Governor calls senator best GOP candidate to fight terrorism
By ROBERT T. GARRETT and WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, joining other big-state Republican governors, endorsed Sen. John McCain for president Thursday, saying he is the best candidate in the GOP field to fight terrorism.
"He and I may not agree on every issue," Mr. Perry said of the Arizona senator. "But we do agree that this country cannot flinch when it comes to the war against the Islamic terrorists."
Mr. Perry's move in Austin came hours after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's endorsement of Mr. McCain at a joint appearance on the West Coast. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist endorsed the senator Saturday night, just three days before Mr. McCain's big win in that state's GOP primary.
Mr. Perry, who had backed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, dismissed suggestions that he again has defied his conservative supporters' wishes.
Though Mr. McCain has angered party loyalists by writing bills to overhaul campaign finance and immigration and by voting twice against President Bush's tax cuts, Mr. Perry praised Mr. McCain for promising to get rid of pork barrel "earmarks" in the federal budget.
As he had earlier in endorsing Mr. Giuliani, the governor framed his choice as being driven by national security considerations.
"I happen to think John McCain can and
will win the war on terror," Mr. Perry said at a news conference in his Capitol
office. "Everything else is secondary."
The governor was asked if former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's December 2006 comments about secret timetables in Iraq had troubled him.
"Words do matter – the semantics that people use, the code words that they use," Mr. Perry said. "So I'll let Mitt Romney explain what he meant by those. I think the senator [McCain] is clearly a proponent of staying the course" in Iraq.
The endorsement from Mr. Perry, a red-state governor, comes just days before the Super Tuesday primary in which 21 states will weigh in. Texas will hold its primary March 4.
Mr. Perry, asked if he and the senator will campaign together, said, "I'm sure we will." The governor said he would be surprised, though, if that happens before Tuesday.
Mr. McCain, in a statement released by his campaign, thanked Mr. Perry and called him "a great addition" to a lengthy list of new supporters.
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