Texas economy no credit to Perry

Democratic national chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, is weighing in on Gov. Rick Perry as a White House wannabe. She's underwhelmed.
"It think he brings just more of the same," she said at the Iowa State Fair while waiting on line to buy- we are not making this up - a deep fried Milky Way bar.


Like other Democrats, she says Perry's claims of a Texas miracle in job creation won't stand up under scrutiny.


"As we say in the South, that dog don't hunt," she said, arguing that many of the new jobs in Texas "have been really created by OPEC and their policy decisions. For Rick Perry to try to claim credit for those jobs is really disingenuous."


On top of that, she said, Perry's Texas received billions in federal stimulus funds. "We're talking about someone who has relied upon the benefits of the Recovery Act funding and policy decisions made by Democrats. This mystique and mythology about his success in job-creation needs to be deconstructed," she said.


Texas's unemployment rate is 8.2 percent, about one point less than the national average, and 40 percent of the nation's new jobs since June 2009 are in Texas, though many are low-wage.


"There is a dramatic contrast with the governor of Texas" when it comes to his record versus the president's on job creation," Wasserman Schultz said. "Not the least of which is that it is extremely difficult for him to deserve credit for that job creation when you have rising gas prices that created oil jobs that he had nothing to do with, when you had military spending as a result of two wars that created military jobs that he had nothing to do with, when you have the Recovery Act championed by President Obama that created jobs in Texas that he had nothing to do with."


She continued: "So it is way overblown to suggest that the job creation in Texas is squarely on the shoulders of [Perry's] policies."


Perry announced his bid for the 2012 Republican nomination in South Carolina on Saturday with a speech grounded in attacks on President Obama. The Texas Republican enters the race as one of the frontrunners for the nomination, and many have already pegged him as the biggest threat to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's candidacy.


In his Saturday speech announcing his candidacy, Perry accused Mr. Obama of "downgrading" American financial stability.


"The fact is for nearly three years, President Obama has been downgrading American jobs, he's been downgrading our standing in the world, he's been downgrading our financial stability, he's been downgrading our confidence, and downgrading the hope for a better future for our children," he said.


When asked about those comments, Wasserman Schultz defended Mr. Obama's record and called Perry's statements "inaccurate."


"I am incredibly proud of President Obama's accomplishments," she told O'Donnell. "This is a president that took on the health insurance industry and reformed healthcare to make sure that every American could have coverage and insurance companies couldn't drop you or deny you coverage; took on Wall Street, made sure that banks were not ever again too big to fail; made sure that we began to get our economy turned around -- so I think Americans are appreciative of the hard work and effort and accomplishment that President Obama has made.

Newest entrant into GOP field, Rick Perry, is longtime friend of Israel

Texas Gov. Rick Perry had a good day Saturday, in large part, because he is a practiced pol. His speech went smoothly, his Web site launched and he did better than many casual observers expected in Ames because he had conducted a stealth campaign there for some time. In July Politico reported:


A new, so-called super PAC supporting a prospective Rick Perry presidential campaign is going up Monday in Iowa with a statewide television buy touting the Texas governor as “a better option” for president.
Jobs for Iowa is spending less than $40,000 for two weeks’ worth of air time on Fox News Channel in the state, a source familiar with the group told POLITICO. But the group is rumored to have the backing of wealthy Texas Republicans who have long supported Perry and are considering expanding the ad campaign to other states in the near future.
That’s undoubtedly more than Rick Santorum spent and certainly more than Mitt Romney did (Romney spent nothing on media buys). Perry had also staffed up in Iowa. By mid-July Perry had “a few volunteers and seven paid staffers, most of whom played key roles in former House speaker Newt Gingrich’s Iowa operation.”


But starting late, Perry needed to put in some resources to at least get his name on the scoreboard in Ames. He did that. It doesn’t necessarily show grass-roots enthusiasm, but it sure does reflect some sophisticated campaigning.


Perry has nonplussed longtime Jewish supporters by claiming that he has been “called” to the presidency and by hosting a prayer rally this month that appealed to Jesus to save America. Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post’s “Right Turn” columnist and a bellwether of Jewish conservatism, took liberals to task on her blog for treating the event as “a spectacle” -- it was borne of deeply considered worries about the country’s parlous state, she said – but Rubin also expressed caveats about the rally.


“His words at the event were restrained but not ecumenical,” she wrote. “And his use of public office to promote the Christian event was, to me, inappropriate. The event, while scheduled last December, is still reflective of the man who would be president. Would he do this in the Oval Office? Does he not understand how many Americans might be offended? Is he lacking advice from a non-Texan perspective?”


Fred Zeidman, an influential Houston lawyer who has known Perry for decades and has hosted him at his home, said, “None of us remember him being quite as devout as he seems to be now, but we wouldn't necessarily have known.”


