I hope Rick Perry throws his hat into the ring and has to answer for his sorry record

Just when you thought the GOP field couldn't get any weaker. If Rick Perry is seriously considering a run, he will have a difficult time explaining his track record in Texas. I live there and his record sucks. Actually, our deficit is larger than California's. We rank near the bottom in health care, education and several other categories. When the U.S. wakes up and truly embraces a real energy policy with green energy as the major player, Texas and Alaska will be woefully unprepared for that type of shift away from a predominantly fossil fuel based economy.

If I were writing campaign ads for the DNC, I would simply put. "Hey America, remember what happened last time we elected a governor from Texas?" Perry is a complete joke that will blend in well with this crop of GOP potential candidates.

*'s record in Texas wasn't any good either and did that come out? Did he get elected?

due to the excellent economy fostered by Bill Clinton. Also, it is is widely known that the governorship in Texas is one of the weakest. When Bush was in office there was a Democratic Lt. Governor that held much of the power. Since then all the power has been GOP controlled. They have nobody but themselves to blame. We all know Bush was never completely vetted or scrutinized and got a free pass because of his name. Perry will not be so fortunate.

Very few people can grasp the concept that the governor of the 2nd biggest state does not have much power.

Texas as gotten. Almost all conservatives I talked with admitted they thought Bill White was the better candidate for the job but they refused to vote for a Democrat. Bill White had an excellent track record as mayor of Houston and is well respected in Texas. Even conservatives are sick of Perry and ready for him to move on.

for advocating secession.

..and a real threat to win the nomination.

The 2012 election will be about jobs, and like or not Texas is producing a lot of them. It won't matter that Perry had nothing to do with that, he will be able to claim under his "leadership' his state is adding more jobs than any other state in the union.

"When the U.S. wakes up and truly embraces a real energy policy with green energy as the major player, Texas and Alaska will be woefully unprepared for that type of shift away from a predominantly fossil fuel based economy."

That's not going to happen before 2012, and quite honestly it doesn't appear we are anywhere even remotely close to shifting away from fossil fuels. Texas and Alaska will remain big players for a very long time.

"Actually, our deficit is larger than California's."

Yes, but wasn't the deficit eliminated entirely via draconian budget cuts? You and I certainly see the gutting of things like education and health care as bad policy, but in the Republican primaries those things are regarded as big positives.

So we've got a Texas governor who is going to run on knowing how to cut budgets and add jobs. He will do more than blend in with the GOP crop, my guess is those 2 things alone will vault him to the top.

Now in the general election slashing education and health care will certainly hurt him among independents and I doubt another cowboy like figure has much cross over appeal, but my guess is Perry could win the nomination and be a fairly formidable candidate against Obama.

If Caribou Barbie doesn't run, I think Perry or Pawlenty are the likely nominees. They'd likely pick someone like Rubio to try to win some Hispanic votes. So don't be surprised to see Perry/Rubio, Perry/Pawlenty or Pawlenty/Rubio.

I would come out with all of the states that have produced more jobs compared to the population of Texas.

1,052,567 -- Rhode Island 12,000
25,145,561 -- Texas 269,000

Rhode Island's job creation of 286,677 would be comparable to Texas population.

I've been waiting for this to happen ever since Jimmy Carter was defeated by Reagan

and never spoken of.