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TX-Sen, TX-Gov: Hutchison Won't Resign Her Senate Seat Before The Primary

by: James L.

Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 6:23 PM EST


Politico:

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) will announce she is delaying her resignation from the Senate so that she can continue to represent Texas in the Senate while pursuing the Republican nomination for governor in the Lone Star state. [...]

The decision also gives Hutchison an employment insurance policy: If she loses the primary, she'll still have the Senate seat until at least 2012.

What an embarrassing climb-down for Hutchison; after enjoying years of media acclaim as the state's most popular pol, her lack of traction against Gov. Rick Perry and his teabagging base sure makes it seem like she's losing her confidence in a race that, at one point, seemed like it would be hers for the taking. It almost makes you wonder if Hutchison will bother challenging Perry at all!

Assuming Hutchison can't beat Perry in the gubernatorial primary, this also means that the Democratic candidates who were laying the groundwork for a spring 2010 special Senate election -- former Comptroller John Sharp and current Houston Mayor Bill White -- will have to decide whether or not to extend their campaigns for 2012. It's also conceivable that one of the two may feel compelled to shift gears to the gubernatorial race.

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports that KBH is still planning to resign from the Senate regardless of the result... just not before the primary:

Hutchison, a Republican, plans to tell Republican women in a speech in Galveston on Saturday that she is stepping down in 2010 because there are too many important issues facing Congress for her to quit this fall as she had originally planned. Her campaign provided the prepared remarks to The Associated Press on Friday.

"I realize this will keep me in the Senate past the primary election," Hutchison's speech says. "These issues are too important to leave the fight to a newly appointed freshman senator who will be selected in the midst of a political storm."

In the speech, she makes it clear that she will leave the Senate in March regardless of whether she or Perry wins the primary.

I guess we'll see about that one. (Hat-tip: conspiracy)

LATER UPDATE: Both the White and Sharp campaigns wasted no time in contacting me and reiterating that yes, they'll be running for Senate regardless of when the election takes place. (And according to BOR, that includes 2012.)
James L. :: TX-Sen, TX-Gov: Hutchison Won't Resign Her Senate Seat Before The Primary
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TX-Sen, TX-Gov: Hutchison Won't Resign Her Senate Seat Before The Primary | 56 comments
*facepalm*
What a looser.  Jeez, and to think I was looking forward to a Mid 2010 senate election to see what the mood the country was in.

20, Male, Democrat, CA-44 (home) CA-12 (college)
Perry really has caught her in a bind
I don't see how she can win the primary while juggling her senate duties but as the Rasmussen poll makes clear resigning now would hurt her even more. The AP says she will leave the senate regardless of the result but I have my doubts.

http://www.google.com/hostedne...

Shame the Dems can't shift their warchests because Perry is very beatable in the general. Another great example of the teabaggers hurting themselves.

Dude, walk that back, you NEVER say...
...a Rasmussen poll "makes clear" anything, ever.  Certainly not this year, as wacky as they've been.

I'm skeptical that Texas GOP primary voters care whether Hutchison resigns or not in deciding who to vote for.  They're going to pick who they want more for Governor on the merits (as defined of course by twisted wingnut minds, not objectively).

And I think in the current environment where the hard right is more dominant than ever before in the GOP, that gives Perry a decided edge.  Really, even just earlier this same decade Hutchison would have an advantage in a contest like this, but the GOP has bled moderates so badly that only the wingnuts are left.

