Multiple sources this morning are reporting that Kay Bailey Hutchison will serve the remaining term in the Senate. As David reported below, she will be having a press conference in less than an hour to officially announce her decision. It has also been reported that State Senator Florence Shapiro, who had lined herself up to run as a replacement to Hutchison, will be returning $1 million to donors today.
Kay's announcement is no real surprise. Those of us here at BOR, and many Democrats across Texas, never expected she would leave the Senate -- her continued dodging (and changing) of the answer to that question was unfair to Texas voters, but Hutchison is going to do what's in her best interest. After the months of divisiveness and petty politics between Rick and Kay, I'm not shocked that she doesn't want to let Perry appoint a successor for her seat.
Harold Cook, over at Letters from Texas, weighs in well with his post: "Delusions of relevance":
What remains is to see whether she will go forward from this point and shoot straight with Texas voters. During her failed primary election, she leveled charge after charge at Rick Perry. Will she now take all that back too, cynically supporting the man she accurately described as a failed governor...or will she pretend for partisan purposes that the last 14 months never happened, and support the man she said all along wasn't good for Texas?
Buried away in the tail end of this Austin American-Statesman's Politifact entry was a curious comment that I'm surprised hasn't gotten wider notice. Then again, since it is another example of Sen. Hutchison being the coward she is and not every putting any real heart into her campaign.
Referring to her concession in the early evening of the March 2nd GOP primary...
"To drag it out past 10 o'clock at night was sort of an unfair thing to do to Perry," Francis said. "It was clear what the situation was. Kay wanted to exit in a classy, dignified way. That's what she decided. There wasn't any strategy about it."
Besides, even if she'd squeaked into a runoff, Francis said, Hutchison had already decided to concede if she trailed Perry by 20 percentage points or so -- and she did.
Unless I missed it, I was under the impression along with most of the rest of the Texas press corps that Kay Bailey was in it to win it (among other things like resigning her seat in the Senate regardless if she won the primary or not).
Let this be a lesson about how the "invulnerable popular Republican female elected officials" can fall from grace.
Former "invincible" Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison chickened out of a primary for Governor, then lost a primary for Governor by 20 points, would have chickened out of a runoff, and is now dithering around on which promise she'll break next about how long she's going to stick around being bored in the U.S. Senate.
Who's next? Current popular Republican Comptroller Susan Combs who Democrats didn't even field a candidate against this cycle? Let us not be lulled into the invincibility of incumbent Republicans any longer.
-Recycled Carole Strayhorn photo credit to the Austin Chronicle.
As it's been for over a year, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is on the hot seat.
Today, on election day, Texans still don't know if she will retire or not after the primary. From Congressional Quarterly, we get the latest on the will-she-or-won't-she-drama:
Hutchison initially said she would resign from the Senate by mid-2009 to focus on her challenge to Perry, who moved up from lieutenant governor in 2000 after predecessor George W. Bush was elected president. Perry has since won election in 2002 and 2006 and already is the longest-serving governor in Texas history.
But Hutchison then deferred her resignation until last November, and then again until after the March 2 primary. The latest iteration, delivered during a Feb. 26 radio interview in Texas, is that she will leave “sometime this year before the November elections.”
It is obvious that Kay Bailey Hutchison wanted to move back to Texas and finish her long political career as Governor of Texas. That was to be her final chapter in her legacy. Now, barring a monumentally unprecedented turnaround in the runoff, Hutchison will likely go into the next few months a lame duck Senator -- hardly the capstone on the career she was looking for.
What, then, does she want her legacy to be? Here are some options:
She resigns respectfully, campaigns for the Republican, and walks off the stage with little fanfare and no big applause. Her legacy then is the same as it is today.
She stays in the Senate, finds a bipartisan cause to champion, and passes an historic piece of legislation. Strong legacy, especially if Perry loses to White in the fall -- which would amount to a vindication for Hutchison's campaign.
She endorses Rick Perry. The weakest of her options, because it makes her less than Perry.
She endorses Bill White. The most unlikely of options, but the one with the highest reward.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is not one for bold action. If she was, she either would have taken it to Rick Perry throughout 2009, or when she realized he wasn't resigning and that she couldn't win a Republican primary -- resigned and run as an independent. She chose, instead, the safe option. And she can choose the safe option again, too -- but that's not what her supporters are going to do.
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.
Would Hutchison follow her followers and back Bill White?
