Rick Perry: A primer on the presidential candidate
Meet Rick Perry.
DC Decoder gets you up to speed with this short reading guide, some highlights of Perry profiles, including Perry's undergraduate days at Texas A&M and his record as the longest serving head of the Lone Star state.
1. For the quickest of primers, see 海角大神鈥檚 鈥�11 Questions about Rick Perry and his White House bid.鈥� This should give you a general lay of the land, situating Perry in the context of his own life and the Republican nomination process.
2. To get a sense of Perry before he was in the political spotlight, check out Texas Tribune鈥檚 鈥�.鈥� Perry, one of A&M鈥檚 famous 鈥測ell leaders,鈥� was both a prolific college prankster and a shrewd political operator.
3. For a rapid backgrounder on Perry鈥檚 political career, the Houston Chronicle has . Over that 27 year span, Perry has never lost an election.
Governor of Texas
1. Perry鈥檚 record as governor of Texas comes down to one word: Jobs.
What : two out of every five jobs created in the United States since 2009 have come from Texas, proving the value of a low regulation, low taxation environment.
The counterpoint? :
Most people know of Texas鈥� reputation for creating jobs 鈥� the cornerstone of Perry鈥檚 pitch that limited government, less regulation and low taxes are the tonic for what ails the nation. Yet almost half of the state鈥檚 job growth the past two years was led by education, health care and government, the sectors of the economy that will now take a hit as federal stimulus money runs out and the Legislature鈥檚 eight percent cut in state spending translates into thousands of layoffs among state workers and teachers in the coming weeks.
Also, Texas is tied with Mississippi as the nation鈥檚 leaders in minimum wage jobs. And conservatives argue that Texas can do more to lower its tax burden on businesses, which is higher than the national average and states such as California and Massachusetts that have a personal income tax.
2. Want the data behind what Perry supporters call the 鈥淭exas miracle鈥� of job creation? The Texas Tribune has it , including this choice bit:
Texas gained more jobs in June 2011, 32,000, and more jobs this year, 220,000, than any other state in the country. To put these numbers in perspective鈥�. 237,000 out of the 496,000 jobs added to the national work force since June 2009 were in Texas.
3. 鈥淒ear Yankee,鈥� , 鈥淓ight things you ought to know before you start writing stories about Rick Perry.鈥� This includes the fact that Perry is not George W. Bush, that he鈥檚 not a weak governor, and that it鈥檚 not a big deal that Perry was once a Democrat.
Perry for President
1. Even before he formally got into the race, more than a half-dozen 鈥淪uper PACs,鈥� political groups set up to rake in donations and then spend money on Perry鈥檚 behalf, .
2. Widely regarded as a powerful retail politician, get a sense for Perry鈥檚 ability to work a room, and generally ingratiate himself with anyone and everyone with .
3. Retail politics isn鈥檛 the only thing Perry does with aplomb - he鈥檚 also got an i.
4. Perry has cut a video introducing him to America, which includes clips from what appear to be campaign ads during his 27 years in politics. Check it out below.
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