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In a campaign speech late Tuesday night, Governor Rick Perry stated that he is "returning to Texas" to reassess whether he is going to continue running for President. The speech contained several emotional moments, in particular two moments. The first was when he read a letter from an adoring supporter who called him a "great man." The letter described a conversation that Mr. Perry had had with a soldier and how his supporter looked on in awe as he watched Governor Perry call the veteran his "Christian brother." The second was when Perry announced that he would be returning to...

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Walk into this West Des Moines hotel, and you’ll easily encounter volunteers in Rick Perry fleeces or staffers wearing official Rick Perry badges. The Perry campaign has set up shop here just days before the Iowa caucuses while nearly two thousand volunteers fan out across the state to promote the Texas governor with an expansive ground game as the campaign hopes he’ll earn a top three spot in the caucuses Tuesday. A source close to the Perry campaign confirmed to ABC News they have signed up 1500 precinct leaders across Iowa. At each of the...

RelatedCRESTON, Iowa — Rick Perry began his final push in the Iowa Republican caucuses Tuesday by sharpening his claim to be the sort of leader the country badly needs, and which his rivals decidedly are not. “You need to ask yourself: If we replace the Democrat insider with a Republican insider, is that going to change Washington, D.C.? No, it’s not,” he told 150 or so Iowans crammed into a coffee shop a week ahead of caucuses likely to winnow the presidential field. “I will go to Washington to be an anti-establishment outsider.” At one stop after another, he jabbed...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry says his campaign didn't provide the media with information about sexual harassment allegations against his GOP presidential rival Herman Cain. In an interview with the conservative blog RedState on Wednesday, Perry said he and his campaign learned about the allegations in a Politico story published Sunday.

If you read between the lines of the various news reports about the Cain operation, the picture becomes clearer to me every day. The latest dust up about the sexual harassment of employees confirms it. Leading up to the sex scandal, we had the clues. Now I know it to be so, that Herman Cain is an ass, and he's reckless.The first clue came just after Cain placed poorly in the Iowa straw polls. We heard from disgruntled former Cain staffers: Jim Zeiler, the regional field director who was one of the five disgruntled staffers who left, explained his...

.....“Governor Perry has always released his tax returns and Mitt Romney and the other candidates should do the same.” If history is any indication, watch for Perry to push that theme hard, and for Romney to remain firm in his decision to keep his returns private. “We’ll take a look at the question of releasing tax returns during the next tax filing season,” says Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul about the Perry campaign’s request. By then, of course, the primary campaign could be effectively over. Perry communications director Ray Sullivan responds: “Governor Perry made a decision a long time ago in...

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Rick Perry gave the crowd tonight at the Cornerstone Action Dinner a peek at a different Rick Perry than the one that’s been on display in recent debates and television interviews. Perry, who has received criticism over his lack of energy in some debates and speeches, adopted a more lively tone as he spoke to the conservative advocacy group, despite having to miss his Texas Rangers play in game seven of the World Series. snip As he joked with the crowd of approximately 450 people, Perry compared the slogan of the state of New Hampshire to that...

DO CONSERVATIVES WANT TO WIN IN 2012 OR NOT? This is a serious question, by no means rhetorical. Conservatives may be full of sound and fury against Zero, but it signifies nothing without actual evidence, of which there is little. Tea Partyers can wave the American flag and proclaim their passion for reclaiming America, but you can't beat something with nothing. If this isn't true, then why is a Total Rino way ahead in the polls? ******************* Perry's tax and economic reform proposal is far, far better (and better thought out) than Cain's 9-9-9, which keeps changing and necessitates a...

Because Governor Rick Perry has backed some especially harsh anti-illegal immigrant legislation (like a bill that would outlaw sanctuary cities) Latino rights activists want Hispanics to switch over to the republican party and vote Perry out of the G.O.P race for the presidential nomination during the upcoming primary season. ... "I think to a lot of Democrats what Governor Perry represents is something that they detest"

Greetings Friends, Neighbors and Fellow Citizens! Come one, come all and give your summary of the debate tonight. Looking forward to the commentary and I bid you all good evening. My analysis: Romney- dishonest and irritating as usual. Will not support. Cain- like a lot; but he means on the job training. No amateur hour. Perry- genuine. He stepped up tonight finally. Executive experience. I support Santorum- Don't think there's much chance there Michelle- Shrill, whiney. Five years in congress is not enough experience Gingrich- Excellent. Can support. Ron Paul- has got to go. Flat a**ed crazy.

