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Texas Governor Rick Perry will announce this Saturday his official bid for the Republican nomination for president. Politico reports that  Perry "will remove any doubt about his White House intentions" during an upcoming speech at a South Carolina conservative conference.   

Perry's decision does not come as a surprise. The past few months were marked with the obvious signs of a presidential run: reports that he was meeting with donors, discussing plans with key Republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire, and planning an August speech in South Carolina, an early primary state.

But there were also oblique indications. Perry makes his official bid just days after participating in "The Response," a prayer event in Houston he helped organize. While Perry's involvement with the 30,000- strong-event was described by some commentators as a "coming out party" for the Texas governor, he remained tight-lipped on his political intentions during the conference, which he described as "apolitical" and "nondenominational." His remarks and prayer were more veiled than those of others on stage. In fact, nowhere in his prayer did Perry address "Jesus" or "Christ," preferring instead the more ecumenical "Lord" and "Father." [full text of his prayer below]

Either way, Perry enters the race with evangelical-Republican bona fides.

It is not clear, however, whether Perry will draw support away from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota), who has received much of her support from grassroots social conservatives. Polls suggest that, despite his stance as a social conservative, evangelical, and southerner, the Texas governor is more likely to pull most of his votes from former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

In a June Rasmussen survey, Romney polled at 33 percent of GOP likely voters. Bachmann was second at 19 percent. A new Rasmussen poll, however, included Perry. Perry received 18 percent support while Romney's support dropped to 22 percent, and Bachmann's numbers remained relatively ...

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