Gov. Rick Perry's long-predicted entry into the GOP presidential nomination race on Aug. 13 overshadowed the fact that another Texan – Congressman Ron Paul – actually placed second in the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa. The coastal Repub­lican put Perry front and center in an attack ad railing against "failed leadership" and "smooth-talking politicians." Other Republican institutions are less convinced of Perry's silver-tongued ways. After he called Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke's economic plans "almost treasonous" and added that Texas would "treat him pretty ugly," Karl Rove bristled on Fox News that Perry will have to "fight the impression that he's a cowboy from Texas. This simply added to it." Other Bush White House Republicans joined the chorus: Deputy Press Secretary Tony Frato called Perry's words "inappropriate" while speechwriter Pete Wehner described the remark as "the kind of blustering, unthinking comment that Perry's critics expect of him."