While Texas Governor Rick Perry has yet to announce a presidential run, college students across the country are already rallying to push him to victory in 2012.
Students for Rick Perry, a grassroots coalition of college students, is working to garner support for the Lone Star State governor by building chapters on campuses across the country.
The group, which has been gaining momentum since mid-June, now boasts over 25 state chairs, five national board chairs and a slew of social media followers. And they continue to grow.
“We are working to build the grassroots support and infrastructure so that when Governor Perry announces we will be ready to join forces with his campaign,” Georgetown senior and co-chair of Students for Rick Perry, Joe Knowles told TheDC.
Just last week Students for Rick Perry released their first video, which touted Perry’s reputation as a job creator – with the poor economy under Obama as a foil.
“Gov. Perry would provide a real choice for the American people in a general election against Barack Obama. He never was for cap and trade, he never was for reforms similar to Obamacare and he has a clear consistent conservative message,” Knowles said, taking digs at presidential candidates Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney, respectively. “He is a perfect candidate to unite to really unite the establishment wings of the party and the tea party.”
The group is not official — indeed all the volunteers are unpaid — however, the hope is that once Perry gets in Students for Rick Perry will be a part of his path to victory.
“If/when Gov. Perry jumps in, he’s got something to work with,” Knowles’ co-chairman Justin Till, a recent Angelo State University graduate and former chairman of Texas College Republicans, told the Texas Tribune. “But I’m in a holding pattern pending any announcement. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.”
Monday, the Washington Post’s The Fix reported that a recent Perry fundraising letter pinned the date of Perry’s presidential announcement to a day shortly after the Ames Straw Poll.