Mr Clinton's former treasury secretary has never run a campaign, and could certainly be painted as another elitist north-easterner.

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In 1992, Paul Tsongas, yet another low-key north-easterner, was destroyed by Mr Clinton's pit-bull attacks on guess what his health-care proposals.

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And who better to enforce this anti-Washington law (with its old-timey, anti-Easterner resentment) than that iconic Western figure: The Sheriff.

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George senior, for all his love of football and avid crunching of pork rinds, was always seen as a north-easterner rather than a Texan.

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One thing marks her out as an old-school Ossi, or easterner.

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He says even he's been mistaken for a Middle Easterner.

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In that event, a polarised country would have to choose between a conservative Texan and a liberal north-easterner on the face of it, the oddest couple since George McGovern took on Richard Nixon in 1972.

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If he wanted to make any money himself, he would have to appeal not to the catwalk instincts of cattlemen, which were hard to spot, but to wannabe easterner cowboys who lived in, say, New York.

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As vice presidential candidates both Romney and Christie would add a north easterner to the ticket, which might win Perry their respective home state, but more importantly seems like a more balanced ticket to those concerned that Perry is too conservative.

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