“Win one for the gaffer”

I was enjoying a late dinner with friends last night at a neighborhood restaurant when a loud voice at a table on the opposite side of the room loudly said: “It made Howard Dean’s scream look like a Shakespearean soliloquy.”  The other five people at the table erupted into laughter.  Yes, they were talking about Rick Perry’s “moment” in the last debate.

Iowa Senate Republicans met in private at the statehouse yesterday to select a new leader. The process took more than three hours. Apparently, to break the tension, one of the senators shared with his colleagues a new slogan for the Perry campaign: “Win one for the gaffer.”  As the GOP senators milled about the senate during a break, the new slogan was shared with reporters sitting along the press bench.  The author of the slogan wishes to remain anonymous.

Jennifer Jacobs and Jason Clayworth of The Des Moines Register talked with some of Perry’s Iowa supporters about the gaffe.  Perry went on Letterman last night to deliver the top 10 list, the campaign’s gambit to embrace the “oops” moment and use it as a pivot point.