Perry downplays cash crisis

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday downplayed his campaign’s money problems, arguing in an interview that he’ll be able to stay in the 2016 race for the Republican presidential nomination.

“We had a good fundraising week last week and we’ll go forward with that,” Perry said on CNN’s “New Day” in response to reports that he had stopped paying his campaign staff.

{mosads}“This isn’t about who’s going to have the most money to buy the presidency. This is going to be about who’s got the best ideas and who’s got the record,” Perry continued.

“Whether it’s the job creation record or whether it’s wearing the uniform of the country or whether it’s knowing how to secure the border of this country with Mexico, that’s what people really care about.”

Perry’s inability to pay his campaign staff and his poll ratings — he’s closer to the bottom than the top of the crowded 17-person GOP field — has led to speculation he might drop out of the race.

Perry grabbed just 2 percent support in a CNN/ORC International poll released Tuesday, trailing 11 other GOP hopefuls. Another national poll from Fox News this week found him in a four-way tie for 12th place.

“These are very fluid races, and it’s a long time until the primaries,” Perry insisted Tuesday morning on CNN.

“The fact is, we’ve always had this early state strategy,” he continued, mentioning the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he said he could operate with a relatively small budget.

“We can keep a pretty small footprint from the standpoint of dollars going out,” he added.