of character for the Tea Party darling who once accused Ben Bernanke (a George W. Bush appointee) of treason. His campaign headquarters in Austin are discreet ? there are no ?Rick Perry for President? banners ? and the campaign isn?t even named in the building directory. It?s been two months since Perry launched his campaign, and his relatively small staff ? fewer than 50 people, with just five or so staffers in each of the early-primary states ? isn?t even hawking paraphernalia yet, though you can pick up bumper stickers and window signs from the main office, if you can find it. (Barack Obama, by contrast, ordered tens of thousands of T-shirts, cups and bumper stickers ahead of his 2007 campaign announcement and had hundreds of staff members and volunteers already installed in Chicago by the big day.)

But what had effectively been a beefed-up governor?s campaign was struggling to manage the rigors of a presidential one. And that?s what led to Monday?s hires. ?Team Perry was overwhelmed,? says Mark McKinnon, a longtime Austin GOP strategist and former adviser to Bush. ?They just didn?t have enough horses. Now they do.?

When asked if the staff additions were a response to Perry?s 20-point slide in national polls over the past month, as well as a series of subpar debate performances, Sullivan shrugged. ?We don?t want to dwell on the past,? he said. ?We?re moving forward into a new phase of the campaign.? And he insisted that the new phase, which will focus on more paid media, staff expansion in key states and development of grassroots support, will be executed by Perry?s longtime inner circle ? the same six people whom Perry has always trusted and who have always delivered for him, including Sullivan, campaign manager Rob Johnson, political strategist Dave Carney, policy and strategy adviser Dierdre Delisi, pollster Mike Baselice and longtime Perry intimate David Weeks.

Five of the six staffers have been with Perry since his run for lieutenant governor in 1998. This is a testament to both the loyalty Perry inspires and the insularity of tight-knit political circles. ?We know each other?s strengths,? said Sullivan, laughing. ?We?re very transparent to one another and extremely blunt.?

And the blunt reality is that the Texas brain trust is now on unfamiliar footing. What has worked for them in the past may not pan out in the national arena. Perry?s strength clearly isn?t, as he has acknowledged, debates or marquee speeches. And while he is talented at pressing the flesh, the candidate has been reserved in the retail politicking that?s the staple of Iowa and New Hampshire campaigns. Perry?s advisers have been planning a television-commercial-heavy approach, similar to the one that led to victories in Perry?s gubernatorial campaigns. But with time running out, it looks like they will need help pulling it off.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/time_rss/rss_time_us/httpswamplandtimecom20111025rickperryreshufflesstaffbuttheheartofhiscampaignremainsthesamexidrssnationyahoo/43397308/SIG=147sqte7c/*http%3A//swampland.time.com/2011/10/25/rick-perry-reshuffles-staff-but-the-heart-of-his-campaign-remains-the-same/?xid=rss-nation-yahoo

warhammer oecd jessica simpson ph rescue me god rush

Soyuz Makes Launch from South American ESA Site

60-Second Space | Space

A Soyuz rocket carried into space components for a European GPS system--but the bigger news was the launch site, the European Space Agency home in French Guiana. John Matson reports

More 60-Second Space

Subscribe via iTunes

[Audio from launch: ?We?re ready to go with the liftoff, and we?ll be back with you after Soyuz has cleared the tower.]

On October 21st, a Russian Soyuz rocket took flight, ferrying satellites into orbit, as such rockets have done since the 1960s. What was new this time was the launch site. [Countdown audio, in French] The Soyuz launched from Europe's Spaceport at French Guiana in South America. It?s the first time that a Soyuz rocket has departed from anywhere other than Russia or Kazakhstan.

The launch was a major milestone for the European Space Agency, or ESA. The European Spaceport is just north of the equator, where the slingshot effect from Earth's rotation gives rockets the biggest boost. And now Europe has access to the venerable Soyuz rockets, which provide a midsize complement to ESA's heavy-duty Ariane 5 launcher. Next year the ESA expects to debut a third rocket, the Vega, which is optimized for small satellites.

The Soyuz payload itself was a coup for ESA as well. The rocket carried the first two satellites for Galileo, a navigation network that will eventually form a European alternative to the U.S. and Russian GPS systems. It seems the European space program has a good idea where it's going.

?John Matson

[Audio from launch: The DDO saying everything is fine on board. Soyuz lifting off perfectly from the soil here in her new home in French Guiana, beginning her mission number 1777.]

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]


Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=161f4bdad36922511f554dffc87b7da9

florida gators norman mailer steve mcnair chili recipe chili recipe frank gore frank gore

Despite Qaddafi's death, the landscape looks ominous in the Sahel

Muammar Qaddafi's death is unlikely to mark the end of the Sahel's Libya troubles, with a steady stream of migrants and Qaddafi loyalists returning home or fleeing.

