For Rick Perry, Sarah Palin is "the face of America"

Texas Governor Rick Perry, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, had more high praise for his former RGA colleague Sarah Palin. In a earlier telephone discussion with Politics Daily's Matt Lewis in June, Perry had said of Palin's endorsement of him:

"If there's a bigger endorsement in the Republican universe, I don't know who it is than Sarah," he declared in a telephone interview over the weekend. He described the Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee as a "close personal friend" who knows my heart."

In this latest interview, conducted Friday in Austin, Perry's enthusiasm hasn't waned a bit. He told the WSJ:

"I love Sarah Palin, I love her positions, I think she was a good governor... I want her to be engaged in this rebuilding of the Republican Party... She is substantially more the face of this country than some other people who might want to be the face of the Republican Party. To me she's the face of America. I mean she's a hard worker, she didn't come from money, she didn't come from privilege, she just worked hard... I have not seen another person who invigorated the Republican base [like she did] with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan in 1976—the speech he made at the Republican Convention. People were looking around and saying, 'we nominated the wrong dude.'"

In her Facebook op-ed Friday, Sarah Palin cited Texas as an example of how tort reform can make health care more readily available to more people:

"Texas Gov. Rick Perry noted that, after his state enacted tort reform measures, the number of doctors applying to practice medicine in Texas 'skyrocketed by 57 percent' and that the tort reforms 'brought critical specialties to under-served areas.' These are real reforms that actually improve access to health care."

According to the WSJ, Texas' tort reforms have also been an economic boom for the Lone Star State:

Six years ago, Mr. Perry's state underwent a critical tort reform that was codified in the state constitution. The payoff is that Texas is now outpacing California economically. According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, between 1997 and 2006 Texas' economy grew an average of 4.3% while California's grew at a rate of 3.7%. But as of 2002 (to 2007), with tort reform in place, Texas' annual economic growth jumped to 5%, while California's remained essentially the same at 3.6%.

Any chance of seeing a Palin-Perry presidential ticket in the future? Not according to the governor:

"Unless my family is at gunpoint, I will not go to Washington, D.C."

Perry, who faces a challenge from Texas Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison in his bid for an unprecedented third term in the governor's mansion, says the battle for the soul of the Republican Party is between...

"mushy, middle of the road" Republicans and clear, devoted fiscal and social conservatives, like himself and Sarah Palin.

Part of Perry's strategy for reelection is to define Hutchison as one of the former. For her part, the Senator seems to be working hard at saying, "Hey, I'm a conservative too." Anyway, that's how it looks from our vantage point here in the Brazos River Valley.

- JP