Anita Perry Offers Rare Perspective of a Candidate

Anita Perry sounds like a worried mother when she tells college students that Social Security as we know it won't be around for them. And she approaches the Occupy movement with far more patience than you're likely to find from many Republicans on the stump.

They're troubled, Perry said, and they probably don't have jobs or they can't support their families.  She pauses, thinking about her answer.

"I feel like that was kind of like a Miss America question," she said, laughing with the crowd.

Anita Perry finished her Lowcountry campaign tour Tuesday with a visit to Charleston Southern University. She spoke to roughly 75 of the christian school's students, faculty and neighbors about her husband, GOP 2012 Primary candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Political spouses tend to take one of a few routes. They'll stay at home or they'll stick close to their husband or wife on the trail.

Anita Perry is doing more than just shadowing her husband. She is serving as a strong, independent surrogate on the campaign trail.

"She's a huge advocate for her husband, more so than other spouses out there," said Berkeley County Republican Party Chair Tim Callanan.

Anita Perry tells Patch that getting out on the trail is a personal decision for each candidate's spouse.

"I love to meet people and get out there and tell the story of Rick Perry and why I believe in him," she said. "It's easy for me to do that."

In front of the CSU crowd, Anita Perry showed her value on the stump. The answer to the Occupy question showed the kind of humility and frankness that is hard for a presidential candidate to juggle with the competing need to show confidence and determination.

But Perry does her fair share of juggling, too. Questions from the crowd included healthcare reform, immigration and prison overcrowding. She'll occasionally offer some of Rick Perry's familiar responses, but Anita Perry said afterward that she can often pull from her own experiences.

"My background is in healthcare," said the former nurse. "That's easiest for me. But I was also an educator at nursing school, and I've had two children in public school."

There's also something to be said for a woman's touch on the trail. Speaking of her husband, she called him a "bold color." It's the kind of description you won't find amidst the boys-club of political endorsements.

And, at one point, Anita Perry turned her attention briefly to national security and offered a declaration that is hard to find among the politicians that often serve as surrogates on the stump: "As a mother and a woman, I know that he will keep our nation safe."