Benjy Sarlin noted earlier that Perry’s fusillade against Fed Chair Ben Bernanke puts Mitt Romney in a treacherous spot. He’s close to high finance in general and has been conspicuously unwilling to join the general chorus of criticism of Bernanke from the right. But there’s another dimension of this feud. Read More

I’m hoping to write a bit more about this shortly. But for now I’d just like to flag what strikes me as one of the more interesting developments out of Gov. Rick Perry’s entry into the campaign. And that’s the reemergence with a passion of the culture war. But with a difference. In recent decades ‘culture war’ politics has been deeply sexual in character. Gays, abortion, out of control women, etc. But Perry’s — overwhelmingly deployed now against Romney — seems light on the sexual side. It’s much more farm-bred, military-serving, patriotic, anti-Wall Street, maybe anti-city in general.

Real man with his boots on the ranch up against the archetypal girlie-man (okay, a bit sexualized) in the form of Mitt Romney.

A new poll suggests Wisconsin voters are souring on the idea of recalling Gov. Scott Walker (R). And a successful campaign for Walker’s ouster may rest on recruiting former Sen. Russ Feingold as the Democratic contender.

Gingrich says Republicans will have a hard time resisting President Obama’s demand for a continuation of the payroll tax holiday.

Rick Perry came into the Texas governorship as George W. Bush’s Lt.Gov. But the relationship between Team Perry and Team Bush is not close. Now Karl Rove is piling on Perry’s ‘treason’ swipe at Fed Chair Ben Bernanke.