It's rather unlikely, I know -- if for no other reason than because its a bold action and Hutchison has proven to be very risk averse in her politics. But even if she just avoids holding hands with Rick Perry, would moderate Republicans be upset enough at the Perry campaign to not come together around the front-runner?
Ultimately, it comes down to what Kay Bailey Hutchison wants her legacy to be. If it were up to Rick Perry, she'd be forever remembered as a Washington pork barrel earmark queen who wants to waste taxpayer dollars and kill unborn babies. And until -- or unless -- Hutchison takes some major action to alter that perception, that could end up as her legacy as she makes her final decisions about retirement in the coming weeks and months.
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.
Yesterday I had emailed Senators Cornyn and Hutchison in a hopeless attempt to prevail upon them to work with President Obama on passing health care reform. I knew that my plea was very likely a useless exercise in both the hopeless and the impossible.
At the very least, I thought, the horrible statistics I presented would perhaps grab the attention of one of their staff members.
Surely, I thought, both U.S. Senators would put aside their partisan differences, at least for a few hours, in order to serve the needs of those who elected them to office.
23 million folks will lose their insurance this year, 930,000 will file bankruptcy and 45,000 more people will die.
As we know Texas has the highest number of uninsured resident. Folks can learn about the appalling state of our health care system here and here.
Below is Senator Hutchison's response.
Hint: My efforts were a miserable failure. I did not get through. Senator Hutchison, it seems, has received $619,450 from the insurance industry and she is obviously working overtime to protect it.
None of the above statistics had any impact on her whatsoever. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison could care less about the plight of hard working Texans.
Texans are particularly aware of the need for health care reform, but it cannot come with a trillion dollar price tag and a government takeover of our health care system. Our state has over 6 million uninsured residents, the highest percentage of uninsured in the nation. This number poses a huge challenge for our hospitals, taxpayers, and many working individuals and families who cannot afford the health care coverage they need.
Lie 1: Several months ago, Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC challenged Senator Hutchison's assertions that the current proposals for HCR are a government takeover of health care. HCR is not a government takeover of the insurance industry. Mitchell is correct, Hutchison lied.
As far as 6 million uninsured residents in Texas are concerned, all have been posing problems 24/7/365 for doctors, hospitals and taxpayers. Senator Hutchison has been in the U.S. Senate since 1993. If she was so concerned about affordable insurance for Texans she would have done something about it by now.
Courtesy of the Rick Perry vs The World blog which you really should go read and make a regular habit of doing so.
KBH
1.1M raised
8M spent
2.3M Cash on Hand
RIck Perry
850K raised
8.8M spent
2.5M CoH
Debra Medina
450K raised
228k spent
291K CoH
Bill White
2.2M raised
2.7M spent
5.4M CoH
Farouk Shami
1.1M raised
5M spent
1M CoH
The fact that Perry and Hutchison have blown through over $8 Million each of their warchests and all that's resulted in is Bill White improving in the head to head polls against both of them is wonderful on so many levels.
Bill White outraised every candidate in both parties. Bill White has more money on hand than every candidate in both parties.
If you didn't think it was a real race before folks, it is now. I can't wait until March 3rd.
As talking heads in Washington continue and ask themselves "what happened to Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign," what they should be talking about is the fact that former Houston Mayor Bill White is the real deal and a real contender.
The Washington Post ran an article today attempting to decipher what happened to Hutchison's campaign. The Post danced around, without explicitly saying--so I will, what the real facts are here: Hutchison ran a campaign based on retiring to the governor's mansion in Austin, believing the post was owed to her, and demonstrating she couldn't run a statewide campaign if you spotted her the field plan, budget, and consultants with little to no expense to her. She ran a terrible campaign. End of story. So lets focus on the real story here.
The real story here is Bill White. The former mayor of Houston was featured prominently in this mornings MSNBC First Thoughts:
The great White hope: The Texas GOP gubernatorial primary takes place exactly one week from today, and most of the attention has centered on the fight between Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison, Debra Medina's surprising candidacy, and the possibility of an April run-off (if no one gets 50% next week). But the biggest story in Texas could end up being the front-runner for the Democratic nomination: ex-Houston Mayor Bill White. If Perry, as expected, wins the GOP primary, there's a path for White to become the first Democratic governor of Texas since Ann Richards lost in 1994 (to George W. Bush). One, in this change environment, remember that Perry has now been in office for nearly 10 years. Two, he won re-election in 2006 with just 39% of the vote. And three, White has the ability -- with his handling of Hurricane Rita (???) -- to sell himself as the fix-it outsider. Then again, this is Texas, where Democrats haven't had political success in a generation. But gubernatorial elections aren't usually the national ideological battles that Senate contests are...
