Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Gov. Rick Perry

With thunderclouds darkening and a windstorm swirling around a Fort Worth bookstore, seven-year Gov. Rick Perry declared last week that he sees no reason to quit so soon.

If anyone thought our governor was only kidding about running in 2010 for yet another term -- well, they must not have really heard him Thursday over the pounding hailstorm.

"Governors have served 10, 16 years," he told reporters, calling the names of 14-year Govs. Nelson Rockefeller in New York and Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin.

Texas historically changes governors every election, he said, adding that maybe voters want "a little more stability."

Stability?

Look, this guy was sworn in on Dec. 21, 2000.

So technically, he's been governor since last century.

Now, he wants to stick around until January 2015. Maybe longer.

That's not just stability.

In politics, that's an eternity.

After all, Attila ruled the Huns for only 19 years.

This year, Perry will pass Allan Shivers' and Bill Clements' Texas longevity records. Then he can take a shot at Attila.

Even as Austin writers blogged last week that Perry must have been kidding about running again, he gave no indication that he doesn't want to be governor for life.

"I'm a firm believer that experience does matter," he said.

Perry added that if Texas limited governors to one or two terms, it would mean that "the bureaucrats run government and not the elected officials."

No fear of that in Austin.

Perry has run the bureaucracy more than any governor in memory, appointing executives to enforce his vision, from the Texas Education Agency to the highway department.

Earlier Thursday, Perry had surprised reporters by saying offhand that he didn't know who else might be running for governor but that "it will be Perry in 2010."

Asked if he would definitely run, he said a simple "yes."

That sent the "Breaking News" machine into motion.

By Thursday night, he wondered why reporters were so surprised.

He said he had told "a lot of folks" that he would run again.

"This was just the first time there was an audience with a camera and reporters," he said.

Texas Monthly political editor Paul Burka remained among those unconvinced.

Writing at www.texasmonthly.com, Burka blogged that Perry is mostly trying to bluff popular U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, away from challenging him.

In a note headlined, "Again in '10? Maybe so. Maybe not," Burka called Perry's offhand announcement "haphazard" and noted that Perry didn't even post it on his own campaign Web site.

"Perry wants to run again," Burka wrote. "But he can't beat Hutchison -- unless she doesn't run."

Perry was 32 in 1982, when he was first elected to the Texas Legislature from his hometown of Paint Creek, north of Abilene.

If he wins in 2010, he would serve as governor until two months short of his 65th birthday.

By then, the former Texas A&M yell leader would have worked in Austin 32 years -- 12 years longer than the Texas Longhorns' legendary football coach Darrell Royal.

Next year, he will break the all-time Texas record for the longest-serving governor under any flag.

As far as I can tell, Texas' most enduring governor was Juan Maria Vicencio de Ripperda, a Spanish baron who governed the state of Tejas for 8 1/2 years, from 1770 to 1778.

The Baron de Ripperda closed East Texas missions and moved the state government to San Antonio from a settlement in modern-day Natchitoches Parish, La.

During his term, the faraway United States declared independence from Britain. But his primary concern was dealing with the Comanches.

The Baron finally left Tejas to take over Honduras.

I guess the job offered more stability.