From the Atlantic, but possibly written before Tuesday night’s events:
Saving the Big 12 would help him in Iowa. Among the biggest losers of Big 12 disintegration would be Iowa State. The Cyclones haven’t been very good at football since the 1990s rushing heydays of Troy and Darren Davis.* They appeal to no major TV markets. If the Big 12 folds, Iowa State will probably end up in the Mountain West — a step down that will only lead to suffering and mockery at the hands of Iowa Hawkeyes fans.
If Perry tries to keep the Big 12 together, he will win the gratitude of every Iowa State fan on the planet. It’ll make for great stump material. Nobody will care about Social Security anymore. But as far as a political windfall goes, that’s about it.
Read the whole thing, although with the current state of things Perry might just have avoided the situation entirely.
*Actually, we weren’t very good at it then, either.