Since 2014, he has made more than a dozen visits to Iowa. Perry's aides have said he wasn't prepared when he entered the last presidential race and have blamed his debate problems on a busy schedule and pain medication he was taking after back surgery. During stops in conservative northwestern Iowa, Perry boasted about his record as the longest-serving governor in Texas history, citing his state's low taxes, limited regulation and caps on civil lawsuit damages. An animated speaker, Perry gestures dramatically as he talks about his farm upbringing, military record and experience in office. [...] it has the nation's highest rate of residents without health insurance and the economy has been hurt in recent months by falling oil prices. Perry is facing a criminal abuse-of-power indictment in Austin for threatening in 2013 to veto state funding for public corruption prosecutors, then doing so.