Another dwarf

Perry Changes Tune on White House Bid - Texas Gov. Rick Perry has said for months he has no interest in running for the White House in 2012. But political advisers and friends say that in private conversations he has recently changed his tune on a possible presidential campaign.

Obama should be so lucky.

Mr. Perry is making a number of national appearances this month, including an address next week to an annual dinner of the New York Republican Party. Last week he announced an August summit in Houston and invited all the country's governors to attend. He described the event as a 'day of prayer and fasting' focused on  "the healing of our country." 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 the presidency of George W. Bush, Mr. Perry's predecessor in Austin.

Perfect: Bush III, and a Tea-Party, secession-supporting right-winger. Obama should be so lucky.