43, male, Indian-American, Democrat, VA-10

[ Parent ]
I just think Perry has proved to be a tough campaigner
He would successfuly use it against her.
[ Parent ]
Perry from the start KNEW...
...who the universe of likely Primary participants would be. KBH's burden was to expand it. She appears to have underestimated how difficult a task it would be,
[ Parent ]
Wacky?
You may think they are "wacky" along with SUSA, but in the elections this year, they were the two closest pollsters, along with PPP. Funny, the 3 polls that everyone has been dismissing on here because they don't agree with what you "think" the numbers should be were the 3 closest.  
[ Parent ]
It's about timing
Rasmussen only puts out accurate polls at the end of the election cycle which distorts the abysmal outlier polls that they throw out for most of the election cycle.  If you honestly believe Obama's approval is around 45% as Rasmussen does (and no other pollster) I've got some prime real estate to sell ya in the Everglades.
[ Parent ]
What's the Rassmussen record in R primaries?
Yes, there's a emerging conventional wisdom that Rassmussen is R biased - but does that necessarily mean that they're teabagger biased?
[ Parent ]
KBH
wants something to point to the teabaggers. She can said, "I voted against the socialist 99.9% of the time!"

19, Male, Independent, CA-12
Heh then Perry might half-jokingly say...
"Well what about that .01% of the time?"
[ Parent ]
So that means
The Texas Senate Race in 2010 will be in November and not May? Provided that Hutchison does step down.
If she wins
which, seeing this, I'm less sure of.

Good news is Democrata might have an off chance at TX-Gov if Perry in the GOP nominee.  

[ Parent ]
Not if Kinky is the nomineeHe
Hes a hardliner on immigration, last i checked. If hes the nominee no way the latino base turns out. He will need them to beat Perry, IMO.
[ Parent ]
POTUS 2008
This is the same issue I was thinking about in 2008.  Obama resigned his position but McCain kept his - who had more motivation to win at that point?
Uh
Obama resigned after he was elected.
[ Parent ]
He means
Resigned as President of Kenya.
[ Parent ]
Wait, now Im confused
I thought he resigned his mayoralship of Jakarta before the election, then he won POTUS, then resigned as President of Kenya and his IL-Sen seat all in one press conference?
[ Parent ]
And don't forget that he had to give up his Hawaiian citizenship
to be eligible for President of the United States.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
I should really fact check my own comments
Really.
[ Parent ]
Understatement of the century there

[ Parent ]
I knew it..
KBH is a coward! I knew this race was too good to be true. I told a group of lawyers in Dallas who were trying to organize a fundraiser for her that they are better off burning their $$ cos she'll never beat him. Is she going to try and out-Tea bag the grand poohbah of the Tea-baggers? I doubt if she'll even make the race (when do nominations close?) and I fully expect her to return to the Senate. McConnell and the big money Texans that bankroll the GOP will put enormous pressure on her to remain in the Senate cos (a) she'll win another term and (b) even if a GOPer is more likely to retain her seat, it will be an expensive race with funds that are better spent attacking Dem incumbents. Forget it folks...this race, if there ever was one, is over!

Indepedent/Lean D. Dude.
All 5s (now TX-5; frmly VA-5 and CA-5)  
Molly Ivins
Does anyone else really miss Molly Ivins right now?  She'd be having a field day with Governor Goodhair and the Breck Girl tussling over a teabagger base.

Kansan by birth, Californian by choice, and Gay by the grace of God.
I miss Molly all the time
   and the TX Gov always reminds me of her because she is the one who named him Gov. Goodhair (as far as I know).  

52, male, disgruntled Democrat, CA-28
[ Parent ]
Either White or Sharp should switch
to the Governor's race.  To be quite honest, we are not going to win a special Senate race in Texas (except possibly under an Obama landslide in 2012).  

But we may win the Governor's race if Perry is the nominee.  Yes, the teabaggers will be in full force.  But the old-line GOP voters who backed Strayhorn in 2006 and likely will back Hutchison in the 2010 primary may well be willing to defect to the Dem if Perry is the nominee.  Especially if that nominee is White (Sharp is closer to the old conservative Southern Dem, while White is probably more appealing to business Repubs.)  

Short of that, I think Tom Schieffer (a Bush Democrat), might be appealing enough to old-line Repubs against Perry as well, if he can raise money and run a good campaign.  This is a race, because of redistricting, I will support any partisan Democrat, regardless of how conservative he/she may be.

