Anita Perry spoke for less than four minutes then sat down. But one of the club’s organizers drew her back to the microphone for questions, noting he hadn’t cleared a Q-and-A session with her ahead of time.

She repeatedly turned her comments to a defense of criticism about her husband’s groggy debate performance last week, saying, “he’s never had a debate class or a debate coach in his life. … He’s going to be better prepared next time.”

Anita Perry said she thought the Rick Perry did “great” in first GOP debate, became a target in the second debate and then fell under serious attack in the third as his rivals tried to “throw him off message because he was leading in the polls.”