Rick Perry to speak in Iowa on Sunday
Texas Governor Rick Perry will speak at a Republican fundraiser in Iowa Sunday for the Black Hawk County Republicans, his campaign confirmed to the CBS News on Tuesday.
Perry appears poised to soon announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, and his decision to travel to the crucial first-in-the-nation voting state signals that he plans to compete aggressively there. Perry also plans to make stops in South Carolina and New Hampshire on Saturday, and is expected to make his plans to seek the nomination clear in his remarks in South Carolina.
"It's an important area of the state for Republicans," Mark Miner, a spokesman for Perry, told the Des Moines Register of Perry's decision to travel to Waterloo, Iowa. "There's nothing new to announce, but stay tuned."
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Perry's campaign said the event will take place in Waterloo's Electric Park Ballroom, and Perry will be joined by Sen. Chuck Grassley, Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Iowa, Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn and Secretary of State Matt Schultz.
Notably, the trip will come just a day after Saturday's closely-watched Iowa straw poll in Ames. Perry, who is not on the straw poll ballot, will undoubtedly divert attention from the outcome of the poll, which traditionally has a significant impact on the Republican presidential race.
Perry is expected to immediately jump to the top tier of contenders for the nomination if he enters the race, in part because he has support from both the Republican establishment and the social and fiscal conservatives who have rallied around Rep. Michele Bachmann.
