mismanagement created. i wanted to see it actually get into the classroom and it became very clear that if i stood by the amendment and protected the schools, rick perry was going to mess up my district. i'm going to beat him at his own game. uniting austin and san antonio will give me an opportunity to work with some people and provide the same kind of representation across that district that i provided to my neighbors here in austin. if governor perry didn't think i could win among my neighbors, he wouldn't have denied so many of them an opportunity to vote in the election. >> rick perry's not the only candidate zeroing in on south carolina, though, it's shaping up as the next battleground between the texas governor and his republican rival michele bachmann, nbc news campaign imbed shelly weinberg has been covering this state for weeks and she joins us live. >> good morning, chris. >> tell us what's going on down there. >> as any republican junky here