Texas Gov. Rick Perry came back onto the conservative stage with a tongue in cheek take on actor Clint Eastwood's controversial "Halftime in America" Super Bowl ad.

In his second speech since dropping out of the GOP presidential race, Perry told the CPAC crowd, "If it's halftime in America, I am fearful of what the final score is going to be if we let this president start the second half as the quarterback."

Perry went on to insist the federal government has overstepped its primary role of providing security and ventured far down a path of unnecessary oversight.

Eastwood's Chrysler ad has gotten a lot of attention. In it, he says, "the country can't be knocked out with one punch ... our second half is about to begin." Since the big game, Eastwood has insisted he was sending an inspirational message, not a political one. But, Democrats claim the ad is an endorsement of President Obama's auto bailout.

For his part, Perry told CPAC, "Washington is too busy regulating our freedom to fulfill its basic responsibilities and obligations."

This wasn't Perry's only tongue-in-cheek football reference. The Texas A&M grad also joked "Aggies never lose, we just ran out of time." (read more)

Texas Governor Rick Perry has no intention of paying the estimated $2.7M security costs he piled up running for President.

Democratic state congresswoman Jessica Farrar's office hand delivered the Governor a letter demanding that Perry pay back the state funds Perry she says he "squandered" during his failed presidential bid.

But Texas policy dictates the Governor's security is provided by the Department of Public Safety.

Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan insists, "The Texas Department of Public Safety is responsible for providing the Governor's security, as they have been for every governor in recent years. The security is a state police expense, and it's being treated this year as it was when George W. Bush ran for president."

The amount Farrar, an outspoken Perry opponent, uses in her letter was provided by a group called Progress Texas. It is based on a breakdown of the figures released by the Department of Public Safety that covers Perry's first months on the campaign trail. But the number is merely an estimate, because the cost of security for Perry's entire campaign stint hasn't been released yet. (read more)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry may have ended his run for president, but it looks like his campaign days are not over.

Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan says his boss is open to several activities: campaigning for Newt Gingrich, the man he has endorsed in the 2012 primary; running for re-election as Texas governor in 2014; and launching another bid for president again in 2016 if President Obama is re-elected.

Perry will spend the weekend in Austin. He has no firm plans to campaign for Gingrich, but Sullivan says it is possible he will hit the road after the South Carolina primary.

When thanking Perry for his support on Thursday, Gingrich mentioned Perry’s role in a "10th Amendment Enforcement Project."

Gingrich floated that idea Thursday morning when Perry called him to share the news he was dropping out and endorsing Gingrich.

"The speaker suggested the idea of putting together an effort to highlight and restore the 10th Amendment. He asked Perry to help. Perry agreed," Sullivan said.

"It is a priority and passion for the governor and has been for years. Much of the governor's book 'Fed Up' surrounded the overreaching and moving power of the federal government and the need to return that power to the states and localities," Sullivan added. (read more)

GREER, SC - Team Perry scoffed at a plea from RedState's Erick Erickson for the Texas Governor to drop out of the GOP race and throw his support behind Newt Gingrich.

"Pundits aren't going to decide this race. The people of South Carolina are," Perry spokesman Mark Miner said.

"We are in this primary to win it. The Governor is focused on people of South Carolina, not a pundit who is sitting behind a computer somewhere."

The strong rebuke comes after Erikson suggested on his conservative blog that Perry could either call it quits before Thursday's GOP debate in Charleston and leave a hero, or stay in the race and be a spoiler.

It's a far cry from what the two sides were saying about each other just last month, with Erikson writing that he thought Perry had a "vastly better shot against Barack Obama than Mitt Romney," adding "of all the candidates running, I think [Perry] has one of the best shots."

Perry's campaign touted those words in a December 20th press release. (read more)

Asked about the imminent decision expected from the State Department, which sources say will call for a rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to Texas, Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday it's no surprise, but it doesn't make the decision any better.

"It doesn't surprise me but it's again -- the president's focused more on the next election than on the next generation.

"Getting this country independent of foreign sources of crude from countries that are not our friends is really problematic. So this Canadian oil, there's a possibility we could lose it to China with that decision so I hope Americans will really become unhinged with that decision because it is a really bad decision for our country, for energy independence and sends a horrible message at a time that were headed to $4 and $5 oil or excuse me $4 or $5 gasoline, to have a neighbor who's willing to sell us crude that is available."

