Archive

Rick Perry Loses Big SC Endorsement

Smooth Move

Investment-fund executive turned off by Romney attacks.

cheats/2012/01/12/rick-perry-loses-big-s-c-endorsement/rick-perry-loses-south-carolina-endorsement-cs_an2ufr
Jonathan Gibby / Getty Images

Rick Perry’s fighting words have come back to hurt him. Barry Wynn, an investment-fund executive from South Carolina and a top GOP donor, announced Thursday that he was revoking his support for the Texas governor and moving over to the Mitt Romney camp. He was simply turned off by Perry’s attacks on Romney’s time at Bain Capital. “I’ve been fighting for this cause most of my life,” said Wynn. “It’s like fingernails on the chalkboard. It just kind of irritated you to hear those kinds of attacks.” A Perry adviser shrugged off the loss, saying, “It won’t have any impact.” The snub seems to have inspired the Texan to lay off the Bain attacks as he pushes for support in South Carolina, at least until he's really pressed. Following a meeting with voters at a Blythewood, S.C., diner, Perry resisted knocking Romney, but once a Fox News reporter asked him why he would want to be to the left of Romney on capitalism, Perry caved and replied, "The idea that you've got private-equity companies that come in and take companies apart so they can make profits and have people lose their jobs—that's not what the Republican Party's about."

Read it at Associated Press