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WASHINGTON — Team Obama is already going after Texas Gov. Rick Perry and his Lone Star record — hours before the Republican is set to jump into the presidential race today in South Carolina.
“When you examine the entire record, what’s happened to education in that state, what’s happened to health care in that state, it’s a record of decimation, not of progress,” President Obama’s adviser David Axelrod told ABC News.
Axelrod also tried to knock down Perry’s claim that his state has fared better than the nation as a whole economically, chalking it up to spiking oil revenues.
“I don’t think many people would attribute it to the leadership of the governor down there,” he told CBS in a separate interview.
Asked about Axelrod’s attack, Perry spokesman Mark Miner said yesterday that the governor is ready to compare his record to Obama’s.
“Governor Perry looks for forward to talking about his record of creating jobs compared to President Obama’s dismal economic policies that are bankrupting America.,” Miner said.
When he announces his candidacy, Perry will take aim at Obama’s economic record.
“We cannot and must not endure four more years of rising unemployment, rising taxes, rising debt and rising energy dependence on nations that intend us harm,” Perry is to say today, according to his prepared remarks.
After his announcement, Perry will travel to another key primary state, New Hampshire. He’ll head to Iowa tomorrow for three days. His visit to Iowa should overlap with Obama, who plans to roll in as part of his Midwest bus tour next week.
Perry will shake up the race because of his ability to appeal to religious conservatives — he hosted a big prayer rally in Houston last weekend — while pulling in some establishment support to try to take on GOP front-runner Mitt Romney.
But he’s not on the ballot at today’s Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, which will be the first test for the Republican candidates. And for some candidates who are struggling to stay competitive, the straw poll could be a make-it-or-break-it event.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has invested heavily in the event, is counting on a strong showing, but “if we do really bad, we’ll have to reassess,” he said.
Romney isn’t actively participating in the straw poll — a fund-raising event for the state GOP where candidates must purchase real estate in a convention hall and compete to bus in the most supporters in a show of organizational strength.
While she is still not a declared candidate, Sarah Palin hit the famed Iowa State Fair yesterday, telling the Des Moines Register, “I haven’t even decided yet if I’m going to jump in or not yet.”