If you’ve not yet heard, Dear Readers, Gov. Brian Sandoval today endorsed Texas Gov. Rick Perry for president.

“Our nation needs a leader in the White House who understands the role of government and our economy,” Sandoval said in a press release. “Governor Rick Perry has the strongest record of job creation, fiscal discipline and executive branch leadership among the presidential candidates.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry

Sandoval said Perry created a “tremendous blueprint for job creation” in Texas, where Perry has claimed to have created over 1 million jobs while the rest of the country floundered economically.

“I consider Gov. Perry a friend and I am proud to endorse his campaign for President,” said Sandoval.

The endorsement comes in part because Perry, the then-inbound chief of the Republican Governor’s Association, became a friend and adviser to Sandoval during his primary campaign against sitting Gov. Jim Gibbons as well as during his gubernatorial campaign against Rory Reid.

As Jon Ralston blogged in his analysis of the endorsement, “relationships matter.”

This endorsement likely means that close Sandoval advisers Mike Slanker and/or Pete Ernaut have been (or soon will be) retained by Team Perry, who was/is wise to seek their expert services in order to get his ground game going in the Battle Born state.

Another interesting “consultant connection” is that of one David Weeks, an Austin-based operative who has done television ad work for Perry, Sandoval, Sen. Dean Heller and who first did work in Nevada in the 90s for then-House candidate John Ensign.

Sandoval’s endorsement comes a day after Perry received the endorsement of another prominent Republican governor, Lousiania’s Bobby Jindal.

Also on Tuesday, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president.

Gov. Romney, who has the present-day ground game advantage because he won the Nevada caucus in 2008, has been endorsed by by Rep. Heck (for whom he has stumped and raised money) and will be helped by longtime GOP consultant Ryan Erwin.