Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced his candidacy for president of the United States on Saturday, Aug. 13, at a conference organized by the conservative blog, RedState.com in the Palmetto State, S.C.
Perry leaned heavily on his record as the longest running U.S. governor, creating a record number of jobs for the state of Texas. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Texas has created more jobs than any other state, and currently has an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent, marginally less than the nationwide average of 9.1 percent.
“It is time to get America working again,” Perry told an audience of around 400 people for his announcement.
Texas is home to 1 in 12 Americans—yet since June 2009, 4 in 10 new jobs were created in Texas, according to Perry.
Perry also criticized President Barack Obama for policies which led to the “first ever downgrade in the credit rating of the United States.”
“The fact is for nearly three years, President Obama has been downgrading American jobs, downgrading our standing in the world, downgrading our financial stability, downgrading confidence, and downgrading the hope of a better future for our children,” Perry said.
Perry promised he would support an agenda of reduced government spending, lower regulation, tax cuts, and the elimination of laws allowing “unnecessary” lawsuit filings.
The third plank of Perry’s platform was his vision for a foreign policy that puts the policy of American exceptionalism first. In a statement on his website he wrote that he believes “America’s place in the world is in peril, not only because of disastrous economic policies, but from the incoherent muddle known as our foreign policy.”
Perry grew up in Paint Creek, Texas, on a cotton and wheat farm. He is a former United States Air Force pilot, honorably discharged with the rank of captain. He attended Texas A&M University, is married, and has a son and a daughter.
Perry was first elected to public office in 1984, and served three terms in the Texas Legislature, before winning the office of lieutenant governor in 1998. He became governor in December 2000, after George W. Bush resigned to become president.
Perry is expected to do well in polling, joining the ranks of current front-runners, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Perry fits in to the current field’s strongly conservative policy platform.
In 2009, talking to a Tea Party rally, the governor famously supported those in the state of Texas who wish to secede from the United States, citing the federal government’s size and interference in state affairs as the cause.
In 2010 Perry proposed letting states opt out of the federal Medicaid program.
On Sunday Perry was in Waterloo, Iowa, his first stop as presidential candidate, giving a campaign speech to supporters.
Bachmann, the winner of Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll, was also in Waterloo celebrating her win at a Republican fundraiser.
Ames Straw Poll Results
Bachmann campaigned hard in Iowa prior to the highly publicized Straw Poll, as did former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, whose disappointing third place finish in the poll led him to drop out of the presidential race.
Although the Iowa poll has accurately predicted a candidates’ ultimate success only once, it is still seen as the first indicator of candidates’ popularity. Iowa is a first-in-the-nation caucus, and the state’s socially conservative population gives a good indication of the acceptance of GOP candidates.
Close to 17,000 votes were cast during a daylong event filled with music, barbecue, and speeches.
Bachmann barely won the lead with 29 percent of the votes, followed by Congressman Ron Paul (28 percent), then Gov. Pawlenty (14 percent), former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (10 percent), and former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, Herman Cain (9 percent). Gov. Perry came in sixth, receiving 3.6 percent of the vote despite not officially being on the ballot.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney was seventh, with 3.36 percent, or 567 votes, followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (2.28 percent), and Gov. Jon Huntsman (0.41 percent). A late entry into the race, Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, took 0.21 percent of the vote.
Romney, Gingrich, and Huntsman did not officially participate in the poll.
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