Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, dismissed by Rick Perry earlier in the year in the GOP gubernatorial primary, should expect a crowded primary field for her United States Senate seat should she decide to run again. Courtesy of the Star-Telegram:
"She personifies everything that the Tea Party is fighting," said Konni Burton, a member of the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party steering committee. "She is a Republican, but when you check her votes on many issues, they are not ones that conservatives are happy with."
Adrian Murray, president of the grassroots 912 Project Fort Worth, said: "For the sake of what's left of her own reputation and credibility, she should not run again. She got shellacked in the primary, and that should have been [a] signal enough that we're done with her. KBH epitomizes the slick career politician that so many in the movement despise."
You are quite likely to have better luck guessing Texas Lottery numbers than you are guessing if Kay Bailey Hutchison will run again for the U.S. Senate or simply retire. God only knows, honey. Her motivation for running for governor against Perry really settled on the fact she was angling for that Governor's mansion as a retirement home. However, given her tarnished record and personality at the hands of Republican Perry, Hutchison may be forced out of her seat whether she wishes to be or not. The likes of Weatherford car salesman Roger Williams and Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams all claim to be running regardless of Hutchison's plan. They've seen this horror flick before after all, having been bit by Kay's capitulation in the past.
I'm not certain that Hutchison is politically savvy enough to know what is going on here, which is that moderates in today's Republican Party are not welcome and becoming far more extinct with each passing day. The withering fire and utter chaos that has erupted in the recent race for Speaker of the Texas House between the moderate Joe Strauss and his extreme challengers Warren Chisum and Ken Paxton is indicative of what is occurring throughout the country with this marriage of convenience between the GOP and the Tea Party. As Kay Bay can attest to, and now Strauss as well, the Tea Party doesn't play fair, they play nasty with a mission to tarnish, burn, and ultimately destroy one's reputation. Hutchison has proven once before she really doesn't have the stomach for the type of race that Tea Party extremists like Rick Perry run. As Joe Strauss is realizing within the Texas House, politicians like he and Kay Bay could be all that stands between an ultra-conservative, extreme takeover of the modern Republican Party and the destruction of GOP moderates along the way. |
