Texan Perry follows Bush trail towards White House

Published on Friday 22 July 2011 17:47

AS THE Republican Party flounders in its search for a presidential candidate, the stage is being set for a Texas governor who once ruled himself out as too conservative to run.

Rick Perry's star has been rising of late, with polls suggesting that his mix of tub-thumping rhetoric and right-wing policies chimes well with his party's conservative base.

Buoyed by this groundswell of support, the 61-year-old looks poised to make an announcement, and shake the 2012 Republican race in the process.

Those on the right of his party have not had the easiest starts when it comes to winning the nod for a White House run.

Former speaker Newt Gingrich has seen the wheels fall off his campaign, with advisers and investors fleeing in droves as the veteran political operator stumbled from problem to problem.

That led the way for Michele Bachmann, a deeply conservative Minnesota politician, to steal a march on her rival when it came to winning the heart of the so-called Tea Party activist base.

However, a series of gaffes, during which she inadvertently likened herself to a mass murderer and then signed a pledge suggesting African-American babies were better off under slavery, have knocked her campaign.

A counselling clinic she co-owns with her husband has also raised eyebrows amid claims that it tries to "cure" homosexuals.

The problems faced by candidates on the right have played into Mr Perry's hands, leaving a space for him to fill.

The god-fearing Texan has a strong record on the issues that matter most to a sizeable chunk of the Republican base.

His evangelical Christian beliefs inform many of his political views, resulting in a conservative agenda that surpasses most, if not all, of his Republican rivals.

Earlier this year, he passed a bill in Texas which forces all women seeking an abortion to have a sonogram and then have the results explained to them.

He stands against any legal recognition of same-sex marriage and rejects the theory of evolution. He is equally sceptical of man's role in climate change, with Texas remaining the only state refusing to put in place rules regulating gases that contribute to global warming.Since becoming Texas governor in 2000, following George W Bush's resignation to pursue the presidency, Mr Perry has presided over more executions of prisoners than any other governor in modern history.

Not one to shy away from his conservative views, he even went as far as boasting that his political beliefs, as outlined in his 2010 book Fed Up: Our Fight to Save America From Washington, would rule him out of a future White House race.

"The best concrete evidence that I'm really not running for president is this book," he told a reporter last year, adding: "When you read this book, you're going to see me talking about issues that for someone running for public office, it's kind of been the third rail."

But with the Republicans still holding out for a white knight candidate amid a lacklustre response to the current crop, it appears that Mr Perry has reconsidered his options. Colleagues have suggested that he is now "very likely" to run.

Mr Perry himself told the Des Moines Register that he will make a decision in the coming week. "But I'm getting more and more comfortable every day that this is what I've been called to do. This is what America needs," he added.

New polls out yesterday are likely to strengthen his conviction. A survey of Republican voter intention by Fox News found that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney remains the frontrunner with 17 per cent of support. However, Mr Perry came in second with 14 per cent despite not being a declared candidate.