Aides Say Rick Perry Will Announce Presidential Run on Saturday

He'll begin campaigning next week

Fox News is reporting that Texas Governor Rick Perry will make "a definitive announcement that he is in the 2012 race for the presidency" on Saturday and begin campaigning next week, according to unnamed aides. Fox says the development's significant because the Perry camp has been saying for several days that the governor would "signal his intentions and announce later."

Earlier today, Perry discussed his thoughts on a White House bid with Time, leaving it pretty clear that he would run. He said he wouldn't even be sitting down for the interview if he'd decided not to make a run. "I wouldn’t be this far into the process," he explained. "The issue of, Is this what I want to do? was dealt with about 45 days ago in a conversation with my wife."

Update: Jade Mingus of KVUE in Austin, Texas tweets that when the station approached Perry about an AP story this afternoon also quoting an aide as saying the governor would soon announce his candidacy, Perry playfully signed his name on a print-out of the story and dated it without confirming or denying the story, saying only that an announcement was coming. Here's a photo of the signature: