Here are some of the issues that will be discussed on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show.

Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
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Trump Falls While Rubio and Fiorina Rise

According to the Washington Examiner, the Trump campaign might be starting to show warning signs. The latest Rasmussen poll shows that Trump is down 9 points while Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina have gained some ground.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Trump with 17% support among "Likely Republican Primary Voters," down from 26% in late July before the first GOP debate.

Rubio [and Bush] are in second place with 10% support, followed closely by Fiorina and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker each with nine percent (9%) of the likely primary vote.

The new polling data is very impressive for Fiorina who just last week was polling near the bottom of the Republican field. An excellent debate performance along with good press coverage has really turned things around for her.

The same could be said for Senator Marco Rubio who last week was losing ground in the polls. Now he is tied for second and has momentum.

Perry's New Path

Rick Perry's campaign is in trouble but publicly they are attempting to stay on message and not seem as though they are worried. According to the Texas Tribune, the Perry camp sought to reassure supporters that they have a plan forward.

Beset by fundraising troublesRick Perry's presidential campaign sees a path forward by morphing into a skeletal operation and living off the land to keep the former Texas governor's candidacy alive through to the start of next year's caucus and primaries.

The Perry team is confident that his economic record as governor for 14 years, coupled with his retail political skills on the stump, give him potential to rise at some point in what so far has proven to be a fluid and unsettled Republican primary campaign.

With money running short, the Perry campaign stopped paying its staff as of last Friday, though almost all are staying on as volunteers for now. The campaign has decided to husband its resources to pay for the candidate's travel, via commercial flights, to events in the early voting states and will focus on getting his message out in earned media interviews.

In an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, Perry campaign manager Jeff Miller laid out Perry's strategy going forward.

"We absolutely know for a fact that the governor’s track record on the economy, on education, even on the climate far surpasses anyone else running for office," Miller said. "Just as importantly, no one matches Rick Perry’s retail politics skills. At the end of the day, it’s not the national poll numbers that will dictate who our nominee is. It’s who can perform well in these early states.”

Miller said that only one staffer has departed the team so far because of the pay shortage, citing personal financial reasons, and that all other aides at national headquarters in Austin and in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina are remaining on board as volunteers.

The Perry campaign reported raising $1.14 million in the second quarter of this year and on July 15 reported having $883,913 on hand.

Meanwhile, Perry's well-funded allied super PACs are expanding their operations to compensate for the campaign's shortcomings. The Opportunity and Freedom PACs, which has raised nearly $17 million and initially planned to focus on paid television advertisements, also are building a ground game in Iowa, where they recently hired a state director and deputy state director.

“We saw this coming," said Austin Barbour, senior adviser to the super PACs. "We knew we would have to do more than just paid media and there’s nothing in the playbook that says we can’t do that."

Barbour added, "This field is so fluid. He did fine in Cleveland [debate], but if you let Rick Perry go have a Carly Fiorina type performance at the Reagan Library [debate], we’ll look at a guy who blows up the polls. Things can change overnight with this field. Things can work out great for him if we just be patient.”

In a sign of confidence in Perry's future, Barbour said, the super PAC signed up a new major donor on Tuesday. A rancher in the Amarillo area who is an old friend of Perry's read news about the campaign's money troubles and offered on Tuesday morning to help. Barbour declined to identify the donor because he did not want to subject him to calls from reporters, but said he sent a $100,000 check.

“He wasn’t on our radar screen, but he tracked me down and said, 'I want to help the governor, what can we do?'" Barbour said. "He said, 'I’ve known Rick for a long time,' and he said, 'I’m in.'"

I don't care what the campaign says, Rick Perry is in trouble. While only one person has left so far, that number could grow dramatically if money troubles continue for a while. Right now, Rick Perry needs the help of a lot Rancher-type friends.

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These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard on our KFYO YouTube page after the show and online at kfyo.com.

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