Rick Perry Poses with Teen for "Guitar Hero" Photo

Toni Sandys/The Washington Post(NEW YORK) -- Is Texas Gov. Rick Perry a Guitar Hero fan?

Buzzfeed first unearthed a photo from a Tumblr account showing Perry holding a guitar for the popular video game Guitar Hero with what appeared to be a teenage girl.

A spokeswoman for Perry said the photo was taken at a next-door neighbor’s house when the Perrys lived at a temporary mansion in Austin, Texas.  Perry was visiting at the home for an event, and the girl was his neighbor’s daughter.

The spokeswoman said Perry posed for the photo, but it was unclear if he actually played the video game.

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Rick Perry Invites Gun Manufacturers to Set Up Shop in Texas

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(AUSTIN, Texas) -- Texas Governor Rick Perry is sending a recruitment message to gun and ammunition manufacturers -- set up shop in Texas.

Perry sent letters to 26 gun and ammunition manufacturers earlier this month inviting them to consider a move to Texas if the states they currently operate in impose “restrictive laws” on their industry, according to a copy of the letter and a list of the manufacturers provided to ABC News by the governor’s office.

“A number of states in the United States are seriously considering restrictive laws impacting firearms manufacturers.  While I support the efforts of law enforcement to identify, apprehend, prosecute and punish criminals who use firearms in the commission of their crimes, I do not believe that imposing additional requirements or restrictions on businesses is the correct approach,” Perry wrote in the letter, which was dated Feb. 7.

“As you consider your options for responding to unwarranted government intrusion into your business, you may choose to consider relocating your manufacturing operations to a state that is more business-friendly.  There is no other state that fits the definition of business-friendly like Texas,” Perry wrote, pointing out financial incentives the state offers companies.

Perry sent the letter to such firearms manufacturers as Bushmaster Firearms International LLC, Glock, Inc., Sig Sauer Inc. and Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation.

Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives Philip Gunn made a similar overture Thursday, inviting 14 gun manufacturers to his state. He said, “Gun manufacturers are under attack in anti-Second Amendment states.”

One manufacturer which both Perry and Gunn reached out to is Magpul Industries Corp., based in Erie, Colo.  Magpul, which the Denver Post reported was “Colorado’s largest and most profitable manufacturer of high-capacity ammunition magazines,” has said it might move its shop to another state if Colorado enacts four new gun bills which passed the Colorado House of Representatives earlier this week.  Vice President Joe Biden phoned Colorado lawmakers last week, encouraging them to vote for the four bills, a White House aide confirmed.

Magpul placed a full-page ad in the Denver Post on Sunday.  “A magazine ban will do more than hurt public safety in a free Colorado.  It will force a Colorado company to leave the state,” the ad read.

ABC News reached out to Magpul for comment on the overtures made by other states, but a spokesman did not immediately respond.  In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the company said it’s still considering its options as the Colorado gun control bill heads to the state Senate for a vote.

“It appears that someone has posted or sent out some sort of notice that we are moving to a specific location. We can assure you that no decision has been made about location, and that we are still fighting this battle,” Magpul wrote on Facebook.  “We are, however, assembling our requirements and looking at various areas that would be suitable for our new home, should it come to that. We appreciate all the offers, and we will begin talking to various entities about those shortly.”

Perry has made no secret of his desire to lure businesses to Texas.  Earlier this month, he conducted a recruiting tour in California, sparring with California Gov. Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Gov. Gavin Newsom.  Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ran advertisements in New York last month inviting New Yorkers to move to Texas after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo started a new gun-control push.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Perry Calls for Broader Transparency on Tax Returns, College Transcripts

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(AUSTIN, Texas) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry called for people seeking higher elected office to be as transparent as possible when it comes to releasing information like tax returns.

“I’m a big believer that no matter who you are or what office you are running for, you should be as transparent as you can be with your tax returns and other aspects of your life so that people have the appropriate ability to judge your background and what have you,” Perry said Tuesday at the Texas State Capitol. “I certainly think it is inappropriate for the president of the United States to not keep his college transcript and his law school transcripts public, that he should make those available. I’m all about transparency.”

In his broad transparency call, Perry made no direct reference to presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose unwillingness to release more than two years of tax returns has come under scrutiny recently.

Asked if he thought Romney should release more, Perry avoided the subject and turned the conversation to President Obama, who famously has refused to reveal who paid for his education, nor any of his grades or papers while he was enrolled in higher education.