Asked about the imminent decision expected from the State Department that sources say will call for a rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to Texas, Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry said it's no surprise, but it doesn't make the decision any better.

"It doesn't surprise me but it's again -- the president's focused more on the next election than on the next generation.

"Getting this country independent of foreign sources of crude from countries that are not our friends is really problematic. So this Canadian oil, there's a possibility we could lose it to China with that decision so I hope Americans will really become unhinged with that decision because it is a really bad decision for our country, for energy independence and sends a horrible message at a time that were headed to $4 and $5 oil or excuse me $4 or $5 gasoline, to have a neighbor who's willing to sell us crude that is available."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's part-time Congress proposal has become the blueprint for a bill Rep. Timothy Johnson, an Illinois Republican, will introduce next week. 

The Citizen Legislators Act would limit the days Congress works to five per month, or 60 business days per session. 

It also would cut the salaries of representatives and senators in half. But like Perry's plan, Johnson's bill allows members to have jobs outside of Congress. The caveat is that their income cannot be earned as "a result of the privilege of their office, such as speaking tours, lobbying and consulting."

Like Perry, Johnson says he was motivated by "mounting anger over Washington spending and gridlock." He claims his bill could save up to $2 billion a year.

“The Citizen Legislator Act may not be a perfect instrument in the eyes of Washington insiders, but it is a beginning step in righting the ship,” Rep. Johnson said.

Johnson's office says the idea came from Perry's Uproot and Overhaul Washington plan. 

The congressman's staff members talked with Perry's policy advisors while drafting the bill and called Perry's campaign Thursday morning to notify them of the press release about their bill.

Perry says he supports the bill. "I believe members of Congress should spend less time in Washington and more time living at home under the laws they pass with the people they represent," Perry said in a written statement. (read more)

FORT MILL, SC - Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry launched a ferocious attack on Mitt Romney Tuesday, calling the ethics of his GOP rival into question and likening the actions he took while CEO of Bain Capital to a vulture feasting on the dead.

The assault came during a campaign stop in as Fort Mill, South Carolina, when Perry singled out two companies in the Palmetto State that Romney's private equity firm took over. Hundreds of workers ended up losing their jobs at those companies.

"Rather than trying to restructure and to keep the jobs in South Carolina, they were more interested in making their quick buck," Perry said. "That's the Wall Street mentality, ethics kind of get thrown out the door."

"They're just vultures," he added. "They're vultures that [are] sitting out there on the tree limb waiting for the company to get sick and then they swoop in, they eat the carcass. They leave with that and they leave the skeleton."

One of Perry's strongest backers Steve Forbes disagrees with the Texas governor on this one, and has defended Bain as an example how free enterprise works.

Confronted with Forbes' view, Perry fired back. "We can have our disagreements, but the fact is that Americans are sick and tired of Wall Street taking main street to the cleaners." (read more)

A federal judge is preventing Virginia from printing ballots until he issues a ruling on Texas Gov. Rick Perry's ballot challenge.

U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. has ordered the Virginia State Board of Elections to send directives to each of the state's local boards, telling them not to print any absentee ballots until after the emergency motion is heard on Friday.

Virginia's primary is on March 6th. In order to get absentee ballots mailed overseas in time, Virginia needed to start printing ballots this weekend, and mailing them out by Jan 21.

"This is a positive development for the presidential candidates and the citizens of Virginia and we look forward to the hearing on January 13th," said Perry campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan.

Only two GOP candidates, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul qualified for Virginia's primary. The state has some of the toughest ballot requirements in the country. Candidates must get 10 thousand signatures, 400 from each of the 11 counties. The Perry campaign is challenging the requirement that those soliciting signatures be either registered or eligible Virginia voters. (read more)

ANDERSON, SC - Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has unleashed a scathing attack on Mitt Romney, accusing the former Massachusetts governor of being a hypocrite for suggesting he understands the fears Americans have over losing their jobs.

"If you are the victim of Bain Capital's downsizing, it is the ultimate insult for Mitt Romney to come to South Carolina and tell you he feels your pain," Perry said at a campaign stop in Anderson, SC. "He caused it."

Perry's accusations come just a day after Romney told New Hampshire voters he understands the fear American workers have over getting pink slips.

"I have no doubt that Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips - whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out," Perry said. "I'm sure he was worried he would run out of pink slips."

Perry went even further, highlighting multiple companies in the South that lost hundreds of jobs under Rommey's tenure at Bain. (read more)