Perry Says He Won’t Run Again; Other Pols Rejoice

Love him or hate him, Rick Perry’s a canny pol. Canny enough to have read the writing on the wall. It said: You’d be pushing your luck with yet another run for governor. So today, Perry announced in San Antonio that he’ll be stepping down at the end of his current term. Probably—though he didn’t say it—to try for president again in 2016. All over Texas you could hear the sighs of relief, as a long line of ambitious officeholders—from Greg Abbott to Dallas’s Dan Branch—could commence grabbing openly for a higher rung on the political ladder. They’d been cooling their jets for so long, they probably thought today would never get here.