Texas Governor Rick Perry tells Decorah audience: "I'm the only one who's an actual outsider"

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Perry, in a speech at the Hotel Winneshiek Sunday night, told his audience "our country is in trouble."

Perry says the federal government has gotten too big and has begun usurping powers that ought to remain with state governments.  He says his experience as governor of Texas has proven to him that states are having to "fend off" Washington and the federal bureaucracy.

Perry spoke to an audience of just under 150 people at the Steyer Opera House.  He said the other Republican presidential candidates are either "Congressional insiders" or :Wall Street insiders."  He promoted himself as a "principled, disciplined fiscal conservative" who would improve the country by passing a balanced budget amendment and leading a campaign to turn Congress into a part-time legislative body.  He also promised to reduce federal regulations, which he said "are strangling the country."

During a question and answer session following his speech, Perry tangled with a few audience members on the issue of oil shale fracking, defending the process and saying the American public has been "hoodwinked" by stories of problems stemming from fracking.

Perry also defended his immigration policies, saying three steps should be taken to improve "a porous and dangerous border"--additional fencing, additional manpower and additional airplanes and drones.  Perry said the country could not have a sane immigration policy "until we have the border secure."

Just under 150 people attended the speech