DES MOINES — Texas Gov. Rick Perry will not be on a list of choices for Iowa Republicans when they are polled next month on who they would like to see as their presidential nominee in 2012.
Organizers of the Aug. 13 Ames straw poll left Perry's name off the list since he is not an announced candidate. The straw poll is a key test of strength for Republicans ahead of the country's first 2012 nominating contest in Iowa next February.
Nine announced Republican presidential candidates will be on the list: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Thaddeus McCotter, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.
Perry is considering making a late entry into the race to determine which Republican will battle President Barack Obama in 2012.
Craig Schoenfeld, the Iowa executive director of "Americans for Perry," called the Iowa Republicans' decision to keep Perry off the straw poll ballot "unfortunate."
"That doesn't change our focus or our mission," Schoenfeld said. (Reporting by Kay Henderson; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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