Perry: Voters should consider more than IQ

Outgoing Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said in an interview that aired Thursday that a presidential bid should gauge factors other than a candidate’s intelligence level.

{mosads}“Running for the presidency is not an IQ test. It is a test of an individual’s resolve; it is a test of an individual’s philosophy; it is a test of an individual’s life experiences,” Perry said in an interview on MSNBC.

“I think Americans are really ready for a leader that will give them a great hope about the future,” he added.

Perry, who is openly considering a White House run, dropped his 2012 GOP bid after a series of gaffes, the most memorable being forgetting in a November 2011 nationally televised debate the name of the third government agency he would eliminate as president.

“One of the errors that I made was in not being prepared,” he told CNBC on Wednesday. “You know, I was a little arrogant, and that had as much to do with my demise as a candidate as forgetting a third agency of government.”

“We are a substantially different, versed candidate,” Perry told The Washington Post earlier this week.

Perry said on CNBC that he will decide before June of next year whether to run for president. If he does, he will likely face another crowded GOP field, with other potential Republican candidates including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

“I think everybody has some margin of error. I’ve got less than other folks, but that’s OK,” he told MSNBC.