AWESOME NEWS: Governor Perry to make clear Saturday that he's running for President

The Austin American Statesman broke the news and now it is flying all over as Breaking News as my inbox is filling up with Breaking News Alerts starting with the NY Times.  What has been expected is now going to happen at the Red State Gathering in South Carolina on Saturday.  The media will be heading in droves to SC to watch Rick Perry make his formal announcement and then we can start contributing to his Presidential campaign.  Was 99.99% sure he was running but now thanks to the Statesman (cannot believe I am saying that), we know when the official announcement is coming.

Been waiting for this moment and makes the day a much brighter day here in the Heartland of oil and gas country!

Perry to make clear Saturday that he’s running for presidentBy Jason Embry | Monday, August 8, 2011, 01:53 PM

Gov. Rick Perry will make it clear that he’s running for president during a Saturday speech in South Carolina, a Perry source said today. 

Politico first reported that Perry will make his intentions clear during a speech at the RedState conservative gathering. It will be his first trip to an early-primary state. 

Shortly after his afternoon speech, Perry will travel to New Hampshire for a house party in the Greenland home of state Rep. Pam Tucker, who expects about 100 voters to gather in her yard to meet the presumptive candidate. 

Tucker was among about 10 New Hampshire political and business leaders who traveled to Austin last week to give Perry and his advisers their assessment of what he would face in the nation’s first primary. 

“I invited him to come on up. I was very surprised — happily surprised — to learn this morning that he accepted our invitation,” Tucker said. 

The 5:30 p.m. party, an invitation-only affair set to start a little more than three hours after Perry’s South Carolina speech is scheduled to end, was first reported by the Union Leader.
Saturday is the Ames Straw Poll, a major fundraiser for the Iowa Republican Party that serves as an early test of who has the strongest support and organization in the Hawkeye State. Perry won’t be on the straw-poll ballot. But the timing of his Saturday speech — regardless of whether it is an actual announcement of his candidacy or just a very heavy hint — will allow him to steal some of the spotlight from whoever wins the straw poll. 

Perry has building to a campaign for weeks, meeting in Austin with supporters from around the country who could raise him hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars. He will get a late start in the race but is likely to be a major contender for the Republican nomination because of his fundraising prowess and his appeal to social and fiscal conservatives.