DERRY, N.H. – Texas Governor Rick Perry called the reports of a shakeup of his campaign staff “scuttlebutt,” and said campaign manager Rob Johnson and chief strategist Dave Carney remain in their respective roles.

“News to me, news to me. I talked to both of them within, as a matter of fact the last 24 hours, so if they have, news to me,” Perry told reporters when asked if the two had been demoted or were leaving the campaign.” I would suggest to you that’s just scuttlebutt, highly technical Aggie term.”

Perry said he was not aware of reports that Joe Allbaugh might assume some of Carney’s duties, but he also did not deny it, saying only that he’s working on being the “best candidate” and not focusing on the distribution of duties within his campaign.

“Joe [Allbaugh] I’ve known since 1995, so I asked him to come in and to assist us some, so he’s doing a great job. He’s the ‘make the trains run on time’ guy and does a fabulous job,” Perry said.

“That’s not in my purview,” Perry said when asked if Allbaugh is taking over some of Carney’s work. “I try to get out to be the best candidate I can be every day and the best I can tell everybody’s working hard and getting their work done, so I’m a happy camper and that’s a good thing. I’m happy, working hard having good response from across the country, so I think everything’s going along just fine.”