Rick Perry wows Alabama Republicans before announcing candidacy

Perry will announce his presidential bid in South Carolina, another state with an early nominating contest, and is expected to immediately vault into the top tier of contenders along with front-runner Mitt Romney. Perry visits Iowa Sunday.


The straw poll, a nonbinding mock election, traditionally winnows the field of poor performers and boosts those who do better than expected. This year, struggling Tim Pawlenty is fighting for survival as rival Michele Bachmann tries to keep her recent momentum alive.


Romney will be on the ballot but chose not to participate after winning the straw poll in 2007. He later lost the Iowa caucuses to Mike Huckabee, who rode the momentum he generated with a surprise second-place straw poll finish.


"It's an event that in-and-of-itself is meaningless, but can have a tremendous political impact," said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines. "It has always had the role of eliminating the weak and thinning out the field."


The poll is a fund-raiser for the state party and creates a carnival atmosphere around Iowa State University's basketball arena, where candidates entice supporters with big-tent entertainment, free food and speeches.


Any Iowa resident over 18 can show up and participate, with many allowing a candidate to buy their $30 ticket. Candidates organize buses to haul in supporters from around the state in a warmup for the organizational effort needed in the caucuses.


Perry, 61, the keynote speaker at the event, told the appreciative southerners:


"Texas and Alabama have a lot in common. Y’all have a little different barbecue than we have…but like Texas, you’re gearing up for an even better Republican result in 2012."


He was referring to the "conservative tide in the 2010 elections that captured all of Alabama’s state offices for the state’s Republicans," the Chronicle writes.


In what was being compared to a stump speech, he also attacked President Barack Obama on his jobs record and discussed his own — a subject that is expected to be a pillar of his presidential campaign.


“They’re true believers,” Perry reportedly said of the Obama administration. “They truly believe that the federal government is the answer to every need.”


He called Obama a “threat to every private sector job out there.


Perry's candidacy for the GOP presidential race jolts the field of candidates and threatens to overshadow that key Iowa test vote Saturday, the AP reports.


The straw poll pits six Republican presidential hopefuls against each other in an unofficial test of campaign strength. Frontrunner Mitt Romney chose not to participate after winning the straw poll in 2007, Reuters reports.


The poll is really a nonbinding mock election, held to raise money for the state party, but it "traditionally winnows the field of poor performers and boosts those who do better than expected," Reuters writes.


However, Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee who has yet to declare her intentions in 2012, questioned the poll's validity during a visit to the Iowa state fair Friday, Reuters reports.


"It's not always the tell-tale sign of what the electorate is feeling. It's who happens to show up and has the time and energy to spend that day for their particular candidate."


The poll comes two days after the eight current Republican contenders clashed — at times bitterly — in a nationally televised debate.