Of course, if Hutchison wins the nomination, she is Governor.  

I agree 100%
I'm undecided on Schieffer and Hank Gilbert on who I'll vote for (already got a Bill White sticker on my car). All I know is I'm voting in the dem primary cause I'm not letting Kinky Friedman win the nomination!

With Hopson's party switch, it was the death knell in the old school southern conservative democrats (We counted 4 WD 40s left; Homer, Frost, Heflin, and McReynolds). Those that appeal to the wallets of the business community are the short term future for cross over voting.

Short term meaning until we can win on minority and urban voting alone.

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

[ Parent ]
Why is she going to resign even if she looses the primary?
I don't understand it...

Its the same thing with Judd Greg, any particular rhyme or reason for this kinda stuff to happen?

20, Male, Democrat, CA-44 (home) CA-12 (college)

Just guessing here
If she loses the primary, I don't think she'll resign, regardless of what she says now. She's set up an escape hatch for herself and presumably will refuse to talk about what she will do if she loses the primary, and answer that there's no need to contemplate that because she will win.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
daman09's is exactly the question I was about to post......
It makes no sense that she'd resign post-primary if she loses!

I wonder if AP didn't just misquote her, or if Hutchison really might have just misspoken (it really does happen, to everyone in life, even though politicians often use it as a fabricted excuse).  There's actually no reason for her to say she'll resign even if she loses, there's NO political benefit to even SAYING that.

43, male, Indian-American, Democrat, VA-10

[ Parent ]
Quote
"I will be resigning this Senate seat," Hutchison says in the speech. "For all of the good Republicans out there who plan on running for my Senate seat next year, make no mistake, this is going to happen."

But I don't believe her.

[ Parent ]
Just change a few words
and you'll have, "I will not run for reelection in 2012. For all the good Republicans out there who plan on running for my Senate seat next year, make no mistake, this is going to happen."

19, Male, Independent, CA-12
[ Parent ]
This is stupid as I see no way she beats Perry...
If she unequivocally pledges to resign from the Senate whether or not she beats Perry in the primary, it's going to be hard for her to wiggle out of that if she does want to keep her seat. It'll make her even more vulnerable to losing a Senate primary.

I'd say she's already vulnerable to a primary challenge from the right if she decided to stay in office and ran for re-election in 2012. Even though she's very popular among moderates and independents, Texas is full of extreme right-wing teabaggers who will come out en masse to vote against her in a closed GOP primary since she's seen as a "moderate." There are plenty of right wing House members who would love to move up to a Senate seat. I could especially see her moderately pro-choice stance being used against her by a Louie Gohmert or Pete Olsen in a primary.

Hell, you can definitely tell the GOP has purged the party of almost all the moderates when Kay Bailey Hutchison can be considered a moderate voice.

Texas primaries are open
Remember the 2008 primary where Limbaugh told all his wingnut listeners to go vote in the Dem primary.
[ Parent ]
I have a feeling...
She will be in the primary all the way up until the primary election, lose it, but not resign her seat either before or after. She will give the same excuse as she is giving now about not resigning. But I dont think she'll run for re-election in 2012.

Really, I think Bill White would stand a better chance against a highly vulnerable Perry than your not unpopular GOP Senate nominee. Not saying they'll be popular, either...but just not unpopular unless they do something really stupid. But I guess White just doesnt care to be Gov. Definitely seems that way. Winning a Senate seat in TX is not an easy thing to do...but beating a vulnerable Perry...much different.

And I cant see how she beats Perry
Perry use to be known as the 'Religious Right' candidate in the race rather than the 'fiscal conservative' but now hes focusing so much on fiscal issues that i think even the fiscal conservatives will strongly rally behind him. Kind of hard to believe that he use to be a Democrat until like the mid-80s. He was even a Democrat in the TX Legislature! Before switching sides. Now hes basically a far right Republican. Talk about a switch...
And he worked on the '88 campaign of Al freakin' GORE!!!


