After months of tantalizing hints, Texas Governor, Rick Perry is going to toss his hat into the ring next month. This will provide a sense of relief to Republican voters because a Perry candidacy provides them with a candidate who must be taken seriously (the last two Republican presidents were Texan) and can arouse a degree of enthusiasm.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney could make a claim for administrative competence, but failed to excite the Republican base. His support of a healthcare solution,during his term as Massachusetts governor, that seemed to resemble Barack Obama's program was a liability.

While former governors – Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have won their party's nomination, they had left office relatively recently. Mitt Romney has not held executive office for 6 years. Even if he has an excellent record, it is more for the history books and less in the voters consciousness. Rick Perry is the nation's longest serving governor and he is still in office.

Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann did cause a stir amongst the Republican base, but she too carries a major liability: The Republicans have harped on President Obama's lack of administrative experience prior to his election. They claim that Obama was unprepared for high office. Michele Bachmann may have run her own business but this does not compare with running a mammoth state like Texas.

If Perry gets the nomination, the Democrats most will most assuredly find weak points in his stewardship, but Perry can take pride in the fact that Texas has generated the most jobs since 2009 – a major selling point in a country flirting with double digit unemployment.

The Texas Governor has enough of a record to rally social and economic conservatives. He is pro-life and he signed a law in Texas enshrining traditional marriage. Economically he cut state spending.

While conservatives can feel confident with him, he does not scare off moderates. His response to the New York State law that allowed for same-sex "marriage" displayed his political deftness. On the one hand, Perry is on record as supporting traditional marriage. He however called the New York law that state's prerogative. In other words he defended the New York legislature's passage of the law on the conservative grounds of state's rights and as representing the will of local voters rather than judge-imposed law.

Perry has begun making forays into New Hampshire where he declares his enthusiasm for the "Granite State's" brand of retail politics where voters are convinced one by one. Texas politics is wholesale politics due to the size of the state and to succeed you must know how to raise funds. Perry is a proven success both in state politics as well as in the post of Chairman of the Republican Governors Conference.

While the record of the Obama administration is debatable, there is one thing that nobody questions: Barack Obama, unopposed for the Democratic nomination, will have a substantial political war chest at his disposal.

The Republican candidate may not equal it but he has to come close. Perry with his Texas base and fundraising ability can make this into a fight as well.