Sarah Palin

Rick Perry

Gov. Rick Perry is no longer the head of the Republican Governors Association. The RGA announced Friday that South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has been elected the organization's chairman.

Perry was elected RGA Chairman in 2007. According to a release, he will now serve as Finance Chairman. Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, who had been serving as Finance Chairman, was elected Vice-Chairman.

Before leaving the Republican Governors Association's annual meeting Thursday night, Gov. Rick Perry had kind words for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and criticism for President-elect Barack Obama.

"We may have elected a president based on some pretty prose, but we all know it takes more than pretty words to govern," Perry said.

Perry said Palin, the former vice presidential nominee who led a roundtable discussion at the Miami event on the future of the Republican Party, represented the working man as well as "traditional American values."

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is in Miami this week for a meeting with the Republican Governors Association, said Alaska Governor, and GOP vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin will be treated "like a returning hero" when she arrives at the meeting later today.

"We know her, we've known her better and longer than any of those folks out there," Perry told Fox News this morning. "We respect her. We support her. And she is reflective of the type of leadership that America expects from American governors."

The Dallas Morning News endorsed Republican John McCain for president, while the Houston Chronicle endorsed Democrat Barack Obama. In their dueling endorsements, the Morning News stressed McCain's readiness to serve, while the Chronicle praised Obama's temperament and criticized McCain for choosing Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

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