Rick Perry Presidential Announcement Coming at 1:00 PM ET Today at “RedState Gathering” in South Carolina; Media Presence Grows for Speech – 8/13/11

It looks like Mike Huckabee may be wrong about Texas Gov. Rick Perry not getting much media attention for his Presidential Announcement in South Carolina. Huckabee hit Perry the other day for choosing to announce on the same day as the Iowa Straw Poll, calling it a “blunder” because all the top-notch media will be in Iowa and not in South Carolina.

But Politico is reporting this morning that Perry’s announcement speech will be carried Live today at 1:00 PM ET on CNN, Fox News, and C-Span, with the number of media expected to be present growing fast. Which of the other candidates will have a speech carried on national television (other than C-Span)?

POLITICO: He’s not even a candidate yet and Rick Perry has already accomplished an amazing feat of messaging.

Just about everyone here at the RedState Gathering of conservative bloggers and activists is familiar with one thing about the Texas governor: He’s a job creator.

On Friday night, the attendees were abuzz with anticipation of Perry’s scheduled Saturday afternoon campaign announcement, cautiously hopeful that he could be the candidate they’ve been holding out for.

“What I know about him is the fact that Texas is practically the only state that has created jobs,” said 81-year-old Doris Davidson, a retired teacher from Raleigh, N.C. “Isn’t that what people need right now? Everything else is farther down the list.”

The conference, intended to be a low-key grassroots gathering, has turned into a full-blown media scrum since it was reported early in the week that Perry’s previously scheduled speech there would be his presidential kickoff.

Even though it’s happening the same day as the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, Perry’s 1 p.m. speech is slated to be carried live by CNN, Fox News and C-SPAN, according to RedState organizers. The number of media covering the event went from fewer than 20 a week ago to about 110 as of Friday night. . . . Read More