Rick Perry once said "no” repeatedly per his plans to run for president. Today he declared his candidacy for president, saying: "I will not sit back and accept the path that America is on."

We're marking his Promise not to run,  which was previously Stalled, as Broken.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent years snubbing Washington. So why would he run for president? During the 2010 gubernatorial race, he said he already had "the best job in the world” and repeatedly vowed that he wouldn't leap to trying for president in 2012.

After Perry fended off a challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the March 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary, Politico wrote that one of the four "key take-aways” was that Perry could be the "tea-party standard bearer in 2012.” But Perry told Politico that he had "no interest” in being the next president "in any form or fashion.”

The following month, Perry told the Texas Tribune for an interview in Newsweek magazine that he would not consider seeking the nation"s highest office.

"Under any circumstances?" editor Evan Smith asked. Perry"s response: "That's correct."

And in December, Perry told Reuters: I don't want to be president of the United States. I'm not going to run for the presidency of the United States."

But in recent weeks, as the Republican presidential field has shrunk, Rush Limbaugh and others have pushed Perry to jump in. And in the past few days, Perry's once firmly negative responses to questions about his plans seem to have softened.

Asked early this week whether he would "rule out” running for president, Perry said: "I've got my focus on where it's appropriately supposed to be, and that's this legislative session. I have said multiple times I'm not going to get distracted from my work at hand, and I'm not going to get distracted today, either.”

State Sen. Dan Patrick — who has announced his plans to explore a U.S. Senate run — then stepped forward and said to applause, "If he does run, he'd be a great president.”

In an interview that aired May 25, Fox News personality Greta Van Susteren asked Perry why he doesn't want to run for president considering his disappointment with the federal government's handling of border security and other issues.

The governor replied that he is focused on the legislative session, which ends May 30. "My hope is that that person will come forward that can win the presidency that we can all get behind," he said.

Van Susteren then asked Perry if he was "tempted" to run. His response: "Oh, I can't say I'm not tempted, but the fact is this isn't something that I want to do."

Today, Perry seemed to open the door further, saying he is considering getting into the race. "I'm going to think about it” after the legislative session ends, Perry said. "But I think about a lot of things.”

According to a National Journal online posting, Perry spokesman Mark Miner subsequently advised a reporter that Perry has no intention of running for president.

Perry hasn't changed his political plans. But we think his latest statement is enough of a shift for us to rate Perry's campaign promise that he won't run for president — previously unrated — as Stalled.