For months, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has told potential donors and Republican higher-ups he has no interest in running for the White House in 2012.
But over the past two weeks, political advisers and friends say, Mr. Perry has changed his tune on a possible presidential campaign. In private conversations, they say, the three-term governor said he worries that the current GOP contenders have yet to stir real excitement within the party and may struggle when facing President Barack Obama.
"He thinks there is a void [in the current field of candidates], and that he might be uniquely positioned to fill that void," said one Perry confidant who talked to the governor last week.
In these conversations, the governor has emphasized his own track record in bringing jobs to Texas, which has created more jobs than any other state in recent years. That success, he has told supporters, would position him well in an election that will likely pivot on jobs.
The conversations add detail on Mr. Perry's thinking. He generated political buzz two weeks ago when he told reporters he planned to "think about" a presidential run after the Memorial Day weekend. He added, with a smile, "But I think about a lot of things."
Mr. Perry's aides continue to insist the governor is not actively eyeing a presidential run. They say he remains focused on a special legislative session he called to pass an austerity budget and deal with legislation that would prevent Texas cities from providing sanctuary to illegal aliens, among other matters favored by conservatives.
"There has been no substantial change in his positioning, nor that of his team," said David Carney, a longtime Perry political adviser who is now assisting Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign.
But various signs suggest the Perry camp may be setting the groundwork for a potential White House run. One Perry ally who talked to him recently said the governor has been struck by how "pivotal" the next election will be, and how his resume may be a better fit for the campaign than that of anyone now in the race.
Republican operatives in Washington and elsewhere say they have received calls recently from prominent Texas GOP donors seeking advice on how Mr. Perry might navigate a late entry into the field. It was unclear whether Mr. Perry or anyone on his team had instigated the calls.
Some of Mr. Perry's own top aides have had tentative discussions with unaffiliated campaign operatives who worked for previous Republican presidential candidates, according to people familiar with the exchanges.
At the same time, Mr. Perry, 61 years old, 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 nation's governors to attend. He described the event as a "day of prayer and fasting" focused on "the healing of our country."
A former Air Force pilot, Mr. Perry served six years in the Texas state legislature before becoming the state agriculture commissioner. He was lieutenant governor for one year before taking over as governor when his predecessor, George W. Bush, became president in 2001.
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 Mr. Bush's presidency.
Mr. Perry's record has brought him raves from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, who told his national radio audience last month that if Mr. Perry jumps in, "it's a brand-new day, and it starts all over again."
Few dispute that assessment. "There is no question if he got in the race he would change the dynamic very quickly," said Henry Barbour, a prominent GOP operative and nephew of Mississippi GOP Gov. Haley Barbour. "He is central casting, he can raise the money, and he has deep ties with the grass-roots."
Should he run, Mr. Perry would first have to overcome an organizational hurdle. Assured that he wasn't running, his two top campaign aides, Mr. Carney and former campaign manager Rob Johnson, both signed up with Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker. Mr. Perry would also have to overcome his oft-expressed distaste for the nation's capital.
"I'm very interested in who our nominee will be," he said in a March interview with The Wall Street Journal. "It won't be me. I've said that multiple times, I'm not interested in going to Washington, D.C."
Members of Mr. Perry's still-extant group of campaign consultants say there is little chance he would embark on a 2012 campaign without Messrs. Carney and Johnson at his side.
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