WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry raised some eyebrows Friday night with a speech performance in Manchester, N.H., that was unusually expressive. 
 
 A Huffington Post reporter was in the audience for the speech but did not have a chance to review video footage of the Texas governor's remarks until Saturday afternoon when a montage of moments in the speech surfaced on YouTube. 
 
 The video below is not a full version of his remarks. It is a carefully edited montage designed to highlight the giddiest and strangest moments of a roughly 25-minute speech. The owner of the YouTube account, CharlieJohnson1986, did not respond to a message sent to the account. 
 
 But while the video is designed to make Perry look bad, it does capture elements of his speech that were widely remarked upon in the crowd by those who saw the speech. 
 
 "It was different," Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas told HuffPost after the speech. 
 
 A Perry spokesman did not respond to an e-mail Friday night inquiring about Perry's manner, and initially declined to comment on Saturday. 
 
 Update at 9:25 p.m.: 
 
 "The Governor is passionate about the issues he talks about," Perry spokesman Mark Miner said in an email to HuffPost on Saturday night. 
 
 This article has been changed to remove a reference unrelated to the event. It has also been updated to reflect that Rick Perry's spokesman declined to comment Saturday. Mark Miner later offered comment. ||||| WASHINGTON -- Rick Perry opened a new front in the 2012 Republican presidential primary on Friday, implicitly questioning Mitt Romney’s pro-life authenticity in a speech to a few thousand socially conservative voters in the nation’s capital. 
 
 The issue of Romney’s Mormon faith was also raised by a Texas pastor who suggested during his introduction of Perry that Mormons are not Christians, and then made the assertion explicitly to reporters after Perry’s speech. 
 
 Perry did not touch on Romney’s religion. He did not even mention Romney’s name, but openly went after the former Massachusetts governor for his past flip-flops on the abortion issue. 
 
 "For some candidates, pro-life is an election year slogan to follow the prevailing political winds. For me, it's about the absolute principle that every human being is entitled to life," Perry said, addressing the Values Voters Summit in the speaking slot just after lunch. 
 
 One of the loudest ovations during Perry's speech came at the mention of his decision to defund Planned Parenthood in Texas. 
 
 Planned Parenthood Action Fund Spokesperson Tait Skye responded unilaterally to Perry's speech, telling HuffPost, "Perry's decision has resulted in 300,000 Texas women losing access to preventive health care such as birth control, cancer screenings and annual exams. This is not what Americans are looking for in a leader." 
 
 Perry left the most aggressive attack on Romney to the man who introduced him, Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas. Jeffress called Perry "the most pro-life governor in the United States of America right now." 
 
 Jeffress also slyly played the Mormon card, hinting to the audience that because Romney is not an evangelical Christian -- he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- he is not as desirable a candidate for religious conservatives. 
 
 "In a few months, when the smoke has cleared, those of us who are evangelical Christians are going to have a choice to make," Jeffress said. "Do we want a candidate who is skilled in rhetoric, or one who is skilled in leadership? Do we want a candidate who is a conservative out of convenience, or one who is conservative out of deep conviction? Do we want a candidate who is a good moral person, or do we want a candidate who is a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?" 
 
 Perry, arriving on stage after Jeffress' introduction, said the pastor had "hit it out of the park." 
 
 In remarks to reporters after Perry's speech, Jeffress called the Mormon church "a cult," according to another reporter who was present. 
 
 Jeffress has made similar comments in the past. 
 
 "I believe we should always support a Christian over a non-Christian," Jeffress said in 2008. "The value of electing a Christian goes beyond public policies. ... Christians are uniquely favored by God, [while] Mormons, Hindus and Muslims worship a false god. The eternal consequences outweigh political ones. It is worse to legitimize a faith that would lead people to a separation from God." 
 
 Perry campaign spokesman Mark Miner told The Huffington Post, "The governor does not believe Mormonism is a cult," and said he was unaware of any official endorsement from Jeffress. Miner also stated that event organizers chose Jeffress to give the introduction, the campaign did not. 
 
 Perry also sought to shore up in his speech his weakest point to date: immigration. Perry suffered a self-imposed wound in his last debate when he said those who disagree with his support for in-state tuition to Texas universities for children of illegal immigrants "don't have a heart." He later apologized, saying the remark was "inappropriate." 
 
 On Friday, Perry said that as a border stage governor he has "lived and breathed this issue for over a decade," and listed the actions he has taken to crack down on illegal immigrants: a law to prevent them from obtaining drivers licenses and a law to require photo identification at the voting booth. 
 
 "I know firsthand the failures of our federal border policies, and I know the answer ... is not to grant amnesty to those who broke the laws to come into this country," Perry said. 
 
 The issue of in-state college tuition was not mentioned. 
 
