So far, at least, it seems like Texas Gov. Rick Perry made a fine last-minute decision to enter the presidential race. From our side, we applaud his magical ability to produce daily blog material. And for him, he's already leading every national poll! Now the question is whether he'll completely flop and go down in American political history as a grand failure, no big deal.

Onward, to the national polls. Rasmussen's from last week showed Perry leading second-placer Mitt Romney 29% to 18%. Gallup today shows him leading Romney 29% to 17%. Finally, Public Policy Polling shows Perry a 33% to 20% advantage over Romney. So what we have here is a fine mathematical debut, if ever there was.

But you guys are pretty smart people; doesn't this remind you of certain other polls from nearly this exact time four years ago, when another savior was just entering the race? From the September 12, 2007 Rasmussen poll: Thompson 28%, Giuliani 19%, McCain 13%.

Fred Thompson's national numbers plummeted when people realized, shortly after his campaign announcement on the Jay Leno program, that he had little interest in being president or campaigning hard or saying interesting things. This was probably related to why he waited so long to jump into the race. Perry doesn't seem to be that bad a candidate. He's governed a large state for a decade, is considered a dogged campaign worker. And, as PPP points out in its write-up, "his support right now is stronger than Michele Bachmann or Herman Cain or Donald Trump or Mike Huckabee's ever was which suggests he should have more staying power," meaning it's hard to see him as merely the latest flavor of the month.

And yet we'd still have to go with Mitt Romney winning the nomination! Sorry! It's just that he's been running for president for five years. And I, for one, have dedicated my life to making fun of everything that he does, and not one line of my "criticism" even comes close to what the hecklers in his own party will say about him. But he's still around. He's beginning to seem just cynical, unlikable and shitty enough to win the presidential nomination of a major party in our great American political system.

[Image via AP]