Clearly, most Republican voters would much prefer a very, very, very conservative nominee to the more buttoned-down Romney. (Even if he has shed his pinstriped suits and nice ties in favor of sports shirts and khakis, he still looks like he could be a Haggar slacks model.) It's unclear whether they want, or will end up supporting, Perry—but, obviously, they want a Perry-like conservative. But it comes down to Perry's capacity to turn the corner, to become a national, as opposed to a Texas or a Deep South, candidate.
Before Perry stumbled in the debates, I said it was coming down to a Romney-Perry race. (When will I learn to stop predicting?) Since then, it's become a Romney vs. conservative-of-the-week as GOP voters try on one non-Romney after another. There is the strong sense, I think, that if Romney is the nominee, Republicans will have settled again instead of going with the strongest conservative,which would greatly diminish the point of getting Obama out of the White House.
