NEW STIRRINGS IN TEXAS – AT 11:16 P.M. ET:  The spotlight is slowly shifting to Governor Rick Perry of Texas.  From The Wall Street Journal:

For months, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has told potential donors and Republican higher-ups he has no interest in running for the White House in 2012.

But over the past two weeks, political advisers and friends say, Mr. Perry has changed his tune on a possible presidential campaign. In private conversations, they say, the three-term governor said he worries that the current GOP contenders have yet to stir real excitement within the party and may struggle when facing President Barack Obama.

"He thinks there is a void [in the current field of candidates], and that he might be uniquely positioned to fill that void," said one Perry confidant who talked to the governor last week.

In these conversations, the governor has emphasized his own track record in bringing jobs to Texas, which has created more jobs than any other state in recent years. That success, he has told supporters, would position him well in an election that will likely pivot on jobs.

Perry would shake up the race.  But he also comes with liabilities:

Mr. Perry has recently built a base among tea-party groups and conservatives by hammering on state's rights and attacking the Obama administration for its health-care overhaul and interventions in the economy. This year, he backed an array of measures appealing to social conservatives, including a requirement that all women considering an abortion have a sonogram first.

In 2009, Mr. Perry caused a stir by expressing sympathy for Texans who might want to secede from the union if federal mandates became too onerous, a comment that could prove problematic in a presidential campaign, especially among general-election voters. Mr. Perry's candidacy would also test whether voters are willing to elevate another Texas governor so soon after Mr. Bush's presidency.

COMMENT:  There is apparently friction between Perry and the Bush family, which could complicate Perry's navigation within the GOP.  Also, he is seen by some as a militant social conservative, which could take attention away from his job-building record. 

He is, however, a powerful, remarkably effective campaigner, which is what Republicans need to go up against Barack Obama. 

June 8, 2011