Thumbs Up? Now, Thumbs Down! NH State Rep Drops Perry For Romney

A gritty, Granite State, howdy-do for Rick Perry…

On the eve of his visit to New Hampshire today, eight-term NH State Rep Norman Major, who has been supporting Rick Perry, switched his allegiance to Mitt Romney.

Perry’s inability to debate effectively and the way he handled himself while debating were the major factors in Major’s decision:

The New Hampshire Union Leader has learned that eight-term state Rep. Norman Major, R-Plaistow, who backed Perry just more than a month ago, is now with Romney.

Major, who heads the Rockingham County delegation in the New Hampshire House and is vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in an interview he became less impressed with Perry during October.

“When I met Perry, I listened to him and he represented all the things I wanted to see accomplished,” Major said. “He accomplished a lot in the state of Texas, but as I saw him in the debates and how he handles himself, I realized he isn’t going to beat Obama.”

Major said Perry “has a lot of good credentials, but I guess he needs to go through what Romney went through last time and get that experience of running for President. That way he will be more presidential and think more nationally.

“All the answers don’t come from Texas,” said Major. …

Major said Romney “is more presidential and I think stands a better chance of beating Obama than Perry does.

Perry’s strategy:

Perry, after adding several nationally known GOP strategists to his campaign organizational chart this week, after getting much attention for his 20 percent flat-tax plan, and after being backed by magazine publisher Steve Forbes, has gone on the attack against Romney.

On the cable network CNBC earlier this week, Perry labeled Romney a “fat cat,” referring to his personal wealth.

Perry also continued criticizing the health care plan Romney signed into law in Massachusetts, calling it, through a spokesman, an “albatross” for the Bay State.

From PostBulletin.com (McClatchy newspaper):

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent precious little time in New Hampshire, and party activists are starting to notice.

As the governor whisks into the state Friday, just long enough to file the papers needed to appear on the ballot and speak to religious conservatives, questions are growing about how seriously he’s trying to compete.

“It’s very hard to do ‘New Hampshire-lite’ and win,” Steve Duprey, a former state GOP chairman who now serves on the national Republican committee, said Thursday.

Duprey said Perry might need to spend 25 or 30 days in New Hampshire between now and the January primary to do well. That may be impossible given the myriad demands on his time: Iowa, South Carolina, fundraising and, of course, tending to state business once in a while.

“New Hampshire may be small geographically, but it’s Texas-sized in the effort it takes to do well here,” Duprey said. “Coming here for a day, even if you did 10 events, isn’t enough.”
[...]
Dante Scala, chairman of the University of New Hampshire political science department, said Perry isn’t putting in the “sustained effort” needed to do well in the state’s primary, let alone to win. He said it doesn’t appear that the state is Perry’s first or even second priority.

(emphasis, italics added)

Perry may bump into Mitt Romney tonight; The Texan is speaking at a fundraiser for religious conservatives and Romney is speaking at a town hall meeting nearby (his 16th).

Welcome to the team, Representative Major!

► Jayde Wyatt