Rick Perry Responds To Bernanke Comments, 'The Governor Is Passionate

The Republican presidential race suddenly looks like a three-person battle between Texas Gov. Perry, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. But as the focus of the contest soon shifts to Florida, Perry and Bachmann are invisible in the state while Romney has an expansive political network still in place since his campaign here four years ago.


Grass-roots activists and veteran political consultants say they see no sign of Bachmann trying to organize a campaign in Florida, though on Aug. 27 she plans to attend a tea party rally in The Villages and then a Florida Family Policy Council dinner in Orlando. And the campaign told the St. Petersburg Times on Tuesday night that it has no plans to compete in a mock election planned by the state GOP next month.


It’s a different story with Perry, who formally jumped in the race Saturday.


Perry campaign officials are talking to some of the top Republican strategists, including former George W. Bush Florida 2004 chief Brett Doster and the Tallahassee team of Randy Enwright, Jim Rimes and Rich Heffley. The late entry into the contest has also contacted many of the state’s top money-raisers and found some keen interest.


Perry's response echoed what his spokesman, Ray Sullivan said earlier Tuesday in more detail.


“The governor is passionate about reducing federal spending and moving towards a balanced budget as quickly as possible. He does not believe that printing more money is the answer to our economic problems,” Sullivan told a gaggle of reporters at Perry’s first campaign stop of the day.


He repeated, “The governor was passionate and energized by a full day of the Iowa State Fair, public events and interacting with the people of Iowa. And it was a way for him to talk about his concerns about the federal budget and his strong belief that printing more money is not the solution.”


A reporter pressed Sullivan on whether Perry’s words were perhaps too harsh.


“I think you’ll just have to listen to what the governor says every day,” Sullivan said. “The message is certainly going to evolve and be responsive to the news of the day. Just keep watching.”


Monday night at a local Republican Party event, Perry called out Bernanke:


“If this guy prints more money between now and the election,” Perry said, “I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous -- or treasonous in my opinion.”


Perry spoke to employees at a roofing company here and was to hold two more events in Iowa before leaving the state.