In his previous ad, “Faith,” he said: “Now some liberals say that faith is a sign of weakness. Well, they’re wrong.”

The spots appear to be part of an emergent strategy by Perry’s campaign to focus on bread-and-butter social conservatism in a last-ditch effort to revive his campaign before Iowa’s Jan. 3 caucuses, where social issues loom large.

“I think that’s probably the only path he [Perry] has left, to be honest,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a caucus veteran who helped her dad, former Arkansas Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, win Iowa in 2008. “He hasn’t shown he’s been able to speak well and own any other issues.”