VIDEO added: Will Texas Governor Rick Perry Jump Into 2012 And Shake Up The GOP Field

Video added below the post of Perry's press conference.

"Texas added more jobs in the past 10 years than the total jobs of the 19 states, including the District of Columbia, that were positive for job growth."--- The Business Journals

There has been buzz, rumors and speculation as to whether Texas Governor Rick Perry would toss his hat into the ring as a presidential candidate for 2012, despite his prior rejection of the idea.

Reports today show that the thought is there and the possibility is not as unlikely as many once thought it was.

Via Statesman:

Gov. Rick Perry today gave his strongest indication yet that he may run for president.

“I’m going to think about it” after the legislative session ends Monday, Perry said. He added, “But I think about a lot of things.”

More:

Perry was asked about the presidency during a press conference to hail a voter-identification law that he has signed into law.

The presidential talk began when a reporter asked Perry for his reaction to the fact that the Hispanic Republican Conference of Texas, a group of state legislators, endorsed him for president on Thursday.

“I don’t make a lot of anything dealing with that until we get past the Monday deadline for this legislative session,” Perry said. “That’s our focus. I appreciate everybody’s interest. All of us know that the work at hand is the most important thing we have to do in getting this balanced budget finalized and passing pieces of legislation like this.”

Unemployment is a huge issue and promises to be one the top issues going into the 2012 campaign season, with unemployment at 9 percent now and estimates from experts believing unemployment will not be under 8 percent by Nov. 2012. Job growth has also been the focus of the latest plan put together by the GOP, unveiled yesterday with "America's Job Creators".

Recent reports with data obtained by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Texas over the last decade has seen private-sector job growth of 732,800, the highest of all 50 states and DC.

No other state even topped 100,000.

Perry is into his third term as Governor, making him the longest serving governor in Texas history and would benefit greatly from Texas' job growth over the last 10 years as well as his reputation as a social and fiscal conservative.

Others have noted that recently Perry has been weighing in on national issues as well which could been indicative of a 2012 presidential run.

More on Perry's stances and votes on individual issues can be found here.

This is definitely a story to watch if for no other reason than if Perry enters the race, the campaign season would get much more interesting.