Put former U.S. Ambassador and state Rep. Tom Schieffer on the list of people who might be running for governor of Texas next year. "I've been talking to people and I've been very encouraged," he says.

He's been calling around, visiting people, and drove the perimeter of the state to get a feel for it over the last few weeks. "I'm prepared to do it, if it's doable, and I'm convinced that it needs to be done," he says. "People have been very encouraging... but I need to be convinced that it's something that can be done."

Schieffer was president of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club and one of George W. Bush's partners there. He served as ambassador to Australia and Japan while Bush was president. But he says he's a Democrat and served three terms in the Texas House in the 1970s — part of a huge 77-member freshman class that included Pete Laney, Kay Bailey, her future husband Ray Hutchison, Jim Mattox, and Buddy Temple, among others. Those last three ran for governor and lost; Schieffer and Hutchison, if both run, would be the fourth and fifth gubernatorial candidates from that House class.

If he runs, Schieffer says, he'll run as a Democrat. He's concerned about the state of education in Texas and worries that education here could fall behind other countries like India and China.

Schieffer says he'll make a decision in the next few weeks.