 This story has been updated to include comments from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. 
 
 UPDATE: 9:53 p.m. -- The Family Research Council, the main organizer of the Values Voters Summit, released a statement from its president Tony Perkins about how Jeffress came to be invited to introduce Perry. 
 
 "Pastor Jeffress was suggested to us as a possible introductory speaker because he serves as pastor of one of the largest churches in Texas. We sent the request to the Perry campaign which then signed off on the request," Perkins said. 
 
 
 
 "The views expressed by speakers are not necessarily the views of the event sponsors. We do not pre-screen any speeches at the Values Voter Summit. We look forward to hearing from Governor Romney tomorrow, as we have done each of the previous five years," Perkins said. ||||| Texas Gov. Rick Perry joined the 2012 GOP race for president Saturday with an announcement sure to reverberate halfway across the country as his rivals competed in Iowa for the support of party activists. 
 
 FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2011 file photo, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks in Houston. Perry's spokesman said Thursday that Perry is running for president. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) (Associated Press) 
 
 Rick Perry for President buttons are already appearing at the Republicans summer dinner where the Texas Governor is speaking tonight in Birmingham, Ala. on August 12, 2011. The Texas governor is planning... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rick Perry for President buttons are already appearing at the Republicans summer dinner where the Texas Governor is speaking tonight in Birmingham, Ala. on August 12, 2011.The Texas governor is expected... (Associated Press) 
 
 Texas Governor Rick Perry talks with some Alabama legislators Kurt Wallace, center District 42, and Mike Jones, District 92, before speaking at the Republican summer dinner Friday, Aug. 12, 2011 in Birmingham,... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this July 27, 2011, file photo, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks at a ceremonial bill signing for a new tort reform measure in Houston. According to Perry spokesman Mark Miner, the Texas governor... (Associated Press) 
 
 Texas Governor Rick Perry talks with some Alabama legislators before he speaks at the Republican summer dinner Friday, August 12, 2011, Birmingham, Ala. The Texas governor will enter the race for 2012... (Associated Press) 
 
 "I full well believe I'm going to win," Perry told South Carolina voters on a conference call about an hour before he planned to kick off the campaign with a speech in Charleston. 
 
 Perry criticized President Barack Obama on foreign policy and said he would do better at creating jobs. Perry said he would go to Washington to do his duty and not make friends. 
 
 Perry's speech was set for 1 p.m. EDT at a conservative conference, only a few hours before the release of results from the straw poll in Iowa, the nation's first caucus state. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota are hoping for a boost. 
 
 "I have never seen this landslide of emotion for a candidacy. I cannot literally keep up with the emails and messages coming into my cellphone," said Katon Dawson, a former GOP chairman in South Carolina who's a Perry supporter. 
 
 "There is an excitement for Gov. Perry that there just isn't around the other candidates." 
 
 Perry, 61, was to visit New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state, later Saturday before stepping onto Iowa soil Sunday. 
 
 The leading GOP candidate so far has been Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor making his second run for the nomination. But no one in the field has managed to raise the kind of enthusiasm among conservatives that seems to surround Perry. 
 
 Among the others in the race are former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and businessman Herman Cain. 
 
 Through three terms as governor, Perry has overseen significant job growth in his state while working to keep taxes low. He was an early backer of the tea party movement. He enjoys the support of social conservatives because of his opposition to abortion and gay rights. He is also an evangelical Christian who organized a well-attended prayer rally in Houston last week. 
 
 Perry is a prodigious fundraiser who has begun laying the groundwork for a national finance network that supporters say would rival President Barack Obama's. Obama is expected to exceed his record $750 million haul from 2008. 
 
 But some Republicans worry that Perry's hard-core conservatism and Texas style may not play well in a 50-state contest, particularly so soon after another Texas governor, George W. Bush, served in the White House. 
 
 Bush had record low approval ratings when he left office in 2009. 
 
 Perry's visit to New Hampshire was to be his first of the year, on the heels of a visit by some state activists to Texas to encourage him to run. 
 
 Romney has dominated early polling in New Hampshire, where he has a summer home and has devoted much of his campaigning so far. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Fouhy reported from Charleston. Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report. He can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/sppeoples. Fouhy can be reached on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bfouhy
– Was Rick Perry pie-eyed during a speech to a conservative group in New Hampshire on Friday? In a video that has since gone viral, the candidate adopted an exuberant, jokey style and pulled a lot of funny faces, leading some commentators to believe that the Texas governor was distinctly refreshed. "It was different," the mayor of Manchester told the Huffington Post after the speech. The speech shows that Perry is "passionate about the issues he talks about," a campaign spokeswoman says. "We're not saying that he's definitely drunk, we're just saying, watch the whole thing," muses Max Read at Gawker.