Governor Rick Perry delivered a crushing blow to Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Texas GOP primary tonight. Senator Hutchison never gave a compelling reason to turn out Texas’s longest serving governor other than that it was her turn.
The selfishness in Hutchison’s campaign rubbed Texas voters the wrong way and the disastrous campaign that ensued did her no favors. Remarkably, Texas’s longest serving governor was able to position himself as the outsider in the race.
Despite earmark after earmark designed to show Texans she could bring home the bacon, the voters of Texas washed their hands of KBH and her campaign, putting Rick Perry into the general election without a runoff, despite a three way primary.
What’s more, the tea party activists so opposed to a Washington career politician returning merely for her turn in the Governor’s Mansion, showed real maturity. Deborah Medina tried to claim the mantle of the tea party movement, but every major poll done in Texas showed the tea party activists in Texas pretty firmly united around Perry. They stayed that way, and fully solidified after Medina went on Glenn Beck’s program and suggested she was sympathetic to truthers (the people who think the government blew up the World Trade Center).
Tonight was a big win for tea party activists in Texas who held the line, rallied around one candidate, did not split their vote, and sent Washington a strong message.
Now, will Kay Bailey Hutchison get out of Michael Williams’ seat? She said as recently as three weeks ago that she would resign, regardless of tonight’s outcome, by November. Michael Williams is one of several candidates Governor Perry could appoint to the seat and he is the odds on favorite of conservatives, to whom Rick Perry owes a tremendous debt for keeping him out of a costly runoff.
Senator Jim DeMint has a petition up and going at www.makeitmichael.com to encourage Gov. Perry to appoint Commissioner Williams once Kay Bailey Hutchison resigns — assuming she keeps her word. I encourage you to sign the petition.
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
If Perry would appoint Michael Williams,
Lycurgus Wednesday, March 3rd at 12:31AM EST (link)he would solidify his own position as a 2012 contender for the White House…. and such an action would, in the words of the “Good Book”—”cover a multitude of sins”…
Signed.
If to please the people we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how then shall we stand? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God. ~George Washington
Now, who's being naive, Kay?
Dan McLaughlin (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 12:38AM EST (link)Keep your promise. Make Michael a Senator.
“No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong.” – Winston Churchill
Erick -
briancobbs (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 12:39AM EST (link)any insight into the relationship between Perry and Williams? Is he Perry’s first choice?
I hear that he is
Erick Erickson (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 1:03AM EST (link)But I also hear Perry is getting pressure to pick someone else by the NRSC.
Who will stand on either hand and keep this bridge with me?Follow @EWErickson
of course the NRSC wants someone else
Darin_H (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 9:44AM EST (link)They don’t want another conservative senator, they want someone who is a ‘go-along get-along.’ They want someone who isn’t going to upset the apple cart, or worse, make them work.
The rest of my thoughts on the NRSC would break the No Profanity rule.
A visionary coward says that anger can be power, as long as there’s a victim on TV – Flat Top, Goo Goo Dolls
I doubt KBH keeps her word.
barrypopik (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 1:03AM EST (link)She’s employed until 2012 and it’s a nice gig. I hear the health care is fantastic.
“I know I said I was going to resign, but I must stay on to fight Obama’s blah-blah-blah.”
side note on the Dem side
partyof1 Wednesday, March 3rd at 1:26AM EST (link)I caught the debate between Farouk and White. Farouk went way out of his way to enthusiastically attach himself to Barack Obama. Considering Obama has been the kiss of death to candidates lately, that didn’t make sense to me then – makes even less sense now.
With 65 percent of precincts reporting, White was trouncing businessman Farouk Shami 75 percent to 13 percent.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/33817.html#ixzz0h5hcCn7y
not in Texas
Pizza_God Wednesday, March 3rd at 12:38PM EST (link)For a Democrat, I like Farouk, however Texas would never elect a Muslim for Governor, even the Dem’s wont do that.
“There are some who’ve forgotten why we have a military. It’s not to promote war; it’s to be prepared for peace.”
— Ronald Reagan
A Democrat endorsement in 3....2.....1 nt
phxg (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 2:35AM EST (link)It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. –Aristotle
She wont resign
Doc Holliday (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 3:00AM EST (link)I thought she already said she would not. Anyway, she can’t leave DC (Washington to real people), because she is of DC. At best she leaves and gets a place at the Watergate.
