For a presidential candidate, there’s nothing more important than researching before you hit the campaign trail. Generally speaking, people are easy. If you make the right references to sports and pop culture, and make the swing state people feel like you can relate to them, you can boost your chances of winning that state. According to Politico.com, Republican candidate Rick Perry should have done a better job of policing his cronies before heading to Iowa.
Arizona sheriff Joe Apraio introduced Perry at a Republican breakfast near Des Moines on Wednesday morning. Before handing off the microphone to Perry, Apraio made a reference to Iowa’s Buckeyes. Oops. Naturally, the crowd erupted with boos.
Could it have been a slip of the tongue? I guess it’s possible, but I highly doubt it. After the comment, Perry took the mic from Apraio and joked that there were likely a number of Cyclones (Iowa State) in the crowd as well as Hawkeyes, which drew a few cheers.
“You know how to get an Iowa crowd riled up,” Perry joked. “You’re not going to live that one down for a while — I’m here to tell ya.”
The most entertaining aspect of the flub is that Perry vowed to become the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses earlier this month. Having one of your associates mix up Buckeyes and Hawkeyes is not a good start. Sports references are a good way to connect with the people as long as you know what you’re talking about. Unfortunately for Rick, his right-hand man seems to have taken his preparation far too lightly.
H/T to Game On! for passing the story along