Zeidman, who for eight years served as chairman of the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, supports Mitt Romney. but Zeidman told JTA that before endorsing Romney that he checked with Perry last December to ask whether he would be running. At the time, Perry said no.


On Saturday, Perry threw his hat into the ring.


"A great country requires a better direction," he said, declaring his candidacy. "A renewed nation needs a new president."


Perry has been a conservative since before he switched parties in 1989 to became a Republican. A cotton farmer and former air force pilot, he led efforts in his first five years as a Democrat in the legislature to pare the budget.


Perry, a devout Methodist, was attracted to Israel from the launch of his career. One of his first acts after being elected agriculture commissioner in 1991 was to create the Texas-Israel Exchange, which promoted information and research sharing. In a 2009 interview with The Jerusalem Post, when he led a delegation to Israel, Perry – who around the same time flirted with Texas secessionist rhetoric – said the alliance was a natural one.


“When I was here for the first time some 18 years ago and I was touring the country, the comparison between Masada and the Alamo was not lost on me,” he told the Post. “I mean, we're talking about two groups of people who were willing to give up their lives for freedom and liberty."


As much as Perry’s heartfelt love for Israel makes him attractive to Republican Jews, it is was the other reason he was in Israel at the time – seeking out job creation initiatives, as he has across the globe – that has been the basis of his Jewish support.


“I became intrigued by Rick Perry when I read his book ‘Fed Up!’ because it was exactly what I was feeling,” Robin Bernstein, who heads Perry’s fundraising in Florida, said in an interview. “His economic success in Texas is a model for the entire country.”


Texas has managed to weather the recession comparatively well, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has reported that half of all U.S. jobs created from June 2009 to April 2011 were in Texas.


Published last year, “Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington” blames America’s woes on an arrogant power elite in Washington – Perry, in his first chapter, accuses it of “chutzpah” – and is music to conservative ears seeking relief from what they see as government unbound.


“We are fed up with being overtaxed and overregulated,” Perry writes. “We are tired of being told how much salt we can put on our food, what windows we can buy for our house, what kind of cars we can drive, what kinds of guns we can own, what kind of prayers we are allowed to say and where we can say them, what political speech we are allowed to use to elect candidates, what kind of energy we can use, what kind of food we can grow, what doctor we can see, and countless other restrictions on our right to live as we see fit.”


It’s a message that resounds with Jewish conservatives – save, perhaps, for its defense of public prayer.


By the same token, Perry’s declaration last month that the presidency is “what I’ve been called to” sent a shudder through some among the conservative Jewish establishment. This month, it was Perry’s leadership in organizing the massive Houston prayer rally, dubbed The Response, and his insistence that “we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles," that led some Jewish conservatives to go on the record with their discomfiture.


"My response to The Response: No, thanks," wrote Jacob Sullum in The New York Post. "My people have managed without Jesus for thousands of years. Why start now?" Sullum also criticized Perry for seeming to abandon his previous let-the-states-decide view on social issues in favor of amendments to the U.S. Constitution that would outlaw abortion and same-sex marriage everywhere in the country.


Sixteen rabbis were among 50 Houston clergy members who urged Perry not to host the rally. National groups like the Anti-Defamation League also opposed it.


“He called this rally as a governor,” Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s national director, said in an interview before Perry’s formal declaration of his candidacy for president. “He didn’t try to camouflage anything. He's pleasant and he's smart, he has good relations with the Jewish community, but this is a conscious disregard of law and authority. What troubles me most is, this is his perception of where America is at.”


Bernstein, Perry’s Florida backer, said such concerns are overstated. “Nobody criticized Moses for being ‘called,'” she said. “The fact that he upholds the Ten Commandments is very important. I like to believe a man of faith has a moral compass.”


Jewish Democrats are eating up the controversy. In a statement, the National Jewish Democratic Council said it was “encouraging” Perry to run, “given that his record will help repel American Jews and remind them why they support Democrats in historic numbers.

Rick Perry to go head to head with Mitt Romney

Battle for the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nomination will be altered dramatically Saturday when Gov. Rick Perry (Texas) announces he is entering the race.


Perry’s declaration is expected to come in a 1 p.m. speech at the RedState conference in Charleston, S.C.


Once the Texan takes the plunge, former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) will be presented with a conservative challenger who is widely seen as more electable than other tribunes of the right such as Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), and more charismatic than other alternatives such as former Gov. Tim Pawlenty.


Even last month, when Perry's entry into the race was by no means assured, a Gallup poll placed him a close second to Romney.
Also on Saturday, the Ames straw poll in Iowa may deliver a boost to some of the more marginal candidates — or drive them to the brink of withdrawal from the race. (Neither Romney nor Perry are competing in the straw poll.)


