Perry Hopes You Forget - Geneva (14)

by Geneva Durand
(Chile)

Campaigning for the presidency of the United States of America is Texas Governor Rick Perry, a 61 year old Republican with two children. He grew up in a small town of Texas, graduating from Paint Creek High School in the top ten - out of 13 students in his class. Until Perry took Organic Chemistry, he wanted to be a veterinarian, but then he decided to enter the Air Force. Shortly after that, Perry became involved in politics, eventually becoming the Governor of Texas, and now running for the presidency.

On Wednesday, the ninth of November, CNBC hosted a GOP debate among the eight major Republican candidates. Held at 8 pm EST in Oakland University, located in Rochester, Michigan, it was focused on economic issues. According to the 2012 Election Central, "the candidates largely avoided attacking each other in favor of sticking to the issues." It also stated, "the questions were mostly substantive to the topic." Although most of the candidates did well, the debate may have cost one his chance at the White House.

During the debate, Perry started talking about eliminating federal agencies. “I will tell you," he said, "it is three agencies of government when I get there that are gone. Commerce, Education, and the -- what’s the third one there?" After stumbling around for awhile, he tried to make one more effort. "The third agency of government I would do away with - the Education, the Commerce. And let's see - I can't. The third one, I can't. Oops."

Lots of people are asking if this will hurt Perry's campaign. He said on NBC's Today show, "I think I'm kind of like most Americans and there are so many agencies of government that they'd like to forget, that the Department of Energy was one of those. I'm human like everyone else." After the debate, Rick Perry supporters got an email which asked them to "throw in a $5 contribution for every agency you would like to forget. We hope you have a long list. And we promise we will write down every last idea. So we don’t forget.” Although his campaign (and many comedians) tried to make a joke of it, many think it is pretty serious. According to csmonitor.com, "Perry's stumble already seems to be having a negative impact on his fundraising potential." However the campaign tries to turn it off, it's sure to have an impact, and may even cost him the presidency.