Perry Electrifies GOP Conference

The Guardian reports:

There were buttons that said "Kiss Me, I'm a Republican" and buttons that averred "I'm the God-Fearing, Gun-Toting, Flag-Waving Conservative the Liberals Warned You About." And of course there were badges declaring loyalty to the candidates who have announced their run for the Republican nomination, such as Michelle Bachmann and Mitt Romney.

But the fastest sellers were for a politician who has not yet announced whether he will join the White House race - the Texas governor, Rick Perry.

"Our bestselling button has been the Perry one," said Anne Grout, a Republican from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. "For a while, we had Perry-Bachmann buttons and people really liked that and we sold out," Grout said of the prospect of Perry as presidential candidate and Bachmann as his running mate.

Perry has said he will announce his decision soon. One member of his campaign team said he was closer than ever to joining the race and he was testing the prospects in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. If he does stand, Republicans at the New Orleans conference predicted he would become the frontrunner of a so-far uninspiring field.