Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent a record 14 years in office vanquishing nearly all who dared confront him.
But with eight months left on the job and a decision to make about the 2016 presidential race, the nation's longest-serving governor is now the focus of a grand jury investigation over a veto he cast last summer.
A special prosecutor will probe whether Perry abused his power by vetoing state funds for a unit headed by a district attorney he had called on to resign. Perry said the official, Democrat Rosemary Lehmberg, had lost public trust after being convicted of drunken driving. She alleged the veto was partisan.
The grand jury investigation comes as Perry has been softening his image. He hasn't ruled out another White House run in 2016.
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