Texas Gov. Rick Perry: "America needs" me

Signs are pointing to another candidate entering the 2012 presidential contest.

Texas Governor Rick Perry was on the phone with the Des Moines Register last week, and the newspaper reports he is starting to feel "called" to run for president.

"I'm not ready to tell you that I'm ready to announce that I'm in," Perry said, "but I'm getting more and more comfortable every day that this is what I've been called to do. This is what America needs."

Perry said he would decide by next month whether he intends to jump in the race.

The Texas governor is both a social and fiscal conservative and could do well in the Iowa caucuses in February, though it is already too late for Perry to participate in the less important straw poll in Ames, Iowa on Aug. 13.

A Perry candidacy would have the most impact on Rep. Michele Bachmann, another social conservative who has support from the conservative Tea Party wing of the party and is virtually tied with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for the lead in Iowa.

Perry has been making signals for weeks that he is considering a run, though some question whether he will, in fact, decide to join the crowded field of GOP contenders.

"I'll be real honest with you, I don't wake up in the morning - never did and still don't today - and say, 'Gee, I want to be president of the United States,' " Perry told the newspaper.

Perry makes no apologies for his strong conservative views. He told the Republican Leadership Conference earlier this year that "our party cannot be all things to all people."

Perry had been reluctant to run for the nomination without key advisers, including his former campaign manager Rob Johnson and his top political consultant Dave Carney, both of whom were working on the presidential campaign of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Johnson and Carney announced their resignations from the Gingrich campaign in June as part of a huge shake-up of the organization.