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Remember front-running Rick Perry for president? Karl Rove does

Rick Perry pauses as he suspends his campaign in South Carolina Jan. 19, 2012 (Associated Press photo, David Goldman.) Rick Perry pauses as he suspends his campaign in South Carolina Jan. 19, 2012 (Associated Press photo, David Goldman.)

Rick Perry pauses as he suspends his campaign in South Carolina Jan. 19, 2012 (Associated Press photo, David Goldman.)

By W. Gardner Selby September 23, 2015

A poll conducted soon after the second Republican presidential debate showed a huge bump for former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. A survey by CNN found Fiorina shot from 3 percent in early September to 15 percent now, putting her in a statistical tie for second with physician Ben Carson. Real estate billionaire Donald Trump still leads with 24 percent, but he’s down 8 points from the last CNN poll.

Karl Rove, among pundits batting this around, warned against taking any lead in the polls too seriously at this point. "Let's just remember, we are at the beginning of this process," Rove said on Fox News Sunday. "As of now, in 2012, Rick Perry was ahead at 29.9 percent, and we had seven more leads before it finally settled on Mitt Romney on Feb. 28 of 2012."

Rove and Perry share some history; we're not digging into that.

But PunditFact found validity to Rove's claim. Read the Perry-plus details here.

See Rove's full Truth-O-Meter report card.

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More by W. Gardner Selby

Remember front-running Rick Perry for president? Karl Rove does