Perry Must Find Campaign Cash Beyond Texas Pool

Reporting from Greenland, N.H.— All eyes were supposed to be on Iowa's straw poll Saturday, but it was Texas Gov. Rick Perry who stole the show — jetting from the official announcement of his Republican presidential run in South Carolina to an intimate house party in New Hampshire where he said he felt "right at home."


Arriving in a caravan of black and silver SUVs in a quiet neighborhood on New Hampshire's seacoast, Perry eschewed the state's informality and showed up in a suit — though no cowboy boots — greeting about 150 guests on the back porch of state Rep. Pam Tucker's house with a big wave and "Hi y'all."


Perry's visit was symbolic — a nod to New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary. But Perry's point in coming here for a quick stop before he heads to Iowa was that he planned to compete "for every vote in every state," he said.


Before entertaining questions from his guests — but not reporters — Perry said New Hampshire's state motto, "Live Free or Die," reminded him of Texas Col. William Barret Travis' 1836 letter from the Alamo when he wrote: "Victory or Death.


Perry officially announced his run yesterday in Charleston, South Carolina, at a meeting sponsored by RedState.com, a self- described “conservative news blog.” He later flew to New Hampshire, site of the first 2012 primary election. He’s scheduled to campaign today in New Hampshire and then travel to Iowa, where the nomination process officially begins with caucuses early next year.
“We cannot afford four more years of this rudderless leadership,” Perry said in his announcement speech. “Washington’s insatiable desire to spend our children’s inheritance on failed stimulus plans has given us record debts and left us far too many unemployed Americans.”
While Perry is already reaching out to broader voting groups, including Tea Party activists who propelled Republican gains in the 2010 midterm elections, he also has been holding private sessions with potential fundraisers. In Los Angeles last month, the governor met with about 30 potential financial backers.


Perry also could turn to independent political groups to boost his campaign, several of which have already filed with the Federal Election Commission. Those committees can accept unlimited individual and corporate donations, just as Texas candidates can.
“Outside groups like Super PACs can raise unlimited sums of money to expressly advocate for Perry or urge voters to reject one of his rivals,” said Michael Beckel, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group that tracks money in politics.
Texas home builder Bob Perry was Perry’s biggest source of cash after the Republican Governor’s Association, contributing more than $2.5 million to the governor’s campaigns since 2000, according to data compiled by Texans for Public Justice.
Bob Perry, no relation to the governor, was a top donor in 2004 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that ran ads questioning Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s military record. The businessman is also a major supporter of American Crossroads, an independent political group advised by Republican strategist Karl Rove.
Bob Perry gave $500,000 to American Crossroads in the first half of this year after writing checks totaling $7 million last year, according to FEC reports.


He wasn’t the only supporter of the Texas governor who also backed the Rove-linked Crossroads group. Robert Rowling, chief executive officer of TRT Holdings Inc., in Irving, Texas, along with his wife Terry, has contributed $361,533 to Perry and given a total $3.5 million to American Crossroads.
Rove helped Perry win his first statewide race, as agriculture commissioner, in 1990. He was then elected lieutenant governor in 1998 in a campaign in which Rove and Perry disagreed over tactics.
Rove believed Perry had an adequate lead to avoid running negative ads, while Perry’s pollster, Mike Baselice, saw a closer race, Baselice said in an interview. Perry’s people took Rove’s advice and won the race by a slim margin, he said.
Rove backed Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in her 2010 Republican primary challenge to Perry. The governor defeated her by about 20 percentage points, and went on to win re-election in November with 55 percent of the vote.
Perry took over as governor in December 2000 after George W. Bush, another Rove client, resigned in preparation for his swearing in as president in January 2001. Rove served as Bush’s chief political strategist in the White House.