“I think the president ought to release all of his transcripts, yes sir, I think anyone running for office if they get asked, within reason, to give people background about what they have been doing, including tax returns, should do that,” Perry said. “That’s my feel on it. There are places that require it to be completely transparent. I think it is odd that the president of the United States refuses to allow his transcript.”

Perry was among the first presidential candidates to call on Romney to release his tax returns last October and again in a debate in January, when Romney had yet to release his tax documents to the public.

The Texas governor, who has released 20 years of his own tax returns, also refused to debate his 2010 gubernatorial candidate Bill White unless he released his tax returns, which he did not.

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Rick Perry Demands that Obama Apologize

Richard Ellis/Getty Images(AUSTIN, Texas) -- The Republican governor of Texas today welcomed President Obama to the Lone Star State by asking him to distance himself from comments made by Attorney General Eric Holder comparing the state’s 2011 voter identification law to a “poll tax,” the Jim Crow-era laws that were declared unconstitutional in 1937.

“Perhaps while the President is visiting Texas, he can take a break from big-dollar fundraisers to disavow his Attorney General’s offensive and incendiary comments regarding our common-sense voter identification law,” Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement. “In labeling the Texas voter ID law as a ‘poll tax,’ Eric Holder purposefully used language designed to inflame passions and incite racial tension. It was not only inappropriate, but simply incorrect on its face. The president should apologize for Holder’s imprudent remarks and for his insulting lawsuit against the people of Texas.”

In a speech to the NAACP one week ago, Holder said that under Texas’s law “many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. We call those poll taxes.”

Last week, a three-judge panel in U.S. District Court in Washington. D.C. heard arguments in the stand-off between the Obama administration and the state of Texas over the law. While the voter ID itself is free, the documentation required to obtain an ID – a birth certificate, a Social Security card – is not.

In his remarks, the attorney general specifically said that the Texas law would be “harmful to minority voters” because 25 percent of African Americans lack the required identification needed to obtain a voter I.D., as opposed to eight percent of whites.

“Especially in recent months, Texas has – in many ways – been at the center of our national debate about voting rights issues,” Holder said. “Let me be clear: we will not allow political pretexts to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious right.”

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Rick Perry to Campaign for Romney in Nevada

Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry will make his first campaign appearance on behalf of Mitt Romney Friday in Nevada, ABC News has learned.

Perry will appear at the opening of the Romney campaign’s field office in Elko, Nev.  Romney will not be in attendance.

Perry, who dropped his own presidential bid and threw his initial backing behind Newt Gingrich just two days before the South Carolina primary, endorsed Romney in late April, but has yet to publicly campaign for his one-time rival.

In late May, Perry and Romney held a joint conference call with the Texas governor’s top donors, urging his network to raise money for the former Massachusetts governor.  First lady of Texas Anita Perry attended a fundraiser with Ann Romney in Texas in May as well.

Nevada was home to one of Perry and Romney’s most heated exchanges last fall.  During a CNN debate in Las Vegas in October, Perry accused Romney of hiring illegal immigrants to landscape his home, and Romney claimed that illegal immigration had increased 60 percent in Texas.

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Gov. Rick Perry Says Texas Won’t Implement Portions of ‘Obamacare’

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(HOUSTON) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry will send a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday informing her that Texas will not implement two portions of President Obama’s health care plan despite the Supreme Court’s upholding it last month.

Perry specifically will express his opposition to establishing a state health insurance exchange and expanding Medicaid required by the plan.

Ted Oberg of ABC News' Houston affiliate KTRK-TV obtained a portion of the letter that will be sent to Sebelius Monday morning.

“If anyone was in doubt, we in Texas have no intention to implement so-called state exchanges or to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.  I will not be party to socializing health care and bankrupting my state in direct contradiction to our Constitution and our founding principles of limited government,” Perry says in the letter.  “I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who reject the Obamacare power grab.  Neither a ‘state’ exchange nor the expansion of Medicaid under this program would result in better ‘patient protection’ or in more ‘affordable care.’  They would only make Texas a mere appendage of the federal government when it comes to health care.”

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Rick Perry Jeered for Dewhurst Support

Toni Sandys/The Washington Post(WASHINGTON) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry was met with jeers today at the Texas GOP Convention in Fort Worth after he expressed support for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the Texas Senate primary race. But it seems the governor thought the set of boos was actually a supportive round of “Dew.”

“We need more strong, conservative Texans in Washington, including my friend and colleague David Dewhurst,” Perry said, according to prepared remarks.  Reporters attending the event tweeted about the boos emerging from the conservative audience.

