by Patrick Appel
He's the Tea Party's candidate of choice. Steve Kornacki connects Perry's rise in the polls to the hubris of the GOP:
Perry’s surge to the front of the GOP pack this summer shows just how different his party is today than it was when Bush set out to run. The Republicans of 1999 had been schooled by Bill Clinton over and over again and were mainly hungry for a winner. But the Republicans of 2011 are coming off of a monster midterm triumph. They have yet to be humbled, and they want more than a winner. They want purity. And right now, Rick Perry is giving it to them.
The Dish 