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You have 4 reasons. I have 14. Your argument is invalid. :) #1 Rick Perry is a "big government" politician. When Rick Perry became the governor of Texas in 2000, the total spending by the Texas state government was approximately $49 billion. Ten years later it was approximately $90 billion. That is not exactly reducing the size of government.
#2 The debt of the state of Texas is out of control. According to usdebtclock.org, the debt to GDP ratio in Texas is 22.9% and the debt per citizen is $10,645. In California (a total financial basket case), the debt to GDP ratio is just 18.7% and the debt per citizen is only $9932. If Rick Perry runs for president these are numbers he will want to keep well hidden.
#3 The total debt of the Texas government has more than doubled since Rick Perry became governor. So what would the U.S. national debt look like after four (or eight) years of Rick Perry?
#4 Rick Perry has spearheaded the effort to lease roads in Texas to foreign companies, to turn roads that are already free to drive on into toll roads, and to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor which would be part of the planned NAFTA superhighway system. If you really do deep research on this whole Trans-Texas Corridor nonsense you will see why no American should ever cast a single vote for Rick Perry.
#5 Rick Perry claims that he has a "track record" of not raising taxes. That is a false claim. Rick Perry has repeatedly raised taxes and fees while he has been governor. Today, Texans are faced with significantly higher taxes and fees than they were before Rick Perry was elected.
#6 Even with the oil boom in Texas, 23 states have a lower unemployment rate than Texas does.
#7 Back in 1988, Rick Perry supported Al Gore for president. In fact, Rick Perry actually served as Al Gore's campaign chairman in the state of Texas that year.
#8 Between December 2007 and April 2011, weekly wages in the U.S. increased by about 5 percent. In the state of Texas they increased by just 0.6% over that same time period.
#9 Texas now has one of the worst education systems in the nation. The following is from an opinion piece that was actually authored by Barbara Bush earlier this year.... • We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. An estimated 3.8 million Texans do not have a high school diploma. • We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math SAT scores. • We rank 33rd in the nation on teacher salaries.
#10 Rick Perry attended the Bilderberg Group meetings in 2007. Associating himself with that organization should be a red flag for all American voters.
#11 Texas has the highest percentage of workers making minimum wage out of all 50 states.
#12 Rick Perry often gives speeches about illegal immigration, but when you look at the facts, he has been incredibly soft on the issue. If Rick Perry does not plan to secure the border, then he should not be president because illegal immigration is absolutely devastating many areas of the southwest United States.
#13 In 2007, 221,000 residents of Texas were making minimum wage or less. By 2010, that number had risen to 550,000.
#14 Rick Perry actually issued an executive order in 2007 that would have forced almost every single girl in the state of Texas to receive the Gardasil vaccine before entering the sixth grade. Perry would have put parents in a position where they would have had to fill out an application and beg the government not to inject their child with a highly controversial vaccine. Since then, very serious safety issues regarding this vaccine have come to light. Fortunately, lawmakers in Texas blocked what Perry was trying to do. According to Wikipedia, many were troubled when "apparent financial connections between Merck and Perry were reported by news outlets, such as a $6,000 campaign contribution and Merck's hiring of former Perry Chief of Staff Mike Toomey to handle its Texas lobbying work." Rick Perry has a record that should make all Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and Independents cringe.

And there’s the democrapic propaganda CUT AND PASTED like a professional whacko that operates on the White House website!

Of course, you know none of that matters now. All that matters is that in the past year ol’ Rick has strapped on his liberty boots, given a speech or two to the Tea Party crowd with guns a’blazin, written a book about his true blue conservatism and had Texas sized prayer meetings. He’s seen the light, I tell ya! He’s born again! Dipped in the blood of Reagan! Hallelulluah! LOL!

Those debt numbers include LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. You’re holding Perry responsible for those?

This thing has been making the rounds of conservative sites. It was written by a school friend of Hillary Clinton. That will ensure that I totally ignore the piece. I lived in TX, and have voted for Perry three times and will do so again. He is a good Governor and will be a good President. Liberals seem to be posting this over and over. Guess they realize that Perry will beat Obama.

