Rick Perry: I Can Still Win This

It ain't over 'til the Texas governor says it is: Rick Perry today hit the talk shows, saying that despite his fifth-place showing in today's Des Moines Register poll, "obviously, this race isn't settled at all. I feel pretty comfortable where we’ll be on Election Day." Perry cited time and money on his side, calling the race a "marathon" and adding, “Obviously, we’ve got a war chest that allows us to get that message out there." The Texas governor appeared on Fox News Sunday this morning for the first time as a presidential candidate, reports Politico, but like Herman Cain, he took some heat from his interviewer. More:

• On debating: While freely admitting "I'm not the greatest debater" in the GOP field, Rick Perry said today that he can go mano a mano with the debater-in-chief and come out ahead: “We’ve got a great debater, a smooth politician, in the White House right now. That’s not what we want right now. I think I am going to be able to stand on that stage and draw a clear contrast with Barack Obama."
• On jobs: Host Chris Wallace lit into Perry for his pledge to create 2.5 million jobs, calling the plan "terrible. We would roughly need 6 million jobs in the first four years just to stay even with population growth. Jimmy Carter created 10.5 million jobs in his first four years.” Responded Perry, any job at this particular point in time helps," adding that "the idea that I’m going to let people talk this plan down for the sake of just having an intellectual discussion is not correct."
• On cutting 18% of federal spending: Perry said he'd "do away with earmarks" toward this end, though Politico notes bipartisan agreement exists on this point—and it's a small percentage of the overall budget. When pressed by Wallace, Perry said he could cut $25 billion from the Education Department and kick it back to states. “There is one of the examples."

(More Sunday morning talk shows stories.)