Texas Republican Governor Perry spends $10000/month for a Mansion

Rick Perry is governor of a state with a multibillion-dollar hole in the budget that's getting bigger. The EPA wants to take away the state's power to police the quality of its air. He's the butt of jokes for spending tens of thousands of tax dollars to rent a swanky house.

For anyone else, that's the resume of a candidate who needs to play defense. Not so for Perry, whose confident campaign message in seeking a historic third four-year term as governor is essentially the same as the rallying cry of the Texas revolutionaries who fought off Mexican troops in 1835: Come and take it.

With his Marlboro Man looks and easy comfort in cowboy gear — a style that plays well in the television ads that highlight campaigns in an immense state of 24 million people — Perry has so far used his place as the state's top Texan to brush off the bad news. The sober message from the campaign of Democratic challenger Bill White about the governor's failings isn't yet enough to knock Perry from his perch as the November favorite.

Challenged by the EPA, Perry defiantly claimed the agency's actions are a power grab by President Barack Obama and revealed he's writing a book called "FED UP" ...When confronted about the $10,000-per-month price tag of his rental mansion in the hills of west Austin, the politician who has never lost an election replied: "If that's the best cut anybody's got of leadership in the state of Texas, then bring it on."



Come and take it! Perry fights attacks Texas style