Perry Crowds Cafe Diem; One Man Asks Why He Hates Gays

It seemed as though all 6 percent of Rick Perry supporters had crowded into  in Ames to hear him speak on Sunday until a man shouted, “Why do you hate gay people?”

It was unclear if Perry heard the man. His speech had ended and he stepped into a throng of people, disappearing from view.

It wasn't quite the reaction Jason Arment, 24, hoped for. Arment, a former marine and student, said he wanted to interrupt the Texas governor's speech but Perry cut it 30 seconds short. A Perry supporter stuck up for the man and a brief shouting match ensued before the men left the cafe.

Outside, Arment said he wasn't expecting a verbal response from Perry.

“There are no answers for those questions,” Arment said.

Perry's Stump

Perry gave a brief speech hitting on Obamacare, the poor state of the economy and the nation's debt. Coming the day after his debate with five other GOP contenders for the party's presidential nomination, he made no mention of his latest commercial in which he appears in a Carhartt jacket and said something is wrong with this country because gays are allowed to openly serve in the military but children can't openly celebrate Christmas and pray in school. It's one of the most disliked videos on Youtube with more than 609,000 people clicking thumbs down.

Perry did state that he was running for people in Arment's age group.

The election was about people under 30, Perry said. They will be burdened by the country's deficit and are paying into a social security fund that won't be around by the time they retire.

“Somebody's got to stand up for you. Somebody's got to stand up and say we are not going to kick the can down the road anymore,” Perry said.

He also said he wanted to open up the country's energy reserves and eliminate all energy subsidies. He said he was tired of Washington D.C. politicians making promises about what they would do for someone.

“Then you find out a bunch of corruption and fraud is behind it,” Perry said.

Before ending the speech he encouraged people to elect an outsider.

Perry and the Poll

, Perry was polling at 6 percent of likely Republican caucus goers.

Bill Nichols, an Ames businessman, came to hear Perry speak because he said he might vote for the man. He's a lost follower of Herman Cain and remained undecided after the speech.

He did like Perry's Texas record.

“He's created millions of jobs in his own state,” Nichols said.