Why Rick Perry deserves a second look

Thursday in Dallas, Rick Perry will declare his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. It is his second time. Last time, Perry announced his intentions at the RedState Gathering in Charleston, S.C. in August of 2011 and surged quickly in the field to first place with almost a third of the Republican primary voters ready to back him. But several bad debate performances marginalized his candidacy and he failed to get traction. He departed the stage with an “oops.”

Of all the candidates who ran in prior years who are running this time, Perry unquestionably deserves a second look. First, in 2012, he was running six weeks after back surgery and doing his best to avoid pain killers. It affected his performance and he knows it. Few Americans actually knew that fact though. The campaign did not broadcast the fact. Second, he has been the longest serving governor of the country’s second largest state, which also has the second highest number of electoral college votes in the nation.

Then there is reason #457,900. That is the number of jobs added to Texas in 2014 — the most jobs ever created in Texas and it happened while Perry was governor.

Then there is reason #252,400, which was the number of jobs Texas created in 2013. Like in 2014, Texas led the nation in job creation that year too

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