Rudy: Officially Heading to a Primary Near You

A quick and unsurprising update from Texans for Rick Perry hit the newsdesk's in-tray last night: "Gov. Rick Perry will file candidacy papers on behalf of Rudy Giuliani for the Texas Presidential Primary."

Perry endorsed the former New York mayor back in October, and he's not the only major local pol to sign up: Comptroller Susan Combs and Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams are Rudy's state chair and vice-chair, while big donors Lone Star donors like Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks and oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens Jr. are floating the campaign in cash.

But Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson called the governor's endorsement "all hat and no cattle." He, Attorney General Greg Abbott and William's fellow commissioner Victor Carrillo are all rooting for Fred Thompson.

But with primary season a scarce month away, neither Texas GOP leadership fave is doing well. The last Texas-specific IVR Poll had Giuliani ahead on a scant 23%, with Thompson and Mike Huckabee tied on 16%. But that was back on Nov. 15, when the Thompson campaign still had a pretense of momentum and before the latest round of revelations about Giuliani's love life. With the comparatively late Texas primaries running the risk of being irrelevant for the presidency, and both leading candidates seeming to flame out, will there be a scrabble for relevancy amongst the state leadership before the Republican national convention?