The Texas Farm Bureau endorses no one in the Governor’s race.
The Texas Farm Bureau, which has feuded with Rick Perry over toll roads and private-property rights, opted Wednesday not to endorse anybody in the governor’s race.
The decision was the first time the Farm Bureau’s political committee has not backed the Republican nominee for governor since it began making endorsements in 1990.
Spokesman Gene Hall said the bureau’s Friends of Agriculture Fund voted to stay neutral.
Democrat Bill White’s campaign hailed the decision as a victory.
“Bill White is committed to private property rights, while Perry’s spent years obsessed with the corrupt land grab of the Trans-Texas Corridor,” said spokeswoman Katy Bacon.
I figure stuff like this is the result of Perry’s “screw everybody except the base” strategy. I mean, it should be a no-brainer for him to get the Farm Bureau endorsement. Other than the occasional conservative, ag-friendly, incumbent Democrat, they endorse Republicans. Sure, they had a falling out with Perry over eminent domain in 2007 and the TTC before that, but they still have a lot in common, and there’s no reason why Perry couldn’t have found some way to win them back. You have to wonder how many people Perry can kick out of his circle before his circle becomes too small for him to win. He seems determined to find out, that’s for sure.