Various Republican governors with an eye on the White House can point to tax cuts and other business-friendly policies they spearheaded as they enter the crowded 2016 presidential contest. But many of them can’t highlight robust economic growth.
Among the handful of governors and former governors competing for the Republican presidential nomination, only one – former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who declared his candidacy last week – can say that his state has outpaced the national economy over the past four years.
Economic growth lagged in other states whose governors are expected to run for president, according to U.S. government figures released on Wednesday.
“Only Perry can really brag,” said George Mason University economist Stephen Fuller. “The other guys just haven’t been there long enough and don’t have anything to show for it, anyway.”
There is a lot of “apples and oranges” going on here. The intent of the article is obviously to undermine the “executive experience” argument by GOP governors in regards to running for the presidency. The writer mentions “tepid growth” as if that were a problem. As someone who has been monitoring Reuters headlines for years I can tell you that the tiniest of upticks in the nation’s economy under Obama have been hailed as if he’d just cured cancer.
It’s also not terribly unusual for states to be lagging when the country’s economy has been in stop and start mode for years.
Still, the article is right about Perry, and Rick Perry knows it. If his campaign is sharper this time around, he’ll use the Texas economic success to hammer away at Republican rivals and the Democrats at the same time.
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