In the early days of Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign, Texas A&M's media relations department fielded two or three calls a day from the national media.
Reporters from publications like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal called with questions about Perry's time as a student at A&M and the economic development and education reform projects that he supported here as governor.
"There was a lot of attention on Texas A&M in the early fall," said Vice President for Marketing and Communications Jason Cook.
But those calls slowed significantly by November as Perry's standing in the Republican primary field plummeted. And, by the time Perry dropped out of the race last week, they had essentially stopped.
Perry on Thursday folded a campaign that has been closely watched by Brazos County residents. He remains popular among local Republicans but lost much of their support for president as his gaffes piled up on the campaign trail -- especially his infamous "Oops" moment during a November debate.
Meanwhile, his local detractors have relished his decline and wonder what impact it will have on his role as governor.
"Up until the first debate, people were excited and then they realized he was not prepared for what the national campaign required," said Brazos County GOP chairman Paul Rieger. "I talked to friends who campaigned with him in the 2004 election and they were strong Perry backers, and that support didn't really wane until the realization that he just wasn't prepared for the national stage."
Perry has always been happy to talk about his time as a student at A&M -- early in his campaign he made news by drawing this distinction between himself and his predecessor as governor, President George Bush: "I went to Texas A&M; he went to Yale."
So when Perry entered the race, many expected the national interest in Aggieland, and Texas as a whole, to be intense.
Cook said he helped reporters from the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times compile research for in-depth articles on A&M's Corps of Cadets.
"It was a huge opportunity to talk about the Corps and spotlight something very special about Texas A&M," Cook said.
Other national reporters were interested in Perry's efforts to develop a life-science industry in Aggieland, something Cook said the local and statewide media has covered closely for years. That story touched on Perry's claims that Texas has created millions of new jobs during his term, something many expected to be the main message of his campaign.
But soon the focus shifted to other things.
"I think for the last several Republican primaries, the campaigns have been more about what the candidates believe and what the candidate's character is more than what his record is," said Harvey Tucker, a political science professor at A&M.
Perry seemed to struggle in that regard. He angered many conservatives by defending his state's practice of providing in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants. And then his mistakes during debates and on the campaign trail -- such as misstating the voting age and the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices -- further lowered his status.
When Perry's poll numbers faltered, the attention from the media and other candidates shifted away from Texas. Still, Cook said A&M's time in the spotlight has been good for the school.
"From our perspective, we truly take the long view and we believe more people are more familiar with Texas A&M as a world-class institution," Cook said.
Now that he has returned to the state, many wonder how Perry's failed campaign will affect his ability to govern. When he began his run for president, Perry had a reputation as a superlative campaigner who has never lost an election. He was also widely considered the most powerful governor in the modern history of Texas, which has traditionally been a weak-governor state.
Tucker said Perry's power in the state comes from his longevity. Perry has served for more than a decade, meaning he has appointed every member of every state board and commission that sets policy for universities, transportation and state parks. Perry also expects strict loyalty from those appointees, giving him great influence.
Tucker said that will likely remain true if Perry returns with the same energy he had before he left, and if people believe Perry still has a future in the state.
"As soon as he becomes a lame duck, things change, but he has not identified himself as a lame duck," Tucker said. "And I don't think we will know his future for a while."
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