Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said on Thursday that running for the White House in 2016 was "still a very viable option" and that he looked forward to debating Sen. Ted Cruz during such a campaign.
"Over the course of the next year, we'll, make a decision about what our future plans will be post-governorship of Texas," Perry told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
He called fellow Texan and Republican Cruz "very capable, one of the great debaters of our time, a very committed conservative — and does a good job of representing the Texas way of doing business.
"That way is to free people from overregulation and over taxation, and he's fighting the good fight," Perry said.
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And as far as squaring off against Cruz in a Republican presidential debate, Perry welcomed it.
"I've got to think that Ted is very well-trained," he told Malzberg. "The guy has won national debate competitions. I'd be more than happy to have some great debates with him about the future of America and economic policies and foreign policy and all of the different things that are important to this country. And we may do that someday.
"But the fact is we're partners right now — working on trying to not only get America back on track, but promote, in his case, his home state, which is what I do on a regular basis as well."
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