The most recent example was in Iowa, where Mike Huckabee started proclaiming the virtues of judicial term limits, something that’s been a part of Perry’s populist agenda for years. http://vlt.tc/1tel Perry called for privatizing airport security/busting TSA unions, which was added to the 2012 GOP platform. Perry’s 2012 push for a flat tax is an idea that has since been endorsed by Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Scott Walker. On foreign policy, his calls during the campaign for cuts to foreign aid to other regimes was pushed by Paul, particularly for Pakistan; he called for sanctions to the Iranian Central Bank, which Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the following year. And on education, after criticizing Mitt Romney over his praise for Race to the Top funding during the election, Perry was ahead of the curve in being one of the initial four states rejecting Common Core, a position now held by Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, Rick Santorum and others.

On immigration, where Perry suffered for his views in the 2012 primary, you see wider acceptance of those views in the 2016 field: he was forced to defend his first-of-its-kind in-state tuition law for the children of illegal immigrants, a law that has since been endorsed by Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, and others. Perry’s position on reform – secure the borders first, then deal with those here illegally – didn’t originate with him, but has since become the go-to line for politicians who oppose comprehensive deal-making on the subject. For as much as Perry’s “I don’t think you have a heart” line hurt him in 2012, it will be interesting to see how he is positioned in a field with a larger number of politicians who favor more immigration and reform, generally.