Perry Says He Has No Interest in VP Slot

John Nance Garner, the colorful West Texas politician known as “Cactus Jack,” used to say the office of vice president “wasn’t worth a warm bucket of piss.”

Gov. Rick Perry, without using any four-letter words, said as much on Tuesday.

Asked by reporters at the state Capitol if he would be interested in the No. 2 spot, Perry evoked the former U.S. House speaker and vice president from Uvalde, saying Garner “had a pretty good handle on that.”

Holding up his palms as if weighing two options on a scale, Perry said: “I think you kind of go, vice president, governor of Texas — and that kind of answers itself.”

(It's worth noting that Perry previously said he had no interest in running for president, either.) 

Perry, speaking to Texas reporters after a routine meeting on Texas financial matters, went into greater detail about First Lady Anita Perry’s important role in his decision to explore a run for president.

Perry said concerns about the direction of the country, on health care and deficit spending in particular, prompted his wife and others to urge him to get into the race.

Perry said his wife was "talking to me and saying, ‘listen, get out of your comfort zone.’ Yeah being governor of Texas is a great job but sometimes you’re called to step into the fray."

Perry said he is getting an “overwhelming” number of calls from people urging him to get off the sidelines and into the race. He’s still weighing whether he will have the financial resources, though. Donors are meeting in Austin today to gauge whether he will have the money to compete with other candidates in the race. Perry said he is having dinner with would-be donors Tuesday night. Campaign aides won't say who's in town.

Perry said donor support is one of the key “tests” he is using as part of his calculation about whether to get in or not.

“Are there going to be people who will make the resources available so that you don’t run out there and embarrass yourself,” Perry said. “That answer is still yet to be formulated.”