FLORENCE, S.C. – Before the man of the hour arrived, instructions went out to the more than 300 people jammed around tables, standing on booths and craning to see past the hot breakfast buffet at Bazen’s Family Restaurant here.
He doesn’t like to be called Governor Perry, so call him Rick.
The Washington Post's Krissah Thompson talks about the first week of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign and how he was received by voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. (Aug. 19)
GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry told New Hampshire voters Wednesday that he does not believe in manmade global warming, calling it a scientific theory that has not been proven. (Aug. 17)
And that they did. The newly minted presidential candidate cheerfully swept into South Carolina on Friday morning and was greeted like a heartthrob by a fervent crowd that most of his Republican rivals could only hope to assemble on the trail.
People screamed out, “Hi, Rick,” they gave him baseballs to autograph and a newborn grabbed hold of his tie and wouldn’t let go.
The Texas governor moved comfortably from table to table, with his “Howdy” and “Hi, y’all” greetings, and then he did what he came to do: He tore into President Obama.
“The president’s been on a jobs tour,” Perry said. “As a matter of fact, we crossed paths when we were in the state of Iowa. He had his big ol’ bus – his big ol’ 1.2 million-dollar bus, made in Canada – but, anyway, the real issue is our president’s out there and he goes on a jobs tour. This is the president of the United States that has killed more jobs in America than I think any president… the only job he cares about is the one he’s got.”
Perry said his campaign is about “cuttin’ taxes, cuttin’ regulations and cuttin’ litigation.” In one of his biggest applause lines, Perry said: “I am a pro-business governor and I don’t make any apologies to anybody about it. I’m going to be a pro-business president and I won’t make any apologies about it.”
South Carolina’s GOP primary, the first in the South, is seen as key to Perry’s hopes of winning the presidential nomination. He is aggressively building a campaign organization here, hiring leading political strategists in the state and assembling a large field staff.
Evangelical Christians make up a sizeable portion of the state’s Republican primary electorate, and Perry, who laces his comments with references to his faith, is expected to do well among those voters. The conservative tea party movement also has a strong presence. There’s no clear frontrunner in the primary yet, and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has also been making a push here.
While Perry served up red meat to a clearly partisan crowd and emphasized his down-home twang here Friday, his remarks were short on specifics. He carefully avoided making any comments that would spark another a furor, following his remarks Monday night suggesting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would be committing treason by printing more currency.
Perry did not take questions from reporters for the second day in a row. Asked whether he would answer questions from the media, Perry simply patted one reporter on his shoulder and said, “Thanks, brother.”
At a visit to Carolinas Hospital System, Perry assailed Obama’s health-care law, saying it’s a “big national health-care plan coming at us like a freight train.”
In his remarks before a room full of hospital workers, Perry said: “If Texas were another country – you understand?” The crowd erupted in laughter, perhaps recalling Perry’s suggestion that Texas secede from the union.
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