And this comes on top of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision to turn up at the Iowa State Fair on short notice Friday, reigniting speculation about a potential presidential run.


It all adds up to a serious upshifting of gears in a race that had been overshadowed in recent weeks by the battle over the national debt ceiling and the broader economic tumult.


Perry's announcement comes in the middle of the busiest four days in the Republican calendar so far, with all the candidates concentrated in Iowa, where the first of the party caucuses is scheduled for February.


The eight declared candidates, plus Perry, are seeking the Republican nomination to take on Barack Obama as he looks for a second White House term next November.


Perry did not take part in the debate in Ames, Iowa, on Thursday because he is not yet officially a candidate, but he is scheduled to visit the state on Sunday.


With the skirmishing almost over and the contest becoming serious, the only major question left is whether former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin will join the race.


Palin kept speculation alive by putting in an appearance at the Iowa state fair, an agricultural show where the candidates were scheduled to make stump speeches throughout Friday.


Republicans in Iowa expressed resentment about the timing of Perry's announcement, which threatens to overshadow party events in the state this weekend. A straw poll of candidates, described by the organisers as the most important event in the Republican nomination calendar outside an election year, is to be held on Saturday night.


But Perry supporters in Iowa insisted the timing was not deliberately disruptive and that Saturday was the earliest he could have made the announcement.


Bob Schuman, a Perry supporter speaking on his behalf in the spin room after the debate, said Perry had said he would not make his announcement until after an evangelical prayer rally in Houston last Saturday and had stuck to that promise.


Although Perry was not in the debate, Schuman, in the spin room under a placard "Americans for Rick Perry", attracted as much media attention as representatives of the other candidates and even some of the candidates themselves.


Asked how Perry, who makes much of a record of job growth in Texas compared with the national unemployment rate of 9.1%, would campaign against Obama if he won the Republican nomination, he said: "Jobs versus no jobs."


But Obama's campaign adviser, David Axelrod, interviewed by ABC, challenged Perry's performance as governor. "When you examine the entire record, what's happened to education in that state, what's happened to healthcare in that state, it's a record of decimation, not of progress," Axelrod said.


Reviewing the debate, Schuman said: "No one really jumped out. Romney has made a decision to play safe but he can't keep doing that."


He looked forward to the next debate, in California in September, when Perry will be on the stage with the other candidates. "It will be very different next time," Schuman said.


Robert Haus, a veteran political campaigner in Iowa, who helped run the failed campaign of actor and Republican Fred Thompson in 2008, has to remain neutral until after this weekend because he is organising the straw poll. But, asked about Perry, he was enthusiastic.


"Perry is a candidate that can bridge the differences in the Republican party. He has a strong record on jobs in Texas and is deeply religious," Haus said, after a meeting of the right-wing Heritage group in Ames. "He can calm any angry room inside the Republican party."


Iowa, though a small state whose demographics, mainly white, are not typical of the US as a whole, plays a pivotal role in US politics as traditionally the first state to vote in either caucuses or primaries. A good showing can sink a campaign or propel a candidate from obscurity to frontrunner status.


The straw poll tonight, though invested with huge importance by some of the candidates, has with hindsight proved to be a poor indicator of the eventual result in Iowa.


The liveliest parts of the two-hour debate in Ames were feisty exchanges between Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who is close to the Tea Party movement, and the former governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, a dull campaigner who has so far failed to make much of an impression.


Needing to win or at least achieve a second or third place in the straw poll, Pawlenty denigrated the record in Congress of Bachmann, who is the frontrunner in polls in Iowa. Adopting a patronising tone, he said Bachmann had done little in her five years in Congress. "She has done some wonderful things in her life but it is an indisputable fact that her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent," he said.


But he picked on the wrong candidate. Bachmann came back recalling his record in office as governor on health, energy and trade. "That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama's record," she said.


Although Bachmann appeared flustered and at one point even disappeared briefly from the stage, with the television anchor telling viewers that one of the debate candidates was missing, Pawlenty repeatedly fluffed his prepared lines.


Afterwards, in the spin-room, Nick Ayers, Pawlenty's campaign manager, accused Bachmann of starting the fight, claiming she had gone along to the debate with "a pre-planned assault full of misstatements and factual inaccuracies".


Former governor of Utah Huntsman made his debate debut. He has struggled in the polls, too close to the centre for many conservatives and also, unforgivable for many Republicans, he worked in the Obama administration as ambassador to China.

Rick Perry enters presidential race with Obama broadside

A fifth generation Texan from the tiny West Texas town of Paint Creek, Perry is the Eagle Scout son of Democratic tenant farmers.