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28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
Same pattern as most old white Southern Democrats......
Perry wasn't even among the last of them.  They were flipping as late as the mid-90s, with Richard Shelby and Billy Tauzin and others flipping after the 1994 disaster.

These people ALWAYS were conservative, but as Democrats they bucked their natural ideological inclination SOME of the time for the sake of keeping some measure of peace within what then was a very ideologically broad Democratic coalition.

Perry is more vocally tied to the Christian right patch of the hard right quilt, but he's really no more conservative than most white Southerner Republicans.

43, male, Indian-American, Democrat, VA-10

[ Parent ]
This reminds me a little bit
Of Ann Northup's primary against Ernie Fletcher. I was quite surprised that Fletcher not only won, but cruised to victory in that primary. In retrospect, my sense is that Fletcher had that tribal appeal to the conservative base with Northup clearly lacked. Hutchison seems determined not to make that same mistake, but it's turning out to be hard to out-teabag Rick Perry.
and Fletcher had been indicted
Maybe Gibbons can beat Sandoval in the NV-Gov primary.
[ Parent ]
Yeah that's a good question, actually
Does Sandoval have that somewhat ineffable quality of being "one of them" when it comes to the GOP base? I'm not so sure. He did, after all, get his judgeship with Reid's backing, so I wonder if that taints him.

It also seems certain that he made decisions while on the bench which could be used against him. I mean, think how easy it is for conservatives to spazz about routine decisions made by allegedly liberal judges to paint them in the worse light possible (eg, dismissing an obscenity charge because it's unconstitutional means you support pornography, etc). If Gibbons has any political skill whatsoever, he has a team of lawyers reviewing every opinion Sandoval ever wrote.

Gibbons' approvals may be just too far in the toilet for him to survive a primary - he might be more like Frank Murkowski than Ernie Fletcher. But Fletcher at least gives us hope.

[ Parent ]
NV teabaggers versus TX and KY
Maybe less so out west.
[ Parent ]
Minimal difference according to PPP
From state to state, in general. See here.
[ Parent ]
Yes
The Kos sponsored poll showing Snowe in serious trouble with republicans in Maine was enough to convince me the teabaggers are ready to oust moderate republicans everywhere - even in New England.
[ Parent ]
Hey Chad
Welcome back. Good to see you.
[ Parent ]
Thanks
Good to see you too!  Was wondering about two people I don't see anymore - Kyle and IHateBush.  I'd bet my house that IHateBush managed to get a permenant ban, but what happened to the token SSP republican Kyle?
[ Parent ]
Banned
Which was a shame. But he started getting a little too comfortable and the partisanship crept in. Correct on IHateBush.
[ Parent ]
Wow
That's odd about Kyle.  He was always very polite in the past.  Guess the teabaggers seized control over him.
[ Parent ]
It was
Some of us did wonder whether someone else got a hold of his account because all of sudden his behavior went so out of character but I guess that is what ODS does to Republicans!
[ Parent ]
At least GOPVOTER is respectful.


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28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
Yay!
I got a mention!
[ Parent ]
;-)


My blog
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28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
What's ODS?
n/t

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
Obama Derangement Syndrome (n/t)


My blog
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28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
It started in the thread on Ted Kennedy's passing.
And then Kyle's saying he agreed with Congressman Wally Herger when somebody at a Herger rally said he was a proud right-wing terrorist and Herger called that person "patriotic".

My blog
Twitter
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28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
To be honest
I had that feeling about Kyle ever since I joined this site.  There was something about his posts that rubbed me the wrong way, that well this guy was a hack.  
I didn't ever get that sense about GOPvoter (I hate the caps :) ) for example.

[ Parent ]
Sorry!
I wanted to be able to find my post easily ;)
[ Parent ]
Well
GOPVOTER accidentally left the caps lock key on when signing up here.

My blog
Twitter
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28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
TX-Sen, TX-Gov: Hutchison Won't Resign Her Senate Seat Before The Primary | 56 comments

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