Although hopefully the nation's mood will improve before Nov., in Texas White faces major uphill battle against Perry given GOP's 10-point advantage.

From The New York Times:

[The campign of Democratic nominee for governor, Bill White, to unseat Texas Governor Rick Perry] promises to be an uphill battle against an entrenched incumbent whose party has enjoyed a 10-point advantage in statewide races for more than a decade.

Mr. Perry, a staunch conservative who is seeking an unprecedented [third four-year] term, has also tapped a wave of anger among many conservatives and independents about the federal government’s vast spending bills to bail out banks and spur the economy, as well as President Obama’s push to revamp the health care system. That anger at Washington is a potent force here and has made the political environment hard for any Democrat, political scientists said.

Mr. Perry’s campaign was buoyed Tuesday by a strong victory over his chief Republican rival, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. He won 51 percent of the vote to the senator’s 30 percent, in a race where turnout was 11 percent — more than twice as high as usual.

The strong showing of Debra Medina, a third candidate allied with the Tea Party movement who is more conservative than Mr. Perry on some issues and who received 18 percent of the vote, reflected the surging popular discontent on the right.