Is Rick Perry Running? ‘Absolutely,’ Says Texas Monthly Editor
EmailABC News’ Rick Klein (@rickklein) reports:
Look for another entry into the Republican field: Texas Gov. Rick Perry is poised to jump into the race for the presidency in the coming weeks, Texas Monthly senior executive editor Paul Burka told us on ABC’s “Top Line” today.
“Absolutely. He's running,” Burka said. “He's been talking about it with his family — his family's behind him. His friends are behind him. And I really think this something that came — that started in 2010 when he was running for reelection as governor. He's been thinking about this for a long time.”
Burka said Perry is eyeing an announcement around the time of his August 6 day of prayer event in Houston. That timing also closely coincides with the Ames Straw Poll the following weekend in Iowa.
Until then, Perry has put the pieces in place he’ll need to run – writing a book, delivering policy speeches, doing targeted national media appearances, and establishing an agenda in Texas “that mattered to Republican voters.”
“Instead of doing things that Texas government usually does, which is health care, law enforcement, schools, we dealt with these hot-button Republican issues during the session,” Burka said.
To prepare the national media for a Perry campaign, Burka has written a column – titled “Dear Yankee” – outlining some things out-of-town reporters should know about the longest-serving governmor in the nation.
“One of the important things to know is that Perry was a ‘yell leader’ at Texas A&M,” Burka told us. “What you will see when he comes out is, that this is very much a part of his persona. He knows how to fire up a crowd. The Republican field has been lacking in excitement — we hear that time and again. Well, one way or another, Rick Perry is going to give them excitement.”
“He is ideologically consistent. He almost never varies from the position of strong conservative — much more conservative than any other politician that I can think of that Texas has produced on a national scale. Much more so than George W. Bush, for example.”
Watch the “Top Line” interview with Paul Burka HERE.
Also today, we checked in with ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, the host of “This Week,” about President Obama’s attempt to take his case for the debt ceiling and addressing the deficit to the public. Watch that segment HERE.
And for our “Top Line” Top Tweet contest, we asked viewers to draw political conclusions from Democrats’ resounding 8-2 victory over Republicans at last night’s annual congressional baseball game.
Our winner was @adimike55, who has a new contest in mind for fans to enjoy at Nationals Park: “Forget the Big Head Presidents Races, Bring on the Big Head Politicians. (Will Teddy ever win?)”
Haley Barbour: GOP Candidates Haven't Made the Case 
White House Loves Aggressive Journalism ... Abroad
Saddle up Boys, the big dog coming and it
is time for a smear campaign on this man.
We have to save Obama from himself.
And those two Republican women got to get them,too.
Posted by: deadwrestler | July 15, 2011, 2:58 pm 2:58 pm
An Aggie yell-leader? That’s all you’ve got? Governor Perry is the current GOP frontrunner and will win in 2012, evidenced by the current hand-wringing, gnashing of teeth and general hysteria by his few detractors in Texas and the MSM.
Posted by: loveurick | July 15, 2011, 4:12 pm 4:12 pm
perry is obamas worst nightmare. a proven govenor who actually has done something with the right stuff to gitr done.not to count out herman cain or marco rubio.what will the liberal media try to do to these gents.huntsman and romney are to weak while bachman and palin cant help continually putting the feet in their mouths.
Posted by: catman | July 15, 2011, 4:16 pm 4:16 pm
Remember when Molly Ivins called him “Goodhair” Perry? She was right on. This guy is a not-too-smart college cheerleader who thought Texas should secede from the union. I say, GO TEXAS. We could easily survive without paying subsidies to Texas oil companies and ranchers…
Posted by: helpless voter | July 15, 2011, 4:40 pm 4:40 pm
Ya’ll ready for another Texas Gov. the last one kinda did alot of damage,but this ain’t the same guy see,he’s differant,he doesn’t make up words,TRUST A TEXAN, YOU DON’T WANT THIS GUY!
Posted by: a sane txn | July 15, 2011, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
I wonder how Rick Perry’s alleged homosexuality might play out in all this.
Posted by: bruce of texas | July 15, 2011, 7:09 pm 7:09 pm
Rick Perry does NOT deserve to be president of the Untied States. He has sold his soul to the good old boy pack, he has sold the future of our children for his own gain. I have a child who was injured during a medical procedure and because of the laws he has signed we have had to use all of our resources to make sure she is getting what she needs to be a normal teenager again, to be able to walk without a cane or a walker. Because of the laws Rick Perry has put into law we will not have any kind of savings to fall back on if needed. He has turned his back on the hard working middle class for his own agenda. I promise as a Texan and a parent I will work to make sure he does not represent me or my family.