Texas has the fourth lowest debt of all the states. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2762959/posts

"Texas has the second lowest debt per capita in America, as well as the third lowest interest payments on the debt of any state, despite it being a donor state, according to the Tax Foundation.

"Forbes gives Texas four stars for its debt situation, and ranks Texas fourth in the country for the best handling of debt.

"Texas also has the second lowest debt in the country, as a percentage of personal income, has reduced its non-self-supporting debt substantially over the past decade, and had its bond rating recently upgraded. "

Perry's on record for wanting to rid the US of unConstitutional and economy-destroying entitlements, ponzi schemes and, especially, over-reaching regulatory agencies. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2762809/posts

#1 Rick Perry is a "big government" politician. When Rick Perry became the governor of Texas in 2000, the total spending by the Texas state government was approximately $49 billion. Ten years later it was approximately $90 billion. That is not exactly reducing the size of government.

It would be nice if you could take figures out of context like this, but there is always someone like me to set the record straight. Your figures show that the Texas budget increased 84% in 10 years. Horrible, right? Well, not so much. See, during that same period, population increased by about 20% and aggregate inflation over that period was about 25%. So the actual growth of government was 39% over 10 years, or less than 3% per year. Now, you can argue that 4% per year is too much still, but it is hardly the "big government" spending spree that you want to portray.

#2 The debt of the state of Texas is out of control. According to usdebtclock.org, the debt to GDP ratio in Texas is 22.9% and the debt per citizen is $10,645. In California (a total financial basket case), the debt to GDP ratio is just 18.7% and the debt per citizen is only $9932. If Rick Perry runs for president these are numbers he will want to keep well hidden.

Well, considering your numbers are wrong, I don't think that is going to be a problem. Texas has a debt to GDP ratio of 18.5% and a debt per person of $8930. California has a debt to GDP ratio of 19.1% and a debt per person of $9987. And those figures are from USDebtClock.org. So you mught want to double check before posting next time. After all, if you can't even copy numbers from a web site correctly, how can anyone give any credence to anything else you post?

#3 The total debt of the Texas government has more than doubled since Rick Perry became governor. So what would the U.S. national debt look like after four (or eight) years of Rick Perry?

This is true and misleading at the same time. True that the debt of Texas has doubled in the last 10 years - misleading because that figure includes all of the county and local government debt as well as state debt.

#6 Even with the oil boom in Texas, 23 states have a lower unemployment rate than Texas does.

You fail to point out that only one of those states is a border state with a large problem with illegals, and you fail to mention that none of those states are creating jobs as fast as Texas.

#7 Back in 1988, Rick Perry supported Al Gore for president. In fact, Rick Perry actually served as Al Gore's campaign chairman in the state of Texas that year.

Here you continue your misleading ways. You fail to mention that at the time, Perry was a conservative Democratic legislator, and that Gore was considered one of the most conservative Democrats in the presidential race that year. You also forgot to mention that Perry changed parties the next year, so he has been a Republican for 23 years - longer than he was a Democrat.

#9 Texas now has one of the worst education systems in the nation. The following is from an opinion piece that was actually authored by Barbara Bush earlier this year.... • We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. An estimated 3.8 million Texans do not have a high school diploma. • We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math SAT scores. • We rank 33rd in the nation on teacher salaries.

Quick question - how did Texas rank prior to 2001? Your stats don't tell us anything about Perry's leadership, because we don't know if schools improved or got worse while he has been governor.

#10 Rick Perry attended the Bilderberg Group meetings in 2007. Associating himself with that organization should be a red flag for all American voters.

Oh please!

#12 Rick Perry often gives speeches about illegal immigration, but when you look at the facts, he has been incredibly soft on the issue. If Rick Perry does not plan to secure the border, then he should not be president because illegal immigration is absolutely devastating many areas of the southwest United States.

Yes, he is so soft on immigration that he put a bill banning sanctuary cities and a bill mandating e-verify on the last special session agenda, and he got a law passed mandating voter ID.

#13 In 2007, 221,000 residents of Texas were making minimum wage or less. By 2010, that number had risen to 550,000.

Gee, do you think a national recession during that period might have had something to do with that? And Texas still managed to maintain a lower unemployment rate than the national average and added half of all new private sector jobs created in the country during that period.