Rick Perry to visit Iowa amid accusations he's trying to upstage Ames straw poll
Aug-10-2011

Rick Perry has added Iowa to the list of early primary states he'll visit this weekend as he prepares to kick off his expected bid for the 2012 Republican nomination.
According to Perry's office, the Texas governor will make a speech at a GOP gathering in Waterloo on Sunday. His visit is scheduled to come just a day after trips to New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he is expected to signal his intentions to run for president.
Perry's announcement, while informal, threatens to overshadow the other major presidential-campaign event of the weekend: Iowa's straw poll, which is also set for Saturday. The governor's move appears aimed at undermining the momentum of whichever candidate performs best at the event, but it could potentially backfire as some Iowa Republicans have signaled their displeasure with Perry's timing.
"(It's) not only a slap in the face to Republican voters in Iowa, but it also is disrespectful to the Iowa GOP and the other candidates seeking the nomination," Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa, writes today. "Iowans will take seriously those candidates who take us seriously. It appears that Gov. Perry doesn't even respect us, let alone take us seriously."

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