On yesterday’s thread entitled “Fox Poll: Romney leads but Perry follows close behind”, I commented to the effect that “Rick Perry was George W. Bush’s Lieutenant Governor”. A reply to my comment stated “Which is why Perry doesn’t have a prayer in hell of getting elected as POTUS”. First of all, my comment was factually inaccurate so I must correct it and add clarification. Rick Perry was the Texas Lieutenant Governor under George W. Bush. However, Perry was not “Bush’s Lieutenant Governor”. In Texas, the Lieutenant Governor is elected separately, and not in tandem with the Governor. The relationship between the 2 is different than the offices of President and Vice President of the U.S.. Rick Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor on his own merits and not as George Bush’s running mate. See Wikipedia’s explanation here.
The Lieutenant Governor assumes the powers of the Governor of Texas when the governor is out of the state or otherwise unable to discharge the office. The Lieutenant Governor is elected separately from the Governor, rather than on the same ticket; it is therefore possible for the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to be from different political parties (which was the case during Governor George W. Bush’s first term and also during Bill Clements’s two nonconsecutive terms). The Lieutenant Governor becomes Governor if the elected Governor resigns or dies while in office (current Governor Rick Perry took office upon George W. Bush’s ascendance to the office of President of the United States on December 21, 2000).
The idea that Rick Perry was George Bush’s running mate is a common misconception and appears to be a significant negative for Perry as voters consider a GOP nominee for POTUS. I hope the Perry campaign is aware of this misconception and takes every opportunity to clarify.
Tags: Rick Perry
