Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he will be prepared if he decides to run for president in 2016, as he attempts to rebut the image he created during his ill-fated run two years ago.
“I may not run in 2016, but I’ve spent the last 20-plus months preparing,” the Republican governor said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “If I don’t run, it won’t be because I’m not prepared.”
Perry is currently in China at the World Economic Forum’s summer event before he heads to England, Poland, Croatia, Romania and the Baltics later this fall.
He has been studying up on policy issues the past year to make up for his lack of knowledge during his 2012 presidential bid, according to a review of his official calendar by the Dallas Morning News.
A RealClearPolitics average of polls of the possible 2016 Republican presidential candidates has Perry in sixth place, behind New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. Paul Ryan and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
