If Rick Perry wins what’s shaping up to be a blockbuster gubernatorial primary against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison this spring, it will be hard to count out the possibility of another Texas governor making a run for the White House in 2012. Perry, who took office when George W. Bush resigned to become president in 2000, would extend his tenure as the longest-serving governor in Texas history by winning a third full term next fall.
 
Outside of the Washington Beltway, Perry has arguably been one of President Obama’s harshest critics. He embraced the Tea Party movement early on, drew national attention for comments about seceding from the union, and just last week earned a banner headline on the Drudge Report for saying at a local Republican Party event that the new administration was "hell-bent" on socialism.
 
In campaigning against a three-term U.S. senator, Perry certainly has a clear short-term motivation to rail against all things Washington. But Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka recently made a compelling case about why this may actually be motivated by 2012. Among reasons Perry should not be counted out: what Burka argues is the “best conservative record” in the field, a long courtship with key GOP poobahs, and the potential to tap his strong fundraising base in the Lone Star State to quickly mount a run.  
 
In a tenure marked by adherence to conservative fiscal views of low taxing and spending, Perry also can make a strong economic case, as Burka points out: “Perry can say to residents of the other states: Do what Texas did and you can enjoy economic growth too. It is a strong message in a recession.”
 
There are certainly cases to be made against a Perry candidacy, most clearly that Americans may not be interested in sending another Texas governor to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave so soon. Perry also must survive the primary and general elections before him; the primary race has already pitted him not just against Hutchison, but former Vice President Cheney and, more quietly, veterans of the Bush White House. In 2006, he shared with Maine’s John Baldacci the distinction of being the first governors in decades to be re-elected with less than 40 percent of the vote (independent Kinky Friedman drew double-digit support, splitting the field).
 
Still, Perry would bring to the 2012 field a rare combination of rock-solid conservative credentials and a long electoral track record in one of the nation’s largest states. If the next election is, as expected, a referendum on Obama, voters would be hard-pressed to find a more fervent critic than Perry.