2012 Candidate for President of the United States
(Also Ran)
James Richard "Rick" Perry (born March 4, 1950) is the 47th and current Governor of Texas, having held the office since December 2000. He is a
member of the Republican Party.
Elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998, he assumed office as Governor in December 2000 when Governor George W. Bush resigned to become
President of the United States. Perry was elected to full terms in 2002, 2006 and 2010, an unprecedented feat in Texas political history. With a
tenure in office to date of over a decade, Perry is the longest-serving current US Governor, having succeeded North Dakota Governor John Hoeven
when the latter resigned on December 7, 2010 after being elected to the US Senate.
Perry served as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2008 (succeeding Sonny Perdue of Georgia), and in 2011 once again serves as
RGA Chairman.
Perry holds all records for Texas gubernatorial tenure, having broken both Allan Shivers' consecutive service record of 7 1/2 years in June 2008 and
Bill Clements' total service record of eight years (over two non-consecutive terms) in December 2008. As a result, the Dallas Morning News reported in
December 2008 that Perry has the distinction of being the only governor in modern Texas history to have appointed at least one person to every possible
state office, board, or commission position which requires gubernatorial appointment (as well as to several elected offices to which the governor can
appoint someone to fill an unexpired term, such as six of the nine current members of the Texas Supreme Court).
Perry won the 2010 Republican primary election, defeating US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Wharton County Republican Party Chairwoman and
businesswoman Debra Medina. In the 2010 Texas Gubernatorial Election, Perry won re-election to a third term, defeating former Houston mayor Bill
White and Kathie Glass.
In May 2011, when asked about running for President, Perry responded, "I'm going to think about it."
Perry declared his candidacy for President of the United States in August 2011, at the RedState blogger convention in Charleston, South Carolina.
In mid-January 2012, after disappointing debate performances and ahead of a potentially disastrous showing in that Saturday's South Carolina Primary,
Perry withdrew from the Presidential race and endorsed rival Newt Gingrich.
Sources: Fort Worth Star Telegram, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, wikipedia.org
