This really is a big deal

Republicans and media types are so good at downplaying this case, but it really is important. Perry was blocking an investigation into his own corruption:

While many national outlets are dismissing the indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry as political payback, Texas journalists warn that such claims are misguided, incomplete, and the product of a “rush to judgment.”
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“The national pundits — and some of them are very thoughtful people — tend to focus first and most easily on the politics,” said Wayne Slater, a columnist at the Dallas Morning News. “How does this particular event help or hurt that candidate in the potential horse race? Many reporters in Texas know Perry and are much more familiar with the details in this case, the fact that these are Republicans investigating this and that Perry has a history of hardball politics in forcing people out. This is a much more nuanced story than some in the Beltway understand.”

Slater adds, “Rick Perry is getting good press because he has been masterful in the way he has framed this as a matter of partisan politics. Instinctively political journalists and reporters and outlets at some distance understand that Perry is winning the politics at the moment and that his narrative of events really comports with their general sense of how things work, that politicians threaten people and coerce people.”
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“There is nothing about this indictment process that suggests partisan bias,” said Wilder. “You had a Republican judge who appointed a special prosecutor who has largely a Republican pedigree who presented testimony from 40 individuals. There were hundreds of documents reviewed and the grand jury decided to indict.”