The death of former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi in Sirte this Thursday will not put an end to Libya?s problems, and it will have complex effects throughout the Sahel region.

Skip to next paragraph

For example, a new report from International Crisis Group focuses on Chad, which faces a potentially strained relationship with Libya?s Transitional National Council (TNC) and the loss of remittances from Chadian workers in Libya. Hundreds of Chadians have been returning to the country in recent months, a stream that has continued to the present. The government will struggle to reintegrate these refugees.

Niger, meanwhile, continues to be a refuge for Qadhafi loyalists.

Niger said Friday the end of the Libyan conflict would allow it to lift restrictions on senior Kadhafi loyalists who sought refuge there, except for deceased leader Moamer Kadhafi?s son Saadi.

[...]

In September 32 people close to the defeated Libyan regime fled to Niger where they were received ?for humanitarian reasons.?

Among them were three of Kadhafi?s generals, and all have been kept under the watchful eye of Niger authorities since then, Niamey has said, without saying they were in detention.

There are also reports that say Saif al Islam Qadhafi, who is perhaps the Colonel?s most prominent son and a focal point of future resistance to the TNC, is heading toward Niger.

I think it would be alarmist to conclude that Qadhafi loyalists will immediately begin trying to use Niger as a base for an uprising against the TNC. But the presence of prominent Qadhafi supporters just across the border will remind the TNC that their revolution has left bitter memories in the region. With relations between the TNC and both Niger and Chad on an uncertain footing, the politics of the region could be testy for some time to come.

The incipient Tuareg uprising in Mali is also part of the fallout from Qadhafi?s fall, but it merits a separate post. I?ll try to write something up next week.

? Alex Thurston is a PhD student studying Islam in Africa at Northwestern University and blogs at Sahel Blog.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of Africa bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/YZz-gYkYSt4/Despite-Qaddafi-s-death-the-landscape-looks-ominous-in-the-Sahel

reno nevada lion king 3d lion king 3d the lion king 3d the lion king 3d missoni maker faire

District attorney, sheriff criticize Santa Clara County supervisors for new immigration policy (San Jose Mercury News)

Courtney Stodden Kicked Out Of Pumpkin Patch For Being Too Sexy!

Teenage famewhore Courtney Stodden continues to show the world that she is one sexy biotch. Her latest stunt got her kicked out of a pumpkin patch and I have to say I would I have kicked her butt out too! Over the weekend 17 year old Stodden and her creepy 51-year-old husband Doug Hutchison visited a pumpkin patch in Santa Clarita Valley, California. In true Courtney fashion she was dressed like no other. Decked out in white hooker boots, Daisy Duke jean shorts that barely covered her goods if you know what I mean and a plaid button down shirt tied in front to show her cleavage and her tummy. Can you say classy, NOT! Apparently those in charge of the pumpkin patch were not so impressed by the teen?s slutty, yes I said it, attired because she and her husband got the boot after other patrons complained. It wasn?t just her wardrobe choices that got the odd couple kicked out of the family friendly venue. The couple?s behavior, which according to RadarOnline was very inappropriate if you get what I am sayin, is what got them 86?ed. Being given the old heave ho from the pumpkin patch sure didn?t [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/rHI-WjxBYhw/

the perfect storm draya michele draya michele ozzie guillen ozzie guillen kevin smith kevin smith

Phillies decline options for Oswalt, Lidge

updated 4:15 p.m. ET Oct. 24, 2011

PHILADELPHIA - The Phillies have declined the 2012 options for pitchers Roy Oswalt and Brad Lidge.

Oswalt gets a $2 million buyout instead of $16 million next season. Lidge receives a $1.5 million buyout instead of $12.5 million next year.

Oswalt was 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA in 23 starts for the Phillies this past season. The three-time All-Star right-hander was acquired in a trade with Houston on July 29, 2010. He was 16-11 with a 2.96 ERA in 35 starts for Philadelphia.

Lidge went 0-2 with one save and a 1.40 ERA in 25 appearances for the Phillies in 2011. In four seasons with Philadelphia, Lidge was 3-11 with 100 saves and a 3.73 ERA. He was 1-1 with 12 saves in 12 opportunities and a 1.77 ERA in the postseason.

Lidge was 48 for 48 in save chances, including postseason, in helping the Phillies win the 2008 World Series.

