His wife Anita is encouraging him to go for it.
Gov. Rick Perry will need money, organization, staff and stamina if he runs for president.
But he appears to already have the support that’s most important for the race — his wife’s.
Following a brief meeting on state finances Tuesday, Perry talked expansively for the first time on what his wife, Anita, has been telling him about a White House run.
“My wife was talking to me and saying: ‘Listen… get out of your comfort zone. Yeah, being governor of Texas is a great job, but sometimes you’re called to step into the fray,’” the governor said.
As an experienced political wife, Anita Perry has been stepping into the fray with her husband since he ran for the Texas House in 1984.
Holding a master’s degree in nursing, she worked as a nurse for 17 years.
Perry said his wife is worried how the new health care law will affect health care.
Perry has the organization. His team shellacked the Texas Democrats’ great White hope last year and has for the most part remained intact since then. It managed his Fed Up book tour and has been quietly hiring new hands for a few weeks now. I’ve spotted one or two who were on the Gingrich team that fired their candidate, around Austin, fresh from working in Iowa.
The question now comes down to money, I think. Team Perry is weighing whether or not they can raise the money it will take first to compete with and defeat Romney, and then of course Obama. There are meetings in Austin this week and more planned to map out the money situation. Perry has the all clear from the most important person in his life to make the run. If the money is there, and I’m fairly sure that they’re finding out that it is there, Rick Perry is running for president.
Update: Correction — Texans for Rick Perry, mentioned above as being in a hiring mode, has not been hiring. The rumors to that effect that have been out and about are not true. I regret the error.
Update: Interesting.
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