Guy who can't name three government agencies announces his run for president in a party whose supporters can't name any policy that they support.

ADDISON, Texas — Former Texas governor Rick Perry officially kicked off his second bid for the White House on Thursday.

"We have the power to make things new again, to project America's strength again, and to get our economy going again. And that is exactly why today I am running for the presidency of the United States of America," Perry told supporters at a campaign event.

Perry announced his candidacy in front of a C-130 prop plane in an oversized hanger at the Addison Airport in this Dallas suburb.

The aircraft, emblazoned with the "Perry for President" logo, is similar to those he flew while serving as a captain in the U.S. Air Force.

Introduced by his wife and former military specialists, Rick Perry took the stage to boisterous cheers.

"Our rights come from God, not from government," Perry said.

Lately, Perry has been stressing his military background and rural America upbringing as part of his campaign strategy.

Guests at the announcement included American Sniper widow Taya Kyle and retired U.S. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, author of Lone Survivor.

Attendees to the Thursday's event represented a cross-section of supporters – from students and moms to business owners and clergy.

Chandler Wahrmund, 20, a junior at Texas A&M University, Perry's alma mater, drove four hours early Thursday from College Station to attend. He said he liked Perry's independent spirit and thought the former governor would perform better this time around in the crowded Republican field.

"Witnessing history," Wahrmund said as he stood in the 83-degree heat for his turn to enter. "He's a Texan and proud of it. We could use someone like that in the White House."

Eli Clardy, 17, said he carefully examined the other Republican candidates running for president and decided Perry was the best choice. He and his mom and sister drove down from Alma, Ark., to attend the event.

"Rick Perry has the direction we want to see this country headed," said Clardy, a high school senior.

Though he left office on Jan. 20, Perry has unfinished business back home in Austin. He was indicted last year on felony counts of abusing his power as governor by threatening to veto funding for a district attorney unless she resigned because of a drunk-driving arrest. Perry has denounced the case as a political witch hunt, and conservatives have rallied to his cause.

Perry, 65,begins the race with a slate of deep-pocket donors such as billionaire Red McCombs, founder of Clear Channel, who have bankrolled his Texas campaigns. He has hoped to draw voter support from leading the booming Texas economy the past 14 years. But the state lost 25,000 jobs in March and oil projects have stalled in the wake of plunging oil prices, though the state's 4.2% unemployment remains well below the national average of 5.4%

Perry has been forceful in denouncing President Obama's leadership, particularly when it comes to dealing with Iran and its nuclear ambitions and the threat from the Islamic State. "To deny the fundamental religious nature of the threat and to downplay the seriousness of it is naive," Perry said about ISIL during his remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The question is whether Perry can erase doubts raised about his readiness for the White House after his 2012 bid. Once touted as Mitt Romney's biggest threat, the longest-serving governor in Texas history made a series of self-inflicted campaign mistakes that showed he was ill-prepared for the rigors of a national campaign.

Even before Perry uttered "oops" in a nationally televised debate when he couldn't remember the name of the third federal agency he wanted to eliminate, the Texan's campaign was in shambles because of his inability to rebut Romney's attacks on his record.

Perry finished fifth in the Iowa caucuses and limped into New Hampshire. He quit just days before the South Carolina primary and endorsed former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who briefly gave Romney a scare but also ended up losing the Republican nomination.

"It was the weakest Republican field in history, and they kicked my butt," Perry said in a self-deprecating speech at the 2012 Gridiron Club dinner.
While Perry has more than 14 years of executive experience in Texas to run on, he also comes into the 2016 race competing for the support of social and fiscal conservatives aligned with the Tea Party — his natural base — with likely rivals such as Scott Walker, Rubio and Cruz.

He's spent time repairing his tattered image in the hopes of fulfilling his vow to be much better prepared in his second presidential go-round. Perry's reviews from his trips to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have generally been good.

Last year, Perry remained on the national stage as a forceful critic of Obama's border security strategy. He deployed National Guard troops to the Texas border with Mexico to stem the tide of drug smugglers and unaccompanied children from Central American countries.

The deployment of the National Guard was in contrast to the stances Perry took in the 2012 campaign, in which he defended the Texas law he signed as governor granting college tuition to children of undocumented immigrants. Perry was branded in 2012 as "soft" on immigration by conservative rivals such as Rick Santorum, and slammed Romney and other critics of the in-state tuition policy by saying "I don't think you have a heart."

Freed by his decision not run for another term as Texas governor, Perry schooled himself in foreign policy, economics and other issues that dominate presidential campaigns by bringing in outside advisers for tutorials.

Perry, frequently dismissed by Texas Democrats as a lightweight, told MSNBC that running for president "is not an IQ test" but an examination of someone's resolve, philosophy and life experiences. Given his 2012 presidential campaign, however, Perry conceded that he's got little wiggle room in the 2016 election cycle.

"Everybody has some margin for error," Perry told MSNBC in December. "I've probably got less than some other folks, but that's OK."