Rick Perry’s new mantra: I’m a doer, not a talker

In a nod to his poor showing in the GOP debates, Rick Perry declares in his latest campaign advertisement that he’s a “doer, not a talker.”

“If you’re looking for a slick politician or a guy with great Teleprompter skills, we already have that, and he’s destroying our economy,” the Texas governor says in the 30-second spot, which will air on broadcast and cable television in Iowa.

It’s classic campaign playbook: turn your biggest perceived weakness into a strength. The implicit argument here is that like President Obama, other presidential candidates -- perhaps front-runner Mitt Romney -- may be more polished performers. But Perry’s record speaks for itself.

“In Texas we created 40% of the new jobs in the entire country since June of 2009. And we cut a record 15 billion dollars from our state budget,” Perry says.

“They say we can’t do that in Washington. Well, they’re wrong, and they need to go.”

The new Des Moines Register poll showed Perry tied for fifth place among likely caucus-goers with 7% support. He’s deploying his sizable campaign war chest to help recapture momentum in the key early-voting state.

Perry’s struggles in the nationally televised debates have been well documented. He’s said he’s prepared to skip some of the dozen or so still on the schedule in coming months.

“It’s an incredible amount of time and preparation and what have you,” he said on “Fox News on Sunday.” “I really like getting out and being able to talk with people.”

His speech to conservative activists in New Hampshire on Friday night is one such example. But his animated performance also has people talking this week.

He particularly got worked up about the Granite State’s motto.

“This is such a cool state. I mean, come on: ‘Live Free or Die!’ You got to love that, right?” he said. “I come from a state where they had this little place called the Alamo and they declared, ‘Victory or Death!’ We’re kind of into those slogans, man.”

“Live Free Or Die! Victory or Death! Bring it!”