The most reluctant potential Republican nominee so far will announce at the conservative RedState gathering in South Carolina this Saturday that he is running for president.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, known for hating the Washington scene, had previously eschewed mounting a national campaign, but pressure from the public and his wife appears to have steered him into the race.
“I mean I wouldn’t be this far into the process. … The issue of, ‘is this what I want to do?’ was dealt with about 45 days ago in a conversation with my wife,” Perry said in an interview with Time. “Prior to that, no. Being the president of the United States was not on my radar screen from the standpoint of something I wanted to do.”
CNN points out that while earlier reports had said that Perry would not announce, but instead make his plans clear, both CNN and Fox News have confirmed that Perry will use the RedState event to announce his candidacy this weekend.
Perry spokesman Mark Miner has confirmed the announcement to The Associated Press.