This is one of the stranger “draft somebody” movements I’ve seen. A movement has been building among local Republicans over the past few months to encourage Susan Reed to run for state attorney general in 2014. Reed, the hard-nosed, four-term Bexar County district attorney, would be the first female AG in the state’s history, a [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Kay Bailey Hutchison’
Trib poll shows Perry leading Abbott
Make of this what you will. Gov. Rick Perry would defeat Attorney General Greg Abbott by a nearly 3-to-1 margin if a Republican gubernatorial primary were held today, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Such a contest might never come: Neither man has declared for that 2014 race, with each saying he [...]
On bringing home the “bacon”
Ted Cruz doesn’t do bacon. Texas’ new U.S. senator-elect, Ted Cruz, has repeatedly taken a cautious approach when asked about how he’ll fill Kay Bailey Hutchison’s shoes when it comes to Texas’ share of federal funding. Cruz said while campaigning that he’ll work to see Texas gets a fair portion of “legitimate and important” federal [...]
Endorsement watch: DMN for Sadler
It’s a strange endorsement, at least from my perspective, but it’ll do. Texans face a decision in this election that has come before them only twice over the last four decades: How to fill a Senate seat that has carried with it a proud lineage of service to the state and nation. Republican Sen. Kay [...]
Some coverage for Sadler
It’s a start. The Tea Party has toppled another mainstream Republican, this time in Texas. Lost in much of the coverage of the primary contest between Houston attorney Ted Cruz and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst was the November general election, which will feature a real, live Democrat. The assumption behind the media oversight, of course, [...]
Culberson’s Univesity Line attack makes it through the House
Great. Advocates of federally subsidized expansion of the Houston Metro light rail system lost a crucial round to Houston Congressman John Culberson on Friday, leaving dwindling opportunities to overturn spending restrictions on the Richmond Avenue project. The House adopted a $51.6 billion spending measure on a 261-163 vote that included Culberson’s ban on federal spending [...]
Don’t talk about 2014!
Greg Abbott continues to not talk about his burning desire to be Governor. When it comes to his political ambitions, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is playing coy. During a campaign stop Tuesday in Helotes, where he endorsed Republican state Rep. John Garza, Abbott again refused to offer any details about his next step — [...]
There’s no point trying to guess what Rick Perry is going to do
Rick Perry does not play by your puny rules. He is not constrained by logic, the greater good, or a sense of shame. If you’re an ambitious Republican politician hoping to move up the food chain, you have two choices: Play by his rules and hope that things work out for you, or don’t play [...]
The Congressional Geezer Caucus
The DMN notices that a sizable portion of Texas’ Congressional delegation is, um, old. Of the most populous states, Texas has the oldest congressional delegation, averaging nearly 63 years old, while the average for Congress as a whole is about 58. North Texas accounts for a big slice of that, paced by Hall, a Republican [...]
Abbott is the new KBH
I don’t know how you can write an entire story about Greg Abbott’s political ambitions without stopping to ask the basic question about whether he’ll need to take Rick Perry out in a primary to get what he wants, but Nolan Hicks managed it. Look, you may not believe Rick Perry when he says he’s [...]
Patterson to run for Lite Guv
With Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst running for the Senate, everyone else in state government that’s been waiting for a chance to move up is undoubtedly making plans to do so. At the front of the line is Lanc Commissioner Jerry Patterson. Jerry Patterson confirmed Tuesday night that he will run for lieutenant governor in 2014, [...]
KBH says she’ll support a weaker DREAM
Where were you in December, Senator? Weeks after a hunger strike orchestrated by college students in San Antonio failed to sway her vote on the DREAM Act, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told business leaders Tuesday that she now would work to pass a lesser version of the highly contentious bill, one that would not provide [...]
Ames Jones jumps in, Williams to follow
I don’t really think Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones has much of a chance in the race to replace KBH in the Senate. She was a fairly nondescript State Rep who got appointed to the RRC by Rick Perry then won a full term in the low-turnout 2006 election, and off the top of my [...]
Williams will step down from the RRC
Michael Williams makes it official. Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams says he has sent Gov. Rick Perry a letter telling him he will be leaving the commission on April 2 to concentrate on a race for the U.S. Senate. Williams described the campaign as a “long cycle and a long race” that will, perhaps, have [...]