Perry later told reporters that he thought the crowd was yelling “Dew,” a nickname for Dewhurst.

But the discontent with Perry’s endorsement of Dewhurst served as a sign of the crowd’s support for Tea Party darling and former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, who is in a runoff against Dewhurst in the Republican Senate primary race.

The Republican primary race for retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s seat entered into a runoff after Dewhurst failed to gain 50 percent of the vote in the late May primary.  Dewhurst still beat Cruz by 18 points, but fell 2 points short of securing the nomination. The second round of voting will take place July 31.

Perry formally endorsed his lieutenant governor in May and even taped a television advertisement on his behalf.  Dewhurst also received the backing of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, but other major Republican figures leaped to the other side of the race.  Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum threw their backing behind Cruz.  Republican nominee Mitt Romney has stayed out of endorsing in the primary race.

Perry, who engaged in a five-month sprint for the White House, joked with the Republican crowd about his failed presidential bid.

“Twenty million dollars may not earn you any delegates, but it will give you a great tour of the country,” Perry said.

Perry has not ruled out another gubernatorial run in 2014 or even another shot at the presidency in 2016 and continues to keep his plans a mystery.

“I’m not riding off into the sunset. I’m mounting up for the next operation,” Perry said.

But one thing Perry, who endorsed Romney in April, always is eager to highlight is the failings of President Obama. Perry turned his own infamous "oops” moment into a critique of the president by saying, “Admit it America, 2008 was our national ‘oops’ moment.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Rick Perry Stars in Ad for Texas Senate Race

Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- A week before Texas Republicans head to the polls to select a Senate nominee, Gov. Rick Perry starred in a television advertisement on behalf of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who has poured millions of his personal fortune into the race.

“Texas Republicans have an important election on May the 29th.  We have a lot to be proud of.  That’s why I’m proud to endorse David Dewhurst,” Perry says in the 30-second TV spot. “David Dewhurst repeatedly cut spending.  David strongly opposes a state income tax.  David’s the one candidate best prepared to make conservative change happen in Washington.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Our country needs him and so does Texas.”

Dewhurst is running against former Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz, former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and ESPN college football analyst Craig James for the Senate seat occupied by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who decided to retire at the end of the term

While Dewhurst, who has worked alongside Perry since 2003, received the Texas governor’s support, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has taken sides in the race and backed Cruz, even recording a “robo-call” for the Tea Party favorite.

Palin, who has helped a number of underdog candidates by doling out endorsements for them, recently endorsed a little-known Minnesota Senate candidate, Deb Fischer, which helped Fischer solidify the Republican nomination in the state’s primary last week.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Texas Gov. Perry Endorses Romney

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images(AUSTIN, Texas) -- Texas Governor Rick Perry endorsed Mitt Romney Wednesday, ahead of Newt Gingrich dropping out of the race, which is expected to happen next week.

“Mitt Romney has earned the Republican Presidential nomination through hard-work, a strong organization, and disciplined message of restoring America after nearly four years of failed job-killing policies from President Obama and his administration,” said Perry in a statement.

“So today I join the many conservative Republicans across the nation in endorsing Mitt Romney for President and pledge to him, my constituents and the Republican Party,” Perry’s statement said.

“I will continue to work hard to help defeat President Obama. American jobs, economic stability and national security depend on electing a new president. Mitt’s vision and record of private sector success will put America back on the path of job creation, economic opportunity and limited government,” he said.

Perry initially threw his backing behind Gingrich in January, after dropping out of the race just two days before the South Carolina primary.

A source close to the Gingrich campaign told ABC News the former speaker of the House will suspend his campaign at some point next week.

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For Rick Perry, Signs Point to 2014 Gubernatorial Run

Allison Joyce/Getty Images(AUSTIN, Texas) -- Will Rick Perry run for Texas governor in 2014 and continue his streak as the longest-serving current governor? All signs suggest a re-election bid, but a decision will come “at the appropriate time,” a Perry spokeswoman said Wednesday.

“The governor’s conservative policy development, job creation efforts and strong political organization point to another run for governor in 2014,” Catherine Frazier said in an email. “Any such announcement will be made publicly at the appropriate time.”

Paul Burka, an editor at Texas Monthly, wrote earlier Wednesday that Perry told donors at a fundraiser that he would run in 2014, sparking questions about whether he will pursue a bid for the governorship again.

Perry assumed the governorship Texas in 2000 when George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, was elected president. Perry has served as governor for 11 years.

Perry’s team has said in the past that the Texas governor has not ruled out a presidential bid in 2016.

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