Gov. Rick Perry may have risen to the top of Republican presidential polls on the strength of his appeal to Tea Party constituents, but he has a ways to go before convincing local Tea Partiers that he’s the man for the job.

“I don’t think he’s going to do well in Texas,” said Pat Hippely, president of the Taylor County Tea Party, which hosted its bimonthly meeting Thursday night at the Cotton Patch restaurant.

The Taylor County Tea Party is one of the two Tea Party clubs in Abilene along with the Abilene Tea Party Coalition.

Although the Taylor County Tea Party acknowledges that it is a Republican-leaning organization, Hippely said the club is more interested in finding the right candidate than in electing the lesser of two evils. Read more at www.reporternews.com