A Perry for President bandwagon?

Fred Barnes:

Texas governor Rick Perry’s impressive primary victory over Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is a signal. After the midterm election this November, the field of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 (or later) is going to get bigger and possibly better.

The list is long: Mitch Daniels, John Kasich, Meg Whitman, Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, and Jim DeMint. And Perry.

To qualify as a serious national candidate, Perry must defeat Democrat Bill White—and not in a squeaker—this fall for a third term as governor of the nation’s second most populous state. But his primary win last week was enough to prompt preliminary chatter about a presidential bid in 2012.

He has repeatedly and emphatically insisted he has no interest in any job outside Texas, and I take him at his word. But his situation may soon change. How? A groundswell of support for a Perry presidential candidacy that included a few prominent Republicans could cause him to reconsider. And it should.

A Perry-for-President bandwagon is all but inevitable, assuming he trounces White. The case for him is pretty simple: Perry is perhaps the most successful governor in the country. Texas has been a job creation machine on his watch. Even in the current recession, Texas has suffered far less than most states. And, by the way, Perry has a tough, tested crew of political advisers who will come in handy if he runs.

Despite four years of steep decline (2005 to 2009), the Republican party doesn’t require a total makeover, but it sure could use some fresh talent, preferably with respectable track records, at the national level. The easiest way for a Republican to escape the shadows and attract media attention is by seeking the presidency.

Several of the candidates left over from 2008 may run again. Mitt Romney already is. Mike Huckabee is a maybe. Ron Paul has nothing to lose. Only Romney, of the three, has a realistic shot at the nomination. But as a group, they’re not terribly exciting.

...

He goes through a list of other potential candidates some of them are yet to win a primary, much less an election.

I like Gov. Perry and support his reelection against Democrat Bill White. I don't think he has any interest in running for President and I am not sure he would play well on that stage. In Texas he has been able to avoid a generally hostile media by going over their heads and reaching out to the Tea Party Movement and alternative media.

Doing that on a national stage where the media will be even more hostile would be difficult. Perry does have a track record of success in Texas, but in a national campaign you would not hear much about it. He would get the George Bush, Sarah Palin pile on from angry liberals trying to justify their support for the failed Obama presidency.