Perry en el Oeste de Iowa

NBC News:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry made his way for the first time to the most conservative part of the state this weekend, making three stops in the crucial Northwest Iowa region.

More than 100 Iowans greeted the governor and First Lady of Texas, Anita, cramming into rooms barely large enough to accommodate the size of the crowds.

“Western Iowa is Republican country,” Perry told those in attendance at McCarthy and Bailey’s Irish Pub in Sioux City.

Although fellow GOP presidential contenders Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich have held a fair share of events in that region of the Hawkeye State, this was Perry’s first trip. A trip many say was long overdue.

(...) The presidential hopeful gave very similar and rather brief speeches to all the groups he spoke with, touting his record on jobs in Texas and promising to draw a bright line between himself and President Obama.

“I'm not an M.D., but I have a Ph.D. in job creation, that's what America is looking for,” Perry told the crowd at the Pizza Ranch in Spencer.

(...) Although he did not take questions from reporters, he allowed time for a question and answer session with Iowans following each speech. Voters questioned Perry’s stance on immigration, specifically tuition for illegal immigrants.

Perry said the federal government put Texas in a hard position: “Are we going to kick these people to the side of the road and let them become tax wasters? Or are we going to give them the opportunity to go to an institution of higher learning, pay full in-state tuition, which we do, and require them pursue citizenship?

“We wanted to make tax payers not tax wasters,” he promised.