Jason Embry ponders the landscape now that we know we’ll still have KBH to kick around through at least March.
[I]f Gov. Rick Perry appoints [Lt. Gov. David] Dewhurst to replace Hutchison, or if he wins a special election before November 2010, the state Republican Executive Committee can choose another GOP nominee for lieutenant governor. And that could trigger other openings on the statewide Republican ballot.
The question is: Will Perry be less likely to appoint Dewhurst because he does not want to disrupt the rest of the GOP ticket and kick the task of nominating to the SREC? Perhaps he will find it easier to just appoint someone who isn’t currently in office or who isn’t up for re-election to a high-profile spot in 2010.
So let’s say that KBH does resign right after the primary (I know, I know, I don’t believe it either, but stay with me here) and Dewhurst is named to replace KBH in the Senate. The SREC then gets to pick a replacement nominee for Lite Guv. Embry has previously discussed what might happen if they pick someone who is already on the 2010 ballot, such as AG Greg Abbott; I can’t find the relevant statute this morning, so I’ll take his word for it. All of this is moot if it turns out she never does resign until and unless she gets elected Governor, but at least it gives us all something to froth about.
She has created such a mess for everyone, including some Democrats, with this “I will resign….” game of hers that most wish she would just withdraw from the race for governor AND resign her seat and go back to doing what she does best which is lobbying and pulling strings for her husband’s law firm. People have finally figured out why V&E wanted her husband and his law firm. And they have gotten their investment back many times over. Nothing like owning a senator.
And they, not her, are probably calling the shots. They’d love to own a governor. But don’t want to give up owning a senator.