AMES, IOWA — Texas Gov. Rick Perry made a belated entry into the already crowded Republican presidential field Saturday, virtually overshadowing the other contenders who were competing for voters and momentum in the influential Iowa straw poll. “I came to South Carolina today because I will not sit back and accept the path that America is on,” the 61-year-old, three-term governor said, ending weeks of intense speculation over whether he would enter a race he once ruled out.
“It is time to get America working again,” Perry said. “And that’s why, with the support of my family and an unwavering belief in the goodness of America, I declare to you today as a candidate of the president of the United States.”
Perry promised a more limited government, a simpler tax code, lower taxes and more jobs. He also pledged to repeal Obama’s health care reforms.
While Perry spoke, five of the eight other Republican candidates were fighting hard in Iowa to hold on to their voters at the Ames straw poll — the first event ahead of the presidential election where voters actually cast ballots.
Tea Party darling Michele Bachmann, who was leading the polls in Iowa, reminded a packed stadium dozens of times during a 15-minute speech that she is an Iowa native.
Bachmann only briefly mentioned the stumbling economic recovery and instead focused on her Christian faith and her opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
“In Iowa we are social conservatives and we will never be ashamed of being social conservatives,” she said. “We understand that religious liberty is the essence and the foothold of this nation.”
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the national frontrunner in the race, skipped the straw poll, deciding early on that it wasn’t worth his time or money.
Perry, who brazenly chose the date of the straw poll to launch his campaign in a different, early-primary state, will arrive in Iowa Sunday. Already, though, he is seen as a potential threat to both Bachmann and Romney.
The Romney campaign is planning to paint Perry as a lifelong politician who lacks the private sector experience needed to restore the economy, a campaign aide told The Washington Examiner.
Romney has remained almost entirely focused on the economy, emphasizing his years in the private sector in addition to his time as governor of Massachusetts.
But Perry is touting a successful record of creating jobs in Texas at a time when unemployment was soaring in other parts of the country. And while that record allows him to challenge Romney on economic issues, Perry has also made open appeals to the social conservatives on whose support Bachmann is counting.
Shortly before announcing his candidacy, Perry hosted a day of prayer in Houston that was widely celebrated by evangelical Christians, a key Republican voting bloc.
Meanwhile, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is hoping a strong finish in the Iowa straw poll will propel him into the race’s top tier, emphasized his electability in a speech to Hawkeye State voters Saturday, differentiating himself from candidates like Bachmann and Perry who could be seen as too conservative.
“I won — I got elected and reelected in one of the most difficult political states in the country for Republicans, the state of Minnesota,” he said. “And I’ll carry those states as a candidate for president.”
