The governors are in the news as the National Governor’s
Association meets in Washington and, over the weekend, gathered at the White
House.

Iowa Gov. Terry Brandstad was interviewed this morning on
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and said that several GOP governors would serve the party
well as presidential candidates in 2016. He mentioned a few and then said, “In
Michigan, we have governor, uh, uh, Gov. Rick who is…”

Apparently Brandstad has paid more attention to Gov.
Snyder’s election tag, which has been criticized by some since it debuted in
early 2010 – “Rick for Michigan.”

 Meanwhile, at the White House, President Obama also
acknowledged the plethora of potential presidents among the governors in a
different way. He drew loud laughter from the NGA when he said: “Make yourself
at home. Of course, for some of you that’s been the plan all along.”

And among those getting attention at the NGA events is
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, or should I say the new Rick Perry. These days, Perry
wears designer, black-frame glasses and he’s adopted a hip version of Snyder’s
no-tie look: dark sports coats accompanied by dark shirts.

And this is an articulate, on-message Perry. If you
accept the contention that he crashed and burned on the debate stage in the
2012 presidential race because he was a bit loopy from post-surgery medications,
then you should keep your eye on Perry for 2016.

On the economic front, he’s effective at selling the many
successes of Texas. He’s softened his staunch conservative views by embracing
an idea that once was the province of liberals – sentencing reform that would
substantially cut back on the number of drug offenders sent to prison,
particularly for marijuana. That puts him in the same company as Sen. Rand
Paul.

At the same time, Perry has an anti-Washington message
that’s a little different than just about all of the potential Oval Office
seekers. Instead of just engaging in Washington bashing, he stresses the need
to “decentralize” the federal government, putting the states in charge of many
facets of the public sector, and allowing them to experiment with new,
efficient method of providing programs and services.

If you assume that N.J. Gov. Chris Christie can’t win the
GOP nomination and you accept the premise that a second Perry candidacy would
knock fellow Texan Sen. Ted Cruz out of the picture, Perry has the chance to
take the nomination and win it all in November 2016.

You heard it here first.

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