The real story here is the fact that Democrats are on the verge of having one of their best candidates for statewide office in a number of years running in the general election--and one with a compelling resume and fundraising prowess too. White has strong poll numbers leading into next weeks primary and hypothetical general election matchups show the former deputy secretary of energy polling better than Perry amongst independents. Hutchison's supporters will be up for grabs in a general election matchup and White will be well positioned to soak in those moderates who hoped and wished for KBH to run as she was---a moderate. Not a Right-Wing, Tea Party extremist. White has a great shot, particularly as the GOP primary heads into a runoff, to claim the mantle of consensus leader for Texas who is above the fray of bitter partisan politics.
Politics turns on a dime and although some talking heads may want to talk about the downturn of Democratic hopes in the mid-term elections, Texas Democrats have the opportunity to ride a different wave of their own. The Lone Star State has been under one party ideology and rule for far too long. Texans are ready for change and with Bill White at the top of the ticket we could have our plan on how to weather any political storm that may or may not come our way.
"The same person that writes the check for Sarah Palin writes the check for Glenn Beck, and people should be aware of that, and he's in Mr. Perry's pocket."
Debra Medina took a shot across the bow from Rick Perry and Glenn Beck a couple weeks ago (See: "Gut Reaction: Team Rick Perry Used Glenn Beck to Attack Debra Medina.") As I later reported, Rick Perry has received $286,400 from Clear Channel CEO and Chairman Lowry Mays -- who owns the radio stations of Beck, Limbaugh, and other right-wing radio hosts, most of whom immediately followed the Rick Perry talking points and smashed Medina constantly after her remarks (See: "Did Rick Perry's Clear Channel Connections Sink Debra Medina?")
So perhaps the most important question is this one here:
Do you think Debra Medina believes the Bush administration played a role in the attacks of 9/11? If yes, press 1. If no, press 2. If you’re not sure, press 3.
No ................................................................... 50%
Not Sure.......................................................... 29%
Perry's message spin team, quite frankly, failed. They urged and urged everyone to believe Medina was a truther, and they only managed to convince 21% of respondents in their set-up and attack. Pretty weak, when you think about it. Though not entirely unexpected.
Watch the first minute of the video below -- or skip to the 0:50 mark, and see this woman say, "The same person that writes the check for Sarah Palin writes the check for Glenn Beck, and people should be aware of that, and he's in Mr. Perry's pocket."
We'll see what the other polls say, but meanwhile...Debra Medina isn't going anywhere without a fight.
Since the first days of her campaign, Hutchison's campaign strategy has been flawed -- something that is evident in the final paragraph of the NY Times profile of the race from over the weekend:
Ms. Hutchison acknowledges that a bigger-than-expected turnout is critical to her pulling off an upset. “I need for the November Republicans to turn out in the primary,” she said.
Good luck with that one, Kay. Even though she's run a poor campaign, Hutchison very likely had a good enough message against Perry to win. Someone with as much money as her has quite likely poll-tested her points, and knows that her message is what specifically moves people off of Perry. Watching her ads below, I can't help but feel that a similar line of attack from a credible candidate would work well.
Despite her poorly run race, her negative ads against Perry are strong. Watch them below, if you haven't seen them already. The first ad has been on television for a while; the second one I saw on TV for the first time last night, during the Olympics
It seems that we voters need to hold or obtain doctorate degrees in psychology or medical degrees in psychiatry to understand the twisted and dysfunctional behavior emanating from our fearless Republican leaders in Washington and Austin.
Both Senators Cornyn and Hutchison have trashed the stimulus bill (The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act,) railing against its waste and its abysmal failure to deliver cash infusions to our state while they extol the bill's virtues at the very same time. Maybe a little bird told the Senators that the recovery act they've been attacking for all kinds of reasons is actually a success.
To further complicate the Senators' stand on the stimulus package that both hate but love, John Cornyn has begged the EPA to deliver bucks for clean diesel projects in San Antonio and Houston.
Kay Bailey Hutchison praised the Port of Houston for its clean air strategy. Residents of the area may have a different definition of "clean air."
Buried away in the tail end of this 
Let this be a lesson about how the "invulnerable popular Republican female elected officials" can fall from grace.
