If nothing else, Rick Perry’s trip to California has gotten plenty of attention. Last week the Sacramento Bee wrote about his efforts to recruit businesses to relocate from California to Texas:
Poor Texas. With its high dropout rate, lack of health insurance coverage, and economic disparities, the Lone Star State appears to be desperate, or least its governor is. How else to explain Gov. Rick Perry’s unseemly radio ads attempting to lure businesses away from California?
Aside from the fact that PolitiFact Texas found some problems with parts of the editorial, I’d like to take a crack at answering the Bee‘s question of “How else to explain Perry’s reason for traveling to California?” Perry is desperate, all right, but not because of the lack of insurance coverage and economic disparities, neither of which he has addressed during his governorship. What folks in California may not understand is that Perry thinks he can still run for president in 2016. This trip is not about recruiting businesses. It is about recruiting Republican donors in the Golden State — at state expense, no less, and with a large security detail.
