Toyota move gives Perry win for possible ’16 run

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — With eight months left in office, Gov. Rick Perry is away from Texas almost as much as he’s home — hitting the road hard to tout his state as America’s best place to do business.

The Republican isn’t shy about job poaching in other states, and scored a big win when Toyota announced this week it was moving its U.S. headquarters from California to suburban Dallas. That the world’s largest automaker is leaving the nation’s leading blue state for its No. 1 red one is a victory Perry can crow about as he gears up for an expected second White House run.

“It’s a walk-off home run for Perry,” said Republican political strategist Mark McKinnon, a top adviser in the presidential campaigns of John McCain and George W. Bush. “His jobs and economy narrative is now complete and real.”

Rebounding from his presidential run in 2012, Perry is doubling down on the argument that his low-tax, low-regulation approach as governor since 2000 has been the driving force behind Texas’ tops-in-the-nation job growth.