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said the team will consider re-signing both players. The five-time defending NL East champions lost to St. Louis in five games in the division round.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


advertisement

More news
Pressure on Rangers' Wilson

??HBT Extra: Can C.J. Wilson step up for the Rangers against Chris Carpenter and the Cards? Tiffany Simons and Craig Calcaterra preview Game 5.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45021551/ns/sports-baseball/

never forget flight 93 shot down remembering 9/11 nfl schedule pentagon remember me arian foster

Rachel Yamagata Finds 'Chesapeake' enlightening (omg!)

Lang Lang to honor composer Frank Liszt

Fri, Oct 21, 2011 8:44 AM PDT

AP 1:48 | 1,503 views

Classical pianist Lang Lang talks about his concert, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, which celebrates the 200th birthday of composer Frank Liszt, and reveals his unusual musical inspiration. (Oct. 21)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/http___omg_yahoo_com_videos15549/43348518/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/videos/rachel-yamagata-finds-chesapeake-enlightening/15549

jennifer nicole lee jennifer nicole lee mukesh ambani mukesh ambani bob harper aapl x factor judges

Conservative Romney alternatives vie for Iowa edge (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? Evangelical activists, Iowa's most potent conservative voting bloc, are sharply divided barely 10 weeks away from the state's leadoff presidential caucuses, and are weighing a number of GOP hopefuls competing hard to emerge as the more conservative alternative to early front-runner Mitt Romney.

A half-dozen GOP contenders sought Saturday to sharpen their Christian conservative credentials, and at times allay doubts, in an effort to gain any edge with this influential group before the state's Jan. 3 caucuses.

Businessman Herman Cain sought to clarify his position on abortion to about 1,000 of Iowa's most devout social conservatives, after suggesting this week the issue was a matter of choice.

"I believe abortion should be clearly stated as illegal across this country," Cain said during the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition's presidential forum.

Cain has risen sharply in the polls recently, stirring the interest of tea party activists and Republicans drawn to the former Godfather's Pizza CEO's business background and outsider status.

But he has also drawn new scrutiny, and came under attack by some of his fellow Republican candidates after comments in a CNN interview this week.

"What I'm saying is it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make," Cain told CNN host Piers Morgan.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry first took a veiled jab at Romney, who had supported abortion rights but declared his opposition during his term as Massachusetts governor as he was weighing a presidential bid.

"Pro-life is not a matter of campaign convenience," said Perry, who has stepped up his attacks on Romney's conservative profile.

But Perry also noted "It is a liberal canard to say I am personally pro-life but government should stay out of that decision," an indirect shot at Cain.

Cain said Perry's comments were aimed at falsely painting him as an abortion-rights supporter.

"That is just an attempt to try to discredit me," Cain said later. "I am pro-life from conception. No abortions, no exceptions."

Evangelical conservatives have yet to rally around any single candidate aggressively courting them, seeking the kind of lift that carried former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to victory in the leadoff caucuses in 2008.

"I don't see anyone galvanizing people like they did for Mike Huckabee," said Steve Scheffler, president of the event's sponsor and a leading social conservative activist in Iowa. "And I'd be lying if I told you that can change in one event."

Activists attending the coalition's forum at the Iowa State Fairgrounds weighed pitches from three candidates who have made the most aggressive appeals so far ? including former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Michele Bachmann and Perry as well as Cain, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Bachmann, who won the Iowa GOP straw poll in August with help from Iowa's politically active network of evangelical pastors, proclaimed her support for a constitutional amendment making abortion illegal.

"I believe that the government must intervene and I stand for a federal constitutional amendment to protect life from conception until natural death," Bachmann told the audience, prompting cheers.

Santorum, who had been a leading abortion opponent in Congress, criticized Cain in a press release after his CNN interview, but did not attack him directly Saturday.

"I hear a lot of theory up here," Santorum said referring to his rivals' records compared to his own in Congress. "That's practice."

Candidates campaigned across Iowa Saturday, convening in Des Moines for the event, which was seen as a chance to leave a mark on this constituency.

But the forum didn't draw Romney, who has led national GOP polls all year and was in New Hampshire on Saturday. Despite an aggressive effort by the event's planners, he declined an invitation, in part because he is well-known in Iowa from his 2008 White House run and is skipping multicandidate gatherings in the state.

Romney has had a touchy relationship with evangelical conservatives, many of whom are leery of Romney's Mormon faith and his changed positions on social issues such as gay and abortion rights.

He has attended national meetings of conservatives, including the Values Voter Summit in Washington this month, but is emphasizing economic, rather than social issues.

That left the stage Saturday to candidates targeting voters who made up roughly half of GOP caucusgoers in 2008, according to exit polls.

However, influential pastors say their network of politically active clergy is divided. Likewise, Christian home-school activists, a well-networked group that worked behind the scenes for Huckabee, apparently have no preferred candidate.

