Ted Nugent understands he that likely won’t have an official position in close friend Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign — the Nuge himself admits he’s far too outspoken of a right wing rabble-rouser to be productive for the Texas Governor’s cause — but that sure as hell doesn’t mean Nugent is avoiding politics in an important election year. Nor is he ignoring rock ‘n’ roll.

In fact, Nugent is looking at new ways to combine the two.

The so-called Motor City Madman is “already booking next year’s tour to be the most effective in it’s geographical impact and its statement” in political terms, likely meaning he’ll be targeting key swing states when he hits the road in 2012. And while Nugent realizes he must hold back when stumping alongside Perry, he knows his stage is his chance to say exactly what he thinks.

“That bully pulpit can also have a serious tone to it,” Nugent explains. “But on a rock ‘n’ roll stage, I can tell Hillary Clinton to straddle my machine gun. The more something causes problems with people, the more I’ll say it ’cause it’s rock ‘n’ roll and you can eat me. But that’s a rock ‘n’ roll show. I know how to change the tone. If you can differentiate between what goes on on a rock ‘n’ roll stage and a dialogue . . . then we can actually move forward.”

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