Perry Camp: Obama is Playing Politics with TX Fires

Governor Rick Perry's presidential campaign claims President Obama is playing politics with one of Texas' worst natural disasters.

"It is outrageous President Obama would use the burning of 1500 homes, the worst fires in state history, as a political attack," the campaign said.

At a private fundraiser in Woodside, California Sunday, President Obama took a pretty clear shot at the Texas governor saying, "You've got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change."

The unnamed, but obvious, Perry reference was part of the president's attack on the entire GOP field. "Some of you here may be folks who actually used to be Republicans but are puzzled by what's happened to that party, are puzzled by what's happening to that party. Has anybody been watching the debates lately?" the president asked the crowd of rich Democratic donors.

But Perry in particular has been taking heat since his shaky Fox News-Google debate performance.

On Fox News Sunday, Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume went as far as saying, "Perry is one-half a step away from almost total collapse as a candidate."

Perry has outwardly questioned the existence of global warming. He claims "the science on this is not settled" and that we would put the U.S. economy in danger by acting on "unproven science."

The campaign continued its skepticism today when asked about a connection between the state's wildfires and global warming -- press secretary Mark Miner responded by hitting Obama on his jobs record, saying, "the President's environmental policies are killing jobs in this country."

The president and Governor Perry spoke on the phone earlier this month when Texas requested federal assistance, but the campaign says the two haven't spoken since then.