Perry gained attention for a national day of prayer he hosted in Houston in August. But some of his luster with evangelical voters has faded in light of his 2007 executive order requiring school-age girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cancer.

Santorum, an anti-abortion leader while in the Senate, has impressed social conservative leaders in Iowa, but trails Perry and Bachmann in fundraising.

___

Online:

Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition: http://ffciowa.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111023/ap_on_el_ge/us_conservatives_iowa

preamble preamble constitution constitution james carville james carville andy cohen

Germany arrests two Russians for spying since Cold War (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? German authorities have arrested two Russians suspected of espionage since the closing days of the Cold War, according to a report to be published in Der Spiegel news magazine on Monday.

Germany's Federal Prosecutor confirmed that two people suspected of espionage activities for a foreign country had been arrested on Tuesday in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Hesse by Germany's elite GSG-9 special operations commando.

The prosecutor's office, based in the southwestern town of Karlsruhe, did not identify the suspects as Russian spies.

"The accused are suspected of having worked in Germany over a long period of time for a foreign intelligence agency," the federal prosecutor said in a statement. "The Federal Crime Office (BKA) is investigating."

Der Spiegel magazine reported that the GSG-9 commandos arrested a Russian couple, who were identified as Heidrun A. and Andreas A.. It said authorities believe the two have worked for Russia's intelligence agency since 1988.

The report, in an advance released on Saturday, said the two suspects have denied the accusations.

West and East Germany were hotbeds of espionage during the Cold War with governments and industry on both sides of the Iron Curtain infiltrated by spies. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was a former KGB spy who was stationed in Dresden, in Communist East Germany from 1985 to 1990.

But the intensity of spying abated after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and German unification.

The arrests, which Der Spiegel said was the first such case since German unification in 1990, could cause tensions in relations between Germany and Russia, which have become close over the last two decades.

The magazine said that Heidrun was caught listening to a coded radio message when the commandos swooped in. They were arrested in separate locations, in the towns of Marburg and Balingen.

The authorities also confiscated Austrian passports that contained false information. The documents showed that Andreas was born in Argentina and Heidrun in Peru. But German investigations in South America determined those claims were not accurate.

Der Spiegel said that German authorities believed the two began spying on West Germany near the end of the Cold War in 1988.

Another German magazine, Focus, reported on Saturday that Andreas had been working undercover at a car parts supplier and had been gathering intelligence on the company.

In a 2010 government report, German authorities said they believed Russia and China are engaged in massive espionage activities against Germany. Their focus was in the fields of industry, science and technology.

It said they were particularly interested in obtaining information about modern drive systems as well as satellite and IT technology.

(Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111022/wl_nm/us_germany_russia_spies

jason wu jason wu the fall the fall kellen winslow ben folds jacqueline laurita

Jackson had more lorazepam than doctor admits: expert (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Michael Jackson had more of the sedative lorazepam in his blood stream than his doctor admitted giving him on the day he died, a top anesthesiology expert testified on Thursday.

Dr. Steven Shafer, the last prosecution witness in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, also said that propofol is not fatal when swallowed, undercutting a former, controversial defense theory.

Authorities ruled that Jackson's June 2009 death was caused by an overdose of the anesthetic propofol, combined with effects of lorazepam.

Murray has admitted giving Jackson a dose of propofol and four milligrams of lorazepam to help him sleep. But his attorneys have argued that Jackson gave himself extra doses of both drugs without Murray's knowledge.

Shafer said on Thursday that based on the timing of when Murray said he gave Jackson the lorazepam, those doses would have amounted to only 10 percent of the amount of the drug found in Jackson's blood stream at autopsy.

"It's only 10 percent of what was measured, so this did not happen," Shafer said.

Prosecutor David Walgren said, "The blood levels proved that there is more than four milligrams of lorazepam administered to Michael Jackson?"

"Absolutely," said Shafer.

Shafer also said that both animal and human studies have shown that propofol is barely absorbed into the bloodstream when swallowed because most of it is eliminated by the liver.

Murray's lawyers announced in court last week that they were dropping the theory that Jackson swallowed propofol by himself. However, they continue to maintain that he injected himself with more of the anesthetic, which is normally used to sedate patients before surgery.

Shafer on Wednesday sharply criticized Murray's care of the 50-year-old pop star, and gave 17 instances "egregious" violations of common medical standards.

He said that giving propofol at home to treat insomnia was a "pharmacological 'Never Never Land'" that had only been done to Jackson.

The defense is expected to cross examine Shafer later on Thursday and begin presenting its case on Friday. Murray, who has pleaded not guilty, faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111020/en_nm/us_michaeljackson

detroit lions donovan mcnabb donovan mcnabb bears bears lions terrelle pryor