This will be a classic, another gunfight at the O.K. Corral -- Governor’s Race Exposes Republican Rift in Texas
From The New York Times:
The battle shaping up in the Texas Republican Party over whether [Gov. Rick Perry] deserves another four years mirrors the larger conflict between the Republicans’ moderate and conservative wings on the national level, strategists say.
“This is a civil war,” Mr. Perry said in an interview, “brother against brother.”
Mr. Perry’s opponent is Kay Bailey Hutchison, the state’s senior senator. On most issues, Ms. Hutchison is also a steady conservative hand, but her tone is more moderate, her positions on social issues are more nuanced, her votes on government spending are more pragmatic.
“I do not want a governor who is going to narrow our base, make it dwindle,” Ms. Hutchison said in a speech this week. “That is what has happened at the national level, and that is not going to happen in Texas.”
“I will work to build the Republican Party,” she added, “not make it narrower. I am for Ronald Reagan’s big tent.”
Elected to the Senate 16 years ago, Ms. Hutchison, now 66, has wanted for a long time to be governor. She pulled out of the governor’s race in 2006 only after several major Republican donors persuaded her that Mr. Perry would not run for a third term.
Ms. Hutchison argues that Mr. Perry’s aggressive courtship of conservatives has alienated moderates, independents and minorities.
Some of those people fear that the rightward tilt of the state party organization leaves an opening for a Democrat to win back the governorship for the first time since Ann Richards captured it 19 years ago.
Mr. Perry, on the other hand, enjoys strong support from evangelical leaders and the voters who usually turn out heavily in the primaries: members of antitax groups, religious conservatives, creationists, foes of abortion and a variety of other Texans opposed to big government.
Ms. Hutchison has amassed $12.5 million for her run, to Mr. Perry’s $9.3 million. Though she has yet to resign from the Senate to stump full time, her campaign is already in high gear, its press office producing daily attacks on the governor.
But the senator was largely silent for the first half of the year, and her early reluctance to engage Mr. Perry has hurt her, Republican strategists say. Several recent polls suggest that he now has a significant lead among primary voters.
The battle shaping up in the Texas Republican Party over whether [Gov. Rick Perry] deserves another four years mirrors the larger conflict between the Republicans’ moderate and conservative wings on the national level, strategists say.
“This is a civil war,” Mr. Perry said in an interview, “brother against brother.”
Mr. Perry’s opponent is Kay Bailey Hutchison, the state’s senior senator. On most issues, Ms. Hutchison is also a steady conservative hand, but her tone is more moderate, her positions on social issues are more nuanced, her votes on government spending are more pragmatic.
“I do not want a governor who is going to narrow our base, make it dwindle,” Ms. Hutchison said in a speech this week. “That is what has happened at the national level, and that is not going to happen in Texas.”
“I will work to build the Republican Party,” she added, “not make it narrower. I am for Ronald Reagan’s big tent.”
Elected to the Senate 16 years ago, Ms. Hutchison, now 66, has wanted for a long time to be governor. She pulled out of the governor’s race in 2006 only after several major Republican donors persuaded her that Mr. Perry would not run for a third term.
Ms. Hutchison argues that Mr. Perry’s aggressive courtship of conservatives has alienated moderates, independents and minorities.
Some of those people fear that the rightward tilt of the state party organization leaves an opening for a Democrat to win back the governorship for the first time since Ann Richards captured it 19 years ago.
Mr. Perry, on the other hand, enjoys strong support from evangelical leaders and the voters who usually turn out heavily in the primaries: members of antitax groups, religious conservatives, creationists, foes of abortion and a variety of other Texans opposed to big government.
Ms. Hutchison has amassed $12.5 million for her run, to Mr. Perry’s $9.3 million. Though she has yet to resign from the Senate to stump full time, her campaign is already in high gear, its press office producing daily attacks on the governor.
But the senator was largely silent for the first half of the year, and her early reluctance to engage Mr. Perry has hurt her, Republican strategists say. Several recent polls suggest that he now has a significant lead among primary voters.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 9:41 AM
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