Another Texas governor for president?

Perry’s second strength is his big appeal to the Tea Party movement. Long before most politicians grasped its significance, he had made himself an ally. In truth, his populist West Texas conservatism with its native distrust of Washington prefigured much of what the Tea Party has come to stand for. Perry has strengthened the connection by adopting the constitutional fetishism that is a hallmark of the movement. In his new book, “Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington,’’ he says he’d like to repeal the 16th and 17th Amendments; his fixation on the 10th Amendment is already legendary. Though often ridiculed for suggesting, in 2009, that federal oppression might cause Texas to secede from the United States, that sentiment helped him shore up conservative support and come from behind to trounce his 2010 primary opponent, the popular Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

What distinguishes him from Michele Bachmann and other Tea Party favorites is his record of governance, which constitutes the third part of his appeal. Bachmann says much that excites right-wing conservatives, but her record is laughably thin. Perry is the nation’s longest-serving governor, of a big state that, relative to everywhere else, is doing pretty well. A study by the Dallas Federal Reserve found that 37 percent of all jobs created nationwide since mid-2009 were in Texas. (Although the state also has considerable poverty and the highest rate of uninsured residents in the country.) When not leading prayer rallies, Perry is most eager to tout this aspect of his governorship, and will base candidacy on the claim that he can do the same from the White House.