Rock Hill, South Carolina (CNN) - Rick Perry's campaign chairman in South Carolina downplayed his candidate's poor showing in the Iowa caucuses on Wednesday, claiming that the Hawkeye state matters little in the nominating process.
Perry plans to hit the reset button in South Carolina instead, said Katon Dawson, Perry's point-man in the Palmetto State.
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"I get that we are the underdog and we are certainly not the establishment candidate, but South Carolina ain't going to let Iowa pick its nominee," Dawson told CNN.
Like any good former state party chairman – he ran the South Carolina GOP for six years - Dawson said the caucus and primary states that vote before his have limited importance.
"Iowa picks corn, New Hampshire picks presidential campaign pockets, and South Carolina picks Republican presidents," he said.
Before Perry paused to "assess" the state of his campaign after a disappointing fifth place finish in Iowa last night, his staff in South Carolina had put together a busy statewide bus tour for the candidate.
But plans were scrapped yesterday, and Dawson said the campaign here is starting anew.
Dawson said he and other aides are plotting an aggressive campaign push ahead of the Jan. 21 primary that would rely heavily on Perry's strengths as a retail-politician.
And asked if the Perry campaign had enough money left in its coffers to wage an aggressive battle on the television airwaves, Dawson answered: "Sure we do."
"I think we re-set the campaign and do something different here," he said. "Obviously it didn't work in Iowa. But we haven't had our shot in South Carolina."
Also see:
Paul: Gingrich a 'chickenhawk'
Iowa outcome: What it means for the president
McCain backs former foe Romney over Senate colleague Santorum
Army soldier rallying for Paul violated military ban on political activity
From CNN Politics
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Sounds like he just wants to spend more money and stay away from his seat in Texas... what a sap.
Iowa matter as much as Perry does. In the big picture it has no affect, but both have scary politics.
It will be interesting to see what type of ad buys the Perry campaign makes. Of course they will go negative, the only quesiton is who will be the target.
reset his campaign? does that mean he will try to engage his brain this time?
I thought when he cancelled his schedule and went back to Texas to "reassess", he was out. This only helps Romney and hurts Santorum because the conservative vote can still split four ways.
I said this morning that we would endorse Romney so he can be in line for VP. Total idle speculation here, but ... could it be the Romney people who encouraged him to stay in?
Ha! Reset?? He means "I can't go back to TX because they hate me and I can't win the republican nomination because they hate me, so I'll have to reset my life's goals."
Glad to hear Governor Goober is back in the race, this will just keep splintering the GOP!
By all means, keep trying to "reset the campaign", because every dollar spent trying to buy relevancy, gives the RNC one less dollar to spend in the general.!
Can someone please explain why Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina get to shape politics. I mean no disrespect to those fine people, but wouldn't it make more sense to have some of the bigger states mixed in there? I understand they would be overcome and rendered small potatoes if the big guys went first, but the amounts of money being wasted to narrow these feilds could be reduced greatly if a top two were defined earlier. I say Iowa, California, NH, Texas, SC, Ohio, etc...and get on with it.
If the people of south carolina like him so much i just wish that they would keep him. we sure don't need him and his lies here in texas
Maybe he should reset his watch.Times up Rick.You're having trouble grasping that concept aren't you?
He OBVIOUSLY feels more comfortable where there are more people who subscribe to his crazy ideas....the South!
I thought he could't get on the ballot?
Reset button? Wrong. Delete button. Correct.
Governor Perry should send a representative speaker in his place. Every time he speaks, he sinks deeper into oblivion.
Note to self- small business opportunity. Manufacture hanbaskets and print maps to hades. Anticipate shortage of both.
Thought he was out–worst luck!!
Perry is enjoying himself while drawing his salary and state pension and leaving Texas holding the bag. You deserve it Texas for electing this looser.
The only thing Rick Perry should do in South Carolina is his hair.
Well there is a silver lining. At least we get that keeps him out of Texas for a while longer.
Bring it on , save the pretzels for the gas jets !
Perry / Enron
Perry won't hurt Santorum only because Perry is dead in the water. The anti Romney crowd will not vote for Perry because they want a viable candidate.
What position does he plan to flip flop this time?
The longer he stays on the election trail and is out of Texas the better for us still in Texas.
The national polls show Perry losing in every state, especially up against President Obama. Well, at least one nut (Bachman) is out – it's only a matter of time before Perry "gets it".
I think he will pick up Santorum's voters soon. But then, since it's SC, who can say
aHA - the Newt/Santorum "love" makes sense now.
Santorum warned Sen Ensign he was about to be outed and helped him cover his butt.
Guess Newt thinks he mght just "come in handy" some day if Newt pulls any more of his cheating shenanigans.
The plot thickens..................................