RETURN OF PERRY? – AT 10:42 A.M. ET:  Former Governor Rick Perry of Texas did not have a good presidential primary in 2012, when he was knocked out of contention because of a disastrous debate performance.  He did not have a good presidential primary in 2015, when he was unable to shake the image from 2012.  But now, with the GOP in a kind of crisis, he's thinking of getting back in.

The main issue here is not whether Rick Perry, a good man, gets back into the race, but that so many Republicans are speaking of unusual alternatives, including the possibility of an open convention, which would become a free-for-all after the first ballot.  From Newsmax:   

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry Thursday would not rule out his re-entering the Republican presidential race if a brokered convention occurred in Cleveland in July.

"The fact of the matter is I think this campaign, if there is an odd twist to it, it will be that no one gets enough of the nomination, gets enough of the delegates to get the nomination, and you go to a brokered convention," Perry, who dropped out of the nomination sweepstakes in June, told Erin Burnett on CNN. "At that particular point in time, it's a whole new ballgame for everyone."

"That could be a new ballgame for you," Burnett said.

"Everyone," Perry responded.

Perry, the 14-year governor who now supports Ted Cruz for the nomination, was responding to a Twitter post from conservative talk-radio host Erick Erickson, saying that he would support a third-party bid by Perry.

COMMENT:  I'm hoping for an open convention because I just don't think we can have a unified, effective party without the convention making its own choice.  There's too much bitterness, and Trump, who is favored for the nomination right now, is not the guy to end bitterness.

February 26, 2016