This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam.

In 2011, the race for U.S. President was heating up.

Near the front of the pack on the Republican side was Rick Perry.

His odds look promising.

He had been governor of Texas for more than a decade and the previous Republican

President George W Bush had also been a Texas governor.

Rick Perry's poll numbers were competitive and he had amassed an impressive war chest.

His core themes of shrinking government and cutting spending were popular

with many Republican voters.

Tonight we are here in the great state of Michigan for a debate that will focus almost exclusively on the economy.

On November 9th, Rick Perry appeared on stage in Rochester, Michigan, along with seven fellow

candidates. It was a live televised debate watched by millions.

But the fact of the matter is we better have a plan in place that Americans can get their hands around and that's a reason my flat taxes.

Rick Perry launched energetically into a description of the actions he planned to take as

president and his sweeping plans to slash the size of government. Under his leadership he vowed, entire departments

would disappear.

And I will tell you, it's three agencies of government when I get there that are gone

commerce education and the uh... what's the third one there let's see

commerce education and uh... the uh... uh... uh... Commerce Education and the

You can't name the third one? The third agency of government I would do away with the education

the Commerce. the commerce and let's see I can't the third one I can't the third one I can't

sorry oops Oops. All of his careful preparation and fundraising came to nothing. His memory had betrayed him when he needed it most.

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