Why Did Rick Perry Support Gore for President in '88?

Because at the time he was a Democrat. But in this story it takes Politico writer Bob King until the eighth paragraph – a full three quarters into the story – before he gets around to that little tidbit, and even then he mentions it almost off-handedly. The rest of the story is focused squarely on Al Gore, who isn't even on the radar right now.

So why?

The answer is because he, and everyone else, knows that Al Gore and global warming are hot-button issues in the Conservative community. And this is just a desperate early attempt to discredit Perry's conservative credentials. It's a trial balloon, but one that I'm sure won't stick. 1988 was a long time ago, and even the best Republicans have had Democrat leanings at one time of another in their lives.

It's going to be a long, interesting, frustrating political campaign season. I can tell because this kind of nonsense is usually saved for much later in the campaign.