Gov. Perry leads Texas prayer meeting

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a possible 2012 Republican presidential contender, led a crowd at Houston's Reliant Arena Saturday in a televised prayer-meeting.

In his comments, Perry called on Americans to ask God to guide the nation's leaders.

"We see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government and, as a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us," said Perry according to a report from the Austin American-Statesman.

Perry asked attendees to pray for President Obama as well as the 31 U.S. troops who died early Saturday morning in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan according to reports.

The Statesman estimated that the event, billed as "The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis" was attended by approximately 30,000 people. It was also broadcast on Christian-affiliated cable channels and over the internet.

Perry's prayer event may set the stage for an increasingly likely late entry into the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Perry has said he will make a decision shortly about whether to run for president, and signs point toward him entering the contest.

The event was seen as a chance for him to burnish his credentials as an evangelical Christian. Despite not having entered the race, Perry was the second-place choice of Republican primary voters, at 15 percent, in the latest Gallup survey of GOP voters' choice in a nominee.

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