After majoring in animal science at Texas A&M, Perry joined the US Air Force, where he completed pilot training and flew C-130 transports. He left with the rank of captain, joined his father’s cotton farm, married his childhood sweetheart, and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives.


In 1989, Perry became a Republican (“I made both parties happy”), then won successive roles as Texas agriculture commissioner, lieutenant governor, and, in late 2000, governor.


Perry is curently the longest serving US governor. He is known as much for his stellar record creating private-sector jobs in Texas as for his syrupy accent and cufflinks-and-cowboy boots style.


I declare to you today as a candidate for President of the United States," Perry told a friendly crowd in South Carolina, host to the nation's third presidential primary.


Perry enters the race as a serious contender for the nomination, one with the potential to combine establishment support (and the strong fund-raising that comes with it) with the backing of social and fiscal conservatives.


Stylistically reminiscent of another Texas governor who sought the presidency - George W. Bush - Perry's calling card is Texas' strong record of job creation during his long tenure in the governor's mansion. As Perry pointed out in his speech, 40 percent of the nation's new jobs since June 2009 have been created in Texas.


"It's time to get America working again," Perry said, arguing that "Recovery is a meaningless word if the bank has foreclosed on your home.


While Perry spent some of his speech discussing his own record, he spent most of his time attacking the current occupant of the White House. He criticized Mr. Obama's "unbridled fixation" on spending and suggested the president's economic policies have "prolonged our national misery, not alleviated it."


"You cannot win the future by selling America off to foreign creditors," he said. "We cannot afford four more years of this rudderless leadership." The time had come, he added, to "stop the generational theft."


Change in America, Perry said, begins not with Washington but with the American people, "patriots who will not be consigned to a fate of less freedom in exchange for more government."


"We are indignant about leaders that do not listen and spend money faster than they can print it," Perry said, complaining of "central planners" who "downgrade our future and micromanage our lives."


"I'll work every day to try to make Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in your life as I can," he added.


Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said after the speech that Perry's "economic record is no miracle - it's a tall tale," a reference to the so-called "Texas miracle." As Democrats are quick to note, many of the jobs created in Texas under Perry have been low wage.


"Governor Perry allowed special interests to write their own rules, hired corporate lobbyists to oversee corporations, and cut funding for programs that would create opportunity for middle class families," said LaBolt. "In a Republican field that has already pledged allegiance to the Tea Party and failed to present any plan that will benefit the middle class or create the jobs America needs to win the future, Governor Perry offers more of the same.

Rick Perry courts evangelicals at Houston prayer service

Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked Christians to turn to God for answers to the nation's troubles as he held court Saturday over a national prayer rally attended by thousands of evangelical conservatives, an important constituency should the Republican seek the GOP presidential nomination.

The state's longest serving governor hosted what he called a national day of prayer, an event at Reliant Arena that drew roughly 30,000 people and that was broadcast on cable Christian channels and the Internet nationwide.

"Father, our heart breaks for America," Perry said during 12 minutes of remarks that included prayer and Bible passages - but no direct mention of politics or his presidential plans. "We see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government and, as a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us."

He asked Christians to turn to God for answers to the nation's troubles, and asked the audience to pray for President Obama - though he did not use the Democratic incumbent's name - as well as for the American troops killed in the weekend attack on a U.S. helicopter in Afghanistan.

The moment gave Perry a national spotlight before a pivotal voting group in the GOP nomination fight - in the early voting states of Iowa and South Carolina in particular - as he nears a decision on whether to run for president. Perry could attract both social and economic conservatives at a time when the GOP electorate is unsettled with the current slate of candidates. Many have been campaigning for months and are trying to break out of the pack.

Perry has been talking with potential donors, GOP operatives and party leaders about a possible run. But he has been tightlipped about just when he would announce a decision, though he plans to visit at least one early-voting state - South Carolina - this week.

Perry will keep what aides say is a long-held commitment to headline a conservative conference in Charleston, S.C., next Saturday, as well as meet with activists in the state scheduled to host the South's first primary.

The moment gave Perry a national spotlight before a pivotal voting group in the GOP nomination fight — in the early voting states of Iowa and South Carolina in particular — as he nears a decision on whether to run for president. His entrance into the field could shake up the contest because Perry could attract both social and economic conservatives at a time when the GOP electorate is unsettled with the current slate of candidates. Many have been campaigning for months and are trying to break out of the pack.

As Perry held court in Houston, for instance, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann were holding multiple campaign events each day in Iowa ahead of next weekend’s test vote, a straw poll that is a barometer for a campaign’s organizational strength five months before the state’s leadoff caucuses. Both have a lot riding on the outcome.

Perry has been talking with potential donors, GOP operatives and party leaders about a possible run. But he has been tightlipped about just when he would announce a decision.