But Romney offers Republican voters a less than clear-cut contrast with Obama — he was the moderate governor of a liberal state who helped create a universal health-care program that served as the model for the national health-care law signed by Obama. This week, he faced questions over his 2004 invocation of state tax increases in attempting to secure a top credit rating for the state.
Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman Jr. both considered some of the tools used in the Massachusetts health law as they were crafting their own reform proposals as governors of Minnesota and Utah, and both also supported a cap-and-trade approach to limiting carbon emissions.
If Perry has any weak spot in this regard, it is that Texas relied heavily on federal stimulus funds to balance its budget, despite Perry’s criticism of the initiative.
Texas ranks relatively low in its per-capita reliance on federal funding. But this is set to change under the health-care law, which will result in a surge of federal dollars to cover most of the cost of expanding Medicaid eligibility in the state. Texas now has among the most narrow Medicaid eligibility standards in the country, which means the law’s expansion will have a particularly big impact there and result in an especially large flow of new federal dollars — which hasn’t kept Perry from railing against it.
Despite its strong economy, Texas ranks low on many social markers. It has the fourth- highest poverty rate, the seventh-highest teenage birth rate, and the lowest rate of people over 25 with a high school degree.
Experts attribute these markers to the state’s high proportion of immigrants, to political decisions on taxes and spending, and to the state’s business climate. The state spends second to least on Medicaid, per capita, of any state in the country, and the least of any state on mental health care. The rate of unionization is low, which is one reason why the state ranks second to last in the percentage of the population covered by employer health insurance.
The Texas model predates Perry’s leadership, but he has embraced it in full. At his direction, Texas has refused to enforce federal emissions rules for power plants and refineries. And Perry cannot be accused of considering elements of “Obamacare” because his administration — unlike those of Pawlenty, Huntsman and Romney — has not tried to expand adult health coverage at all.
“Rick Perry would be a more credible standard-bearer against Obamacare than Mitt Romney simply by virtue of the fact that Mitt implemented Obamacare in Massachusetts and Perry did not do so in Texas,” said Michael Cannon of the libertarian Cato Institute.
Welcoming a challenge
Obama’s reelection team has hinted that it welcomes Perry, whose hard-edged profile it believes would be a tough sell in a general election. But the arrival of a candidate who so refutes everything the Obama administration has stood for is also likely to spur anxiety among some liberals, who accuse Obama of being too conciliatory toward Republicans.
If Obama seizes the opportunity, then he can point to Texas as the example of “what happens if you get close to the ideal of the current Republican vision of how government should work,” said Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. “No social services, close to the worst social safety net of any state in the union, and low taxes, which help to bring in large numbers of low-paying jobs and high budget deficits.”
Put that way, Texas might not be the most flattering illustration for the national GOP platform. But Doug Gross, a former Iowa Republican gubernatorial nominee, said Perry’s entry is good for Republicans.
“It’ll be helpful to the party and to the country because it’ll give us a clearer sense of the choices available to us,” he said. “So I welcome it.”
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