A new book offers insights into the campaign woes of former Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry and theorizes that sleeplessness could have helped ruin the Texas governor’s bid for the White House.
In Oops: A Diary of the Campaign Trail, author Jay Root chronicles Perry’s unsuccessful campaign for the GOP nomination, reporting that sleep apnea, a chronic breathing disorder during sleep, may have contributed to Perry’s poor performance during a debate in Michigan in November 2011. Perry was unable to cite the third federal department he vowed to eliminate if elected, struggling for 53 seconds to remember the name.
According to Root, Perry was diagnosed with sleep apnea in October 2011. Compounding his inability to function on the campaign trail was severe insomnia, brought on by complications from back surgery he underwent in June 2011.