Although Texas Gov. Rick Perry survived last week’s debate at Dartmouth College, he must do better than simply surviving in the upcoming debates, starting with Tuesday night’s in Las Vegas. Perry’s reported third-quarter haul of $17 million is impressive, but his poll numbers are in free fall and his organization isn’t even remotely comparable to that of the GOP front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Such poll hemorrhaging can only hinder future fundraising and organizational efforts in key early states. Enticing local activists or new donors to climb aboard what appears to be a sinking ship is a pretty tough...

Herman Cain: Electrify the Border Fence Doug Powers October 15, 2011 It’s now a “9999” plan: 9 percent personal income tax, 9 percent national sales tax, 9 percent business tax, and a 9 amp jolt if you try to illegally cross into the US.New York Times: Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Saturday that part of his immigration policy would be to build an electrified fence on the country’s border with Mexico that could kill people trying to enter the country illegally.The remarks, which came at two campaign rallies in Tennessee as part of a barnstorming bus tour across the...

A Mexican has been accused of imprisoning two teenage girls and fathering five children by them before killing one and their baby. Jorge Iniestra, 32, from Mexico City, allegedly abused the teenagers - the daughters of his girlfriend - for seven years and refused to let them outside. In a chilling parallel to Austrian Josef Fritzl, he is said to have pulled the girls out of school and locked them in a single, filthy room in his mother's house. Prosecutors say Iniestra, a part-time taxi driver, eventually beat one of the girls to death and then smothered a three-month-old baby...

GREENLAND, N.H. - Following an announcement speech full of anti-Obama rhetoric, Texas Governor Rick Perry answered questions from New Hampshire political activists for nearly a half-hour on Saturday that fleshed out his policy views for a group, a state, and a country that barely knows the latest Republican presidential contender. Like most in the GOP, Perry espoused a muscular support for Israel amid a turbulent Mideast, saying, “Israel is not ever gonna have to worry, if I’m the president to the United States, where we’re gonna be.” Like most Republicans, he also labeled himself a fiscal conservative bent on reining...

DENVER - Texas Gov. Rick Perry sounded very much like a presidential candidate Friday night when he blasted President Barack Obama in front of a crowd of nearly 900 conservatives. In a Gallup poll of Republicans last week, Perry was tied with Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, even though Perry has not formally declared his intent to run for president. It was Perry's second visit in as many weeks to Colorado, which has been a Romney stronghold. "Our federal government has grown well beyond its intended size and purpose so that it now threatens the liberties it was created to protect,"...

Despite what's at stake in the debt ceiling negotiations, however, the Republican presidential candidates have been missing in action, preferring to stick to vapid talking points or, in the case of the frontrunner Mitt Romney, choosing not to comment at all on the different proposals being offered. Perry's machismo is much mocked. A popular Twitter account called rickperryfacts blasts out tongue-in-cheek examples such as "Rick Perry's boots weren't made for walkin'. They were made for kickin'" But for Republicans who see a vulnerable Obama and doubt whether a safety-first opponent can beat him, an injection of testosterone into the 2012...

A California lawmaker who endorsed Mitt Romney for president has now signed a letter asking Texas Gov. Rick Perry to get in the 2012 race. The Los Angeles Times reported that Assemblyman Paul Cook, a Yucaipa Republican, joined more than 20 people in signing the letter. The paper added that “more potential Romney defectors may sign the letter in coming days, according to a GOP source familiar with the meeting.” (GOP candidates’ fundraising starts slowly) Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is viewed by many as the closest thing to the front-runner in the crowded race.

A Republican campaign veteran tells us that Texas Governor Rick Perry has decided to run for President, though the official word from Team Perry is still a definite maybe. Our normally reliable Republican source reports that Mr. Perry has surveyed the field and decided to get in the race later this summer, perhaps around the time of the national prayer meeting that Mr. Perry is hosting on August 6 at a Houston football stadium. Our source also reports that Mr. Perry is aiming to compete in the Iowa Straw Poll, even though it occurs just a week later, on August...

<p>San Antonio, Texas (CNN) -- The largest gathering of Latino elected officials in the United States projects a record number of Hispanic voters in next year's election.</p> <p>The National Association of Elected and Appointed Officials -- NALEO -- kicked off Thursday with the release of the groups' projections of Latino participation in the 2012 elections.</p>