Gov. Rick Perry plans on meeting with more than 500 donors and bundlers from across the country in a series of summits to prepare for a 2016 presidential candidacy, Politico reported Friday.
The Texas Republican will host a series of December meetings to convince Texas’ rich base of fundraisers to support him instead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“If Gov. Perry is going to run, he’s going to be better prepared, and he’s going to have the resources necessary to compete,” former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told Politico.
Perry is looking to rebuild his image after a gaffe-prone 2012 candidacy most memorable for forgetting the third item during a debate on a list of three federal agencies he would like see abolished.
He will have to convince donors to return to his fold after campaigning aggressively against donor-favorite and eventual nominee Mitt Romney in the 2012 cycle. Perry supported former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich instead.
The three-term governor, who has been in office since 2000, was indicted on charges of public corruption earlier this year. Perry has publicly scoffed at the charges, calling them “politically motivated,” but a judge refused earlier this month to throw out the charges.
Perry is sixth in the RealClearPolitics 2016 Republican presidential polling average. Bush is first, with Cruz in ninth. Just over seven percentage points separate Bush and Cruz.
