That would be because she doesn’t know what the hell she’s going to do. Here’s Kay, take one, from the Mark Davis radio show.
Davis: So you’ll be coming out at some point. When do you think its decision time for you? When would you like when might we know?
Kay: I’m going to announce in August. Formal announcement I am in. Then the actual leaving of the Senate will be sometime – October/November – that– in that time frame.
Sounds pretty specific, right? Audio is here if you want to give it a listen. And now here’s Kay, take two, a little later in Washington.
If Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is trying to keep the rival camp in Texas’ gubernatorial primary — and all of Washington — guessing about how long she’ll keep her current job, she’s a success.
Over the course of just a few hours on Wednesday, she sent nothing but mixed signals.
First, she told a Texas radio interviewer that she intends to resign her seat in the Senate.
In Washington a short time later, Hutchison said she might stay in the Senate through next year’s gubernatorial race and really didn’t intend to indicate a change in her anticipated timetable.
“I did not realize this was going to be something that would be construed as different from what I’ve been saying,” Hutchison told reporters. “I had said that I would be leaving probably some time toward the end of the year, late fall. And that’s what I said in this interview.”
Clear? Maybe this will help.
The point I was trying to make in the interview was that I think there’s a chance that the governor would be dropping out of this race. I mean, it’s pretty unprecedented to have a governor trying to serve 15 years, and i was trying to say that. I stepped back once before [changing her mind in 2006], no one expected him to run for 15 years, and I think there’s a chance that he wouldn’t run because he would see how divisive it is and that he’s trying to stay too long and that you know he can really help in many ways if he doesn’t run, in which case I would be able to then stay in the Senate all the way to the end.
Link via Greg. I think Jason Embry, who gave a sympathetic interpretation of her verbiage, had it right in her initial reaction, which was that she stepped all over her own message. Actually, I’d agree with that if I thought she had one. Far as I can tell, it’s still a muddle.
I’ve made plenty of fun with KBH and her Intent to Announce Tour, which has lasted longer than some marriages I’ve known, and in the end she may well do what she’s saying and resign this fall. Crazier things have happened, after all. I still think a major argument against her resigning is that she doesn’t want to give Rick Perry the task of appointing a replacement, who would presumably be the favorite among Republicans to make it to a runoff; given how anemic for the current GOP Senate hopefuls, that shouldn’t be too hard to do. Trail Blazers runs down the list of potential appointees, though he overlooks one obvious choice. Texas Politics gets some reactions to Kay’s is-she-is-or-is-she-ain’t announcement from these same folk, and Vince makes the case that Perry would appoint Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. I guess I can see that, though it’s not clear to me that appointing the Dew advances Rick Perry’s interests, which is to say firing up the wingnut base. He does solve the fundraising issue, as he can write his own check, but I don’t know that he does much more than that. But read Vince’s case and see what you think. BOR has more.
One more thing:
Once Hutchison made her announcement Wednesday, [Perry] spokesman Mark Miner disparaged those who would quit their jobs before their terms expire. “When people elect you to an office they expect you to fulfill the obligations to the job,” Miner said.
And when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said on July 3 that she would step down with more than a year left on her term, Perry said, “Sarah Palin is a good friend and accomplished governor who will continue to be a strong voice of conservatism in American politics. Her state and our country are better off as a result of her tenure as governor and her candidacy for vice president.”
No mention of obligation-fulfilling there.
No one ever said Rick Perry knew what he was talking about, either. If you expect consistency on this point from him, be prepared for disappointment. Hell, he’ll probably have Palin herself attack KBH for being a quitter, which we all know Palin isn’t because she told us herself she isn’t one. If you’re vulnerable to whiplash, you’re in the wrong line of work here.
If Texas had late-night talk shows, three guesses who would be the butt of the jokes at this point.
If she’s smart she will drop out, stay in the Senate, and say absolutely nothing more. And possibly see a therapist. Then retire quietly by not running for office again, for the good of Texas of course which at this point would be the only thing she could do that would be for the good of Texas, and go back to Dallas and never be heard from again. The way all V&E wives are never heard from again. Current or former wives. Alas, she isn’t smart.
If nothing else I suspect we are about to finally see that other Kay we’ve heard about all these years. The one with the brass knuckles hidden in the pom-poms.