In a rather salty commentary piece, Austin American-Statesman writer Ken Herman lambastes the American public for not taking the hint: still-Governor Rick Perry isn't trying to be the president anymore. Ironically, the man who slipped countless political gaffes into a brief campaign has pulled in more votes since he left the campaign trail than when he was actively pursuing the presidency, which lends weight to the idea that his presence in the race only hurt him.
The reason for Herman's reaction is the 39,435 votes that have been cast in Perry's name as bid for presidential nominee by Americans after the Texas governor suspended his campaign following disastrous showings in the first two primaries. There have been 17 since. This also comes after he's publicly resigned from the campaign and endorsed (begrudgingly) Newt Gingrich for presidential nominee. According to Herman's diatribe, there are still folks pressing the flesh, campaigning on the ground for Perry.
The fact that Rick Perry's name is still appearing on ballots isn't extraordinary: Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman are still appearing on voting ballots (Huntsman has approximately 68,000 votes) and will do so in the upcoming Texas primary in May. The vast tentacles of a presidential nominee race are difficult to wrangle in, accounting for all the extra names on the ballot slip, but there seems to be a gap in time from when a candidate reneges on their ambitions to become president and when their name is no longer presented on the ballot as a viable option.
But forget the fact that thousands of Americans are wasting their vote on a candidate who no longer wants the presidency in one of the closest nomination elections in recent memory. Look on the bright side. If Perry did somehow pull off a nomination after pulling out of the race, he's already got a great campaign slogan: "Oops!"
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