After much speculation, Texas Governor Rick Perry has announced that he will be running for President in 2012. Perry announced his bid in South Carolina during a meeting of conservative activists. Perry will be making his official statement later in the week during an appearance at RedState Gathering. Read more about his bid and watch his announcement after the jump.
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It’s official, Texas Governor Rick Perry is running for president.
The AP reports that the Lone Star State Republican signaled his intentions to vie for the White House on a conference call with South Carolina voters on Saturday.
Perry’s decision jump into the Republican presidential race promises to jolt the crowded field and threatens to cast a shadow all the way back to the Midwest, site of an important early test of his rivals’ strength.
His official announcement was set for 1 p.m. EDT at a meeting of conservative activists in South Carolina, only a few hours before the release of results from a straw poll in Iowa, the nation’s first caucus state. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota are hoping for a boost.
Perry’s advisers said this week he would use his appearance at the RedState Gathering to make his plans official. But his first speech as a candidate was certain to draw attention from the Republicans competing in the Midwest.
“I have never seen this landslide of emotion for a candidacy. I cannot literally keep up with the emails and messages coming into my cellphone,” said Katon Dawson, a former GOP chairman in South Carolina who’s a Perry supporter.
“There is an excitement for Gov. Perry that there just isn’t around the other candidates.”
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