Posted by: Cindy | July 15, 2011, 9:46 pm 9:46 pm
Perry will be a horrible president. Which means he’ll be much better than what we have now.
Posted by: Royce | July 16, 2011, 12:15 am 12:15 am
Rick Perry will be an excellent president. He’s got it all. No question, he’ll get my vote. Definitely knows how to create jobs and that’s what’s most needed in this country.
Posted by: Mary | July 16, 2011, 8:38 am 8:38 am
One more unelectable GOP loser. Someone who will not sit well with mainstream America. Obama’s re-election is looking more and more certain with each passing day………
Posted by: Searambler | July 16, 2011, 10:55 am 10:55 am
I don’t think mainstream America is ready for yet another rich white middle-aged Texas governor in the White House………
Posted by: Searambler | July 16, 2011, 10:56 am 10:56 am
One out of every 4 Texans has no health insurance. What would “president” Perry do to address health care in America?
Posted by: Searambler | July 16, 2011, 10:58 am 10:58 am
It’s no wonder the repubicans/tea baggers want to get rid of the dept of education.
Posted by: manwithoutaparty | July 16, 2011, 5:23 pm 5:23 pm
The only candidate from Texas we want to see in the oval office is Dr. Ron Paul!!! I’m so tired of seeing and hearing about politicians that are too afriad if doing the right thing when it comes to the American people. Why the hell are we still in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Korea, Germany, Italy, Lybia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Japan and all the other countries we’re wasting American tax dollars in!?!?!? It’s time to pull out of all these places and let them be responsible for their own damn selves. I don’t want to hear the same old scare tactics that we are safer here in the U.S. by having troops in all these places. That arguement is played out and makes no sense.
Posted by: blis4us | July 17, 2011, 12:55 am 12:55 am
I do not know enough about his record to say if I will vote for him but EVEN Elmer Fudd would do a better job (Less damage) than Obama. All we need is a REAL Conservative not some “Centrist” that the Liberal Media is in love with. Think about this… Obama and the Media are are joined at the hip and Liberal Media has lost ALL credibility in its sycophantic approach to this Regime. But you have to give this to Rick Perry. He has a RECORD… He has actually done things like a strong local economy in Texax and 37% of ALL the jobs that America has created since the recession come in his state. NOW that is saying something. Meanwhile we have the Socialist in Chief who 29 Months AFTER his $850 Billion dollars of waste called the Stimulus has 1.9 Million people employed in America than there were on the day that he signed the law that was crammed down America’s throat. When the Congressional Budget Office reviewed the Stimulus for cost effectiveness they said that the Stimulus cost a minimum of $228,500 for EVERY job it created. The CBO also said the TRUE cost could be as high as $500,000.00 PER JOB “Created or saved”. And the Liberals want to do it AGAIN to America. Only a Liberal would look at a program that spent say an Average of $400,000.00 to create ONE job and call it a success and want to repeat it. That ALONE should be grounds for removal from office IMMEDIATELY.
Posted by: RichardBall1 | July 17, 2011, 4:56 pm 4:56 pm
I do not know enough about his record to say if I will vote for him but EVEN Elmer Fudd would do a better job (Less damage) than Obama. All we need is a REAL Conservative not some “Centrist” that the Liberal Media is in love with. Think about this… Obama and the Media are are joined at the hip and Liberal Media has lost ALL credibility in its sycophantic approach to this Regime. But you have to give this to Rick Perry. He has a RECORD… He has actually done things like a strong local economy in Texax and 37% of ALL the jobs that America has created since the recession come in his state. NOW that is saying something. Meanwhile we have the Socialist in Chief who 29 Months AFTER his $850 Billion dollars of waste called the Stimulus has 1.9 Million people employed in America than there were on the day that he signed the law that was crammed down America’s throat. When the Congressional Budget Office reviewed the Stimulus for cost effectiveness they said that the Stimulus cost a minimum of $228,500 for EVERY job it created. The CBO also said the TRUE cost could be as high as $500,000.00 PER JOB “Created or saved”. And the Liberals want to do it AGAIN to America. Only a Liberal would look at a program that spent say an Average of $400,000.00 to create ONE job and call it a success and want to repeat it. That ALONE should be grounds for removal from office IMMEDIATELY.
Posted by: RichardBall1 | July 17, 2011, 4:56 pm 4:56 pm