Governor Rick Perry Now “Thinking” About 2012 Run
Texas Governor Rick Perry has been saying for a while that he’s not running in 2012, but with these comments one wonders how much of that was just calculation to keep 2012 speculations from obfuscating his work during Texas’ legislative session. One of the biggest blunders governors with Presidential ambitions can make is ignoring, or at least being perceived as ignoring, their state-level duties while campaigning for national office. But now Texas’ legislative session will be over on Monday, and Governor Perry has opened the door to a possibility of a run.
Gov. Rick Perry today gave his strongest indication yet that he may run for president.
“I’m going to think about it” after the legislative session ends Monday, Perry said. He added, “But I think about a lot of things.” …
The presidential talk began when a reporter asked Perry for his reaction to the fact that the Hispanic Republican Conference of Texas, a group of state legislators, endorsed him for president on Thursday.
“I don’t make a lot of anything dealing with that until we get past the Monday deadline for this legislative session,” Perry said. “That’s our focus. I appreciate everybody’s interest. All of us know that the work at hand is the most important thing we have to do in getting this balanced budget finalized and passing pieces of legislation like this.”
Ed Morrissey writes that Perry would be a “game changer” in the 2012 race, and I think that’s right. The GOP’s field of candidates range from Pawlenty-Gingrich-Romney, of whom the conservative base is extremely skeptical, to Palin-Bachmann-Cain-Johnson-Paul, of whom the GOP establishment is skeptical.
Perry could split the difference as an articulate and credible communicator of the conservative message who doesn’t necessarily make the party insiders turn up their noses. Perry’s not afraid to talk about things like federalism and the 10th amendment, issues that usually inspire liberal critics to invoke visions of secession. But he’s also got enough appeal to beltway types to keep them from the sort of intra-party squabbling that surrounds figures like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann.
Tags: election 2012, rick perry
