Rick really just running for president?

Paul Burka has a long new article in the latest Texas Monthly (link). Excerpt follows...

ONE YEAR AGO, I WROTE A STORYabout the upcoming Republican gubernatorial primary between Governor Rick Perry and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. At the time, Hutchison had recently announced her intention to form a committee to explore a race for governor, and her campaign had released a poll showing her 24 points ahead of Perry, 55 percent to 31 percent. The governor’s political career appeared to be in deep trouble. Among Hutchison supporters, 58 percent had a “very favorable” opinion of her. Only 30 percent of Perry supporters felt the same way about him. She led him in every geographical section of the state.

What a difference a year makes. Since then, their fortunes have gone in opposite directions. Perry has held a lead, typically in the low double digits, in almost every poll taken since early summer, and now it is Hutchison’s political career that is in peril: Her Senate term expires on January 1, 2012, and she has said she will not seek reelection. Meanwhile, Perry’s prospects have never been rosier. Just a year after it appeared that he was on the brink of his last race, he is poised to become one of the leaders of his party. His travel schedule, speaking engagements, and television appearances in recent months give every indication that he and his team of advisers are looking beyond Texas to national politics. If Perry defeats Hutchison in the March 2 Republican primary and goes on to win a third full term in November, he will immediately join the crowd of potential presidential aspirants in 2012—if he hasn’t done so already.

Basically Paul looks at some of Rick's moves and determines that he has the inside track to win in March over Kay... which could set him up for 2012...

This one is very interesting and long... so it looks like I will be revisiting it a lot. I think I will need to digest it all first before I can really comment more fully on it...

My initial thoughts are just that I don't see Rick running for 2012... I think it may seem that way because he is taking on so many national issues and building coalitions and going on Fox News and things like that...

I think it is also somewhat fascinating to think about how Kay was a high probability to be McCain's VP pick instead of Sarah Palin just 18 months ago... Kay was also rumored to be running for governor so she could launch her presidential run in 2012 or 2016... what a difference a year makes. Now nobody takes Kay seriously as presidential or vice presidential timber...