KBH will not run in 2012
She finally says something definitive. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced Thursday she won’t seek reelection, ending the uncertainty that had largely frozen a slate of Republicans contenders itching to replace her. In a statement, the three-term Republican who first won a special election in 1993, said her decision “would give the people of Texas [...]
DADT repeal passes, DREAM Act fails
Some history was made yesterday. The Senate took a big step toward ending the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers today. By a vote of 63 to 33, the Senate voted to end debate on a bill repealing the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, opening the door for a final Senate vote on the [...]
Still DREAMing
The good news is that the DREAM Act passed the House last week. The bad news is that means it had to go to the Senate, where good bills go to die these days. At this point, it may not ever get more than a procedural vote, which is to say a vote to have [...]
It’s always tease, tease, tease
I refer of course to the ongoing Waiting for KBH saga. Hutchison hasn’t said whether she’ll retire or seek re-election in 2012, but several prominent Texans — including Republicans such as former Secretary of State Roger Williams and Railroad Commissioners Michael Williams and Elizabeth Ames Jones, along with Democratic former Comptroller John Sharp — have [...]
What will KBH do about the DREAM Act?
I don’t think there’s any question what she’ll do, but these stories get written anyway. Hutchison, R-Dallas, who has supported similar legislation in the past, is one of a half-dozen Republican lawmakers targeted by Democrats, Latino groups and organized labor, who see her as a swing vote in what is expected to be a close [...]
More on KBH 2012
The Fix on our senior Senator and her next electoral challenge. Hutchison, who previously broke a term-limit pledge when she ran for reelection in 2006, had been saying since 2007 that she would not seek another term in the Senate. Everyone now agrees that no longer applies, and many expect her to run again. When [...]
The “Dan Patrick for Senate in 2012″ campaign makes its unofficial debut
Well no, nothing of that sort actually happened. But that’s my interpretation of this. Sen. Dan Patrick — the Houston Republican who earlier announced the founding of the Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas to reach out to Tea Party activists and independents — now says he’s joining with other lawmakers to create the Tea Party [...]
One election at a time, please
Apparently, some folks are bored with this election and are ready for the next one. Rice University political scientist Mark Jones isn’t ready to stick a fork into Democrat Bill White’s campaign for governor, but he does suggest White start thinking about a run for U.S. Senate in 2012. “With only three weeks remaining until [...]
Don’t forget Kay!
Salon looks at recent GOP history to preview the 2012 Senate primaries: As it is, though, the Tea Party is out of Republican targets for 2010. But 2012 is just around the corner, and the Tea Party may pick up right where it left off when the next round of Senate primaries convenes.. This, at [...]
Republicans for White
I’ve said before that Rick Perry can win, or at least he believes he can win, on Republican voters alone. Bill White needs to draw crossover support. With 49 percent of Republican primary voters choosing someone other than Perry, that certainly can happen. This is anecdotal evidence of that, and as such to be taken [...]
KBH in 2012
I keep telling you, it’s going to happen. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison hasn’t decided whether to retire at the end of 2012, and the possibility that she’ll run again leaves a major question mark over the already competitive field of candidates lined up to replace her. After earlier declining to discuss her plans, saying she [...]
Federal funds for transit shortfalls proposed
This is a good idea. Transit agencies forced to raise fares or cut service to close budget gaps would be eligible for $2 billion in emergency operating funds under legislation unveiled today by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) and seven other Democratic senators, including two members of the party’s leadership. The transit operating [...]
Putting all that unpleasantness behind her
It’s like she never intended to leave. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison still lives out of a hotel here and calls herself a “commuter” from Dallas. But she has otherwise cemented her return to the Senate since losing the Republican primary for governor to Rick Perry. After announcing in late March that she would stay in [...]
Sixty thousand and counting
In March, the Dallas Morning News wrote about how Rick Perry was running a new kind of campaign. Rick Perry’s campaign has a radical approach that eschews traditional voter turnout efforts in favor of extensive use of social media networks to win Tuesday’s GOP primary. Haven’t seen a Perry yard sign? There aren’t any, and [...]