From the genius who helped bring us the snow-billy from Wasilla, Bloody Bill Kristol thinks that Gov. Good-Hair-Secessionist Rick Perry of Texas might be a "formidable" candidate if he decides to run for president in 2012.

WALLACE: All right. Let me turn, Bill, to two people whose names were prominently mentioned this week, that they might jump into the race. One is Governor Rick Perry of Texas. The other is Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City.

What do you think, one, is the likelihood either will get in? And two, what kind of a factor do you think either of them will be?

KRISTOL: I think it's unlikely Rudy Giuliani will get in. And if he does, I think it's unlikely he'll be the nominee. That's a reason he didn't win -- I mean, presumably, he would have been a stronger candidate in 2008, when the memory of his mayoralty was fresher than now.

WALLACE: Then why is he up in New Hampshire?

KRISTOL: Because all these guys look at the field and they think, really? I mean, I have as good a career as these other people who are running. Why don't I get a shot? And it is a wide open race.

I think Governor Perry could well get in, and I have thought for months that if you came down from Mars and sort of looked at the possible Republican candidates, and you saw the governor of the second largest state in the nation with an extremely good record -- Texas has created jobs over the last 10 years while he's been governor, while the rest of the country has not -- over the last two years, I think Texas is the only state in the country perhaps that has net job creation I the private sector, and he's a Tea Party favorite.

I mean, what do you need to be the Republican nominee? You need to have a proven record, I think, and you need to be accepted to and even exciting for Tea Party activist types.

Perry checks both those boxes at once. I think Perry could be formidable if he got in.