海角大神

As Texas Gov. Rick Perry finishes up his third full term in office 鈥� making him the longest-serving governor in the state鈥檚 history 鈥� he seems once more to have his eye on the presidency.

He鈥檚 been visiting the key state of Iowa, picked a fight with President Obama over immigration by announcing the deployment of 1,000 Texas National Guard troops along the border to head off illegal migrants, and butted heads with other potential GOP candidates 鈥� specifically Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who he accuses of espousing 鈥渋solationist policies.鈥�

But any aspirations for higher office hit a pothole Friday when Perry was indicted by a Travis County grand jury for allegedly abusing his power and coercing a public servant.

In the absence of the late, great Texas political pundit Molly Ivins, who surely would have given the story the dramatic and humorous irony it deserves, we鈥檒l try to explain what happened.

Perry allegedly broke the law when he promised publicly to cut $7.5 million over two years for the public integrity unit run by the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. Ms. Lehmberg, a Democrat, had been convicted of drunken driving, but refused Perry's calls to resign.

So did Perry ax money for the public integrity unit 鈥� a kind of state government watchdog meant to enforce state ethics laws 鈥� simply because, as he said, 鈥渢he person charged with ultimate responsibility of that unit has lost the public鈥檚 confidence?鈥� Or was it because DA Lehmberg was getting a little too aggressive in her investigations 鈥撀爄ncluding Perry's administration?

鈥淧erry鈥檚 gotten really comfortable with power over the last 14 years,鈥� writes Christopher Hooks of the Texas Observer. 鈥淗e controls many of the levers of state government. He鈥檚 built up large slush funds inside the governor鈥檚 office, disbursing them at his discretion to attract businesses and other projects to the state. He鈥檚 been accused of cronyism and patronage numerous times, including perhaps corrupting an agency designed to fight cancer.鈥�

Politics ain鈥檛 beanbag, as Mr. Dooley said, so it鈥檚 not surprising that a Democratic district attorney would go after a Republican governor, or that a Republican governor would try to oust a Democratic district attorney so he could appoint somebody a little more to his liking.

As the Associated Press points out, the indictment of Perry is the first of its kind since 1917, when James "Pa" Ferguson was indicted on charges stemming from his veto of state funding to the University of Texas in an effort to unseat faculty and staff members he objected to. Ferguson was eventually impeached, then resigned before being convicted.

Nothing may come of it, and Perry鈥檚 attorneys vow to fight the charges.

But in any case, as Harry Enten聽and聽Walt Hickey point out at the FiveThirtyEight blog, Perry would have a steep uphill path to win the GOP nomination for 2016.

鈥淎ccording to recent polls by NBC/Marist, Perry was at聽7 percent聽in Iowa and聽5 percent聽in New Hampshire,鈥� 鈥淧erhaps more importantly, Perry鈥檚 repeated gaffes in 2012 would have made it difficult for the GOP establishment to support him again in 2016鈥�. Perry鈥檚 past missteps and misstatements may have rendered him unacceptable to Republican power brokers.鈥