Though not yet a declared candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is putting his faith under the national spotlight as a White House prospect with an important conservative constituency all to himself.
Perry on Saturday was addressing a prayer rally that he has spearheaded while weighing a campaign for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.
The governor has said the event is not political but rather aimed at rallying the nation to a Christian unity during difficult times. Still, he was reaching thousands of religious conservatives, many of whom vote in Republican primaries, especially in early voting states Iowa and South Carolina.
As the rally got under way, a few thousand evangelical Christians, most from Texas, were on the floor at Reliant Stadium. More than 8,000 had said they planned to come to the stadium, which seats 71,500 and was the site of the 2004 Super Bowl. Buses were still arriving at the stadium at midmorning.
Perry was scheduled to address the audience around midday. Thousands of values voters were following the event on the Internet and in more than 1,000 churches around the country.
"You didn't come here to listen to speeches," Luis Cataldo, a Kansas City, Mo., pastor, said in opening the event. "You came here to pray. Jesus wants to hear you. Jesus wants to hear your voice."
Perry was not expected to take questions from the scores of news media covering the event, aides said.
Perry on Saturday was addressing a prayer rally that he has spearheaded while weighing a campaign for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.
The governor has said the event is not political but rather aimed at rallying the nation to a Christian unity during difficult times. Still, he was reaching thousands of religious conservatives, many of whom vote in Republican primaries, especially in early voting states Iowa and South Carolina.
As the rally got under way, a few thousand evangelical Christians, most from Texas, were on the floor at Reliant Stadium. More than 8,000 had said they planned to come to the stadium, which seats 71,500 and was the site of the 2004 Super Bowl. Buses were still arriving at the stadium at midmorning.
Perry was scheduled to address the audience around midday. Thousands of values voters were following the event on the Internet and in more than 1,000 churches around the country.
"You didn't come here to listen to speeches," Luis Cataldo, a Kansas City, Mo., pastor, said in opening the event. "You came here to pray. Jesus wants to hear you. Jesus wants to hear your voice."
Perry was not expected to take questions from the scores of news media covering the event, aides said.
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