At a campaign stop, Perry also took a swing at regulations to curb greenhouse gases. Perry: Climate science skewed

Rick Perry is accusing climate scientists of cooking the books for money.

"There are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they would have dollars rolling in to their projects," the GOP presidential candidate said Wednesday during a campaign stop in Bedford, N.H., according to The Dallas Morning News.


"We're seeing it almost weekly or almost daily, scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change," the Texas governor added.

Besides attacking climate science, Perry also took a swing at regulations to curb greenhouse gases, an argument he's long made from Austin.

"The cost to the country and to the world of implementing these anti-carbon programs is in the billions if not in the trillions of dollars," Perry said.

Climate skeptics have embraced Perry's presidential candidacy and see him as a much more favorable White House contender compared with Mitt Romney.

The former Massachusetts governor earlier this spring told a New Hampshire audience that "I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that." But Romney has also said he thinks the EPA made a mistake in deciding to regulate greenhouse gases.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 12:19 p.m. on August 17, 2011.