As March 2nd approaches and Rick Perry either wins on Tuesday, or heads into a runoff with Kay Bailey Hutchison, the fallout resulting from a year-long battle for the Texas GOP gubernatorial nomination appears to have taken its toll on supporters and donors of both candidates. The Star-Telegram reports that key donors of Kay Bailey Hutchison may be open to supporting presumed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White after the field has settled:
"I can assure you that I will not be a financial supporter of Rick Perry, and I can assure you that most of the people I talk to are not going to support him either," said Fort Worth oilman Dick Moncrief, Hutchison's financial chairman in North Texas, predicting that Republicans who are "fed up with Perry" may wind up supporting White if Hutchison fails to get the nomination.
"There is absolutely no assurance that Perry can beat White in November," Moncrief said.
Clearly a battle for the soul of the Texas Republican Party is bearing out for all to see; whether it is the Tea Party primary challenges to moderate Republican state representatives, or even the current gubernatorial slug-fest between political heavyweights in Perry and Hutchison, the Texas GOP is in shambles.
The question is where do the moderates go? Clearly if Perry wins, and extremism continues to become bedrock mainstream for the Republican Party of Texas, a wide swath of voters will be up for grabs and available for Bill White. As more and more Texans declare themselves as independent, or as a large swath of moderate voters become up for grabs due to the Texas GOP splintering, an opportunity arises for the Democratic Party in Texas to expand its base. Moreover, the opportunity arises for Bill White to begin creating a whole new mainstream majority in the Lone Star State.
Could what Dick Moncrief proposed in the Star-Telegram be a microcosm of what Bill White could expect heading into a general election campaign on March 3rd? It would appear he certainly has the opportunity to try, which represents the best opportunity that Texas Democrats have to be the national headline this November. |