Molon Labe!
She's a moderate Republican
Ireland Wednesday, March 3rd at 6:56PM EST (link)Hutchinson is a moderate Republican and they are just as bad as a Liberal Democrats. I don’t like her and never have liked her, because she’s a PROGRESSIVE. She’s two faced like Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, John McCain (another politicians I dislike), both are opportunist and unfortunately there are too many like them working in Washington.
She won’t give up her seat, she’ll planet her fanny back on the Hill, pretending to disagree with Obama’s policies.
Good news indeed! I think that ALL the leftist media....
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 4:14AM EST (link)and the wishful thinking of the GOP “elites” are going to find that throughout the rest of this year going into November that the TEA Party Movement will NOT split and they will CRUSH RINO’s in the primaries but provided they cannot they will with sickness in their stomachs vote FOR the Republican because one thing that Democrats have proven to the populace is that they DO NOT listen to WE The People and for that they will NOT have the House nor Senate by 2012 and Obama will be a ONE TERM PRESIDENT! Americans LOVE their country and that HATE being ignored!
Congratulations to Rick Perry now lets hope that all of that hard push to the RIGHT that he has engaged in for the past couple of years sticks because its the BEST PLACE TO BE
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
I'm a Kay supporter who is disappointed...
trutexan Wednesday, March 3rd at 6:34AM EST (link)I know she’s not popular with y’all, but after November I have visions of Perry re-activating that Trans Texas Corridor right through my land. His audicity to push HPV vaccines on Texas’ young ladies sounds resoundingly like Obama knowing what is best for the country on healthcare. I’ve voted for him every time he ran until now, but lately he’s been acting like the King of Texas. Kay had her failings but she was the closest to possibly unseat him.
At least I voted and have room to complain now. I went with Kay, hubby voted for Rick, and when imminent domain runs a super highway through the ranch, I can say “I told you so”.
I was anti-Obama before it was cool.
I do NOT call this a ringing endorsment
robobbob Wednesday, March 3rd at 10:46AM EST (link)http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/DN-perry_31tex.ART.State.Edition1.43b926a.html
bilderberg and US official
words that should not go together
But also remember, Perry is more centrist than most think. Big tent..
archer52 Wednesday, March 3rd at 6:50AM EST (link)Tea Partiers did flock around Perry for good reason. He is not a a bad guy. Hutchinson was certainly silly to want her turn, but politicians of all stripes often lose focus on reality and live in their own worlds. I’m sure her thumpin’ was a rude wake up call.
However, Perry is not a super conservative as you can tell from a couple of comments here. He is the example of having to compromise on several things to get most of what you want. A Reagan moment if you will. Also a good lesson in marriage. It is a fine line between a good compromise and a bad deal in both politics and marriage, and a lesson we should all keep in mind.
I agree
kyle8 (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 7:06AM EST (link)But like I said in my last post. At least he moved toward the right in recent years and not, as many elected officials do, to the left.
Whether that is simply pandering I can’t tell,
“Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty”
Kyle
I don't have a dog in this fight, but...
qixlqatl (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 7:47AM EST (link)If you can’t tell, does it matter?
What I mean is, if he is not just talking right, but delivering right, are his reasons all that important? (By ‘right’ I mean politically, but the other way works, too). Does he know who’s boss, iow, I guess.
Not all that familiar with Texas politics…heck, I ain’t even as familiar as I ought to be with Georgia politics, but I’m working on it.
“Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying,
Streams like the thunderstorm against the wind.”
George Gordon Noel Byron
Perry won tea party voters by huge margins.
WILLisms (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 9:00AM EST (link)What are you talking about? Perry was the tea party candidate in this race. Medina called herself that, but she was a joke among tea party activists I know. Polls showed Perry winning tea party voters by huge margins over Medina and KBH combined.
www.WILLisms.com
Tea Party votes
Pizza_God Wednesday, March 3rd at 12:44PM EST (link)I am not so sure about that.
At least in the North Dallas area, most of the active Tea Party people were supporting Medina including me.
Fact is, at my Pct Convention, Medina supporters outnumbered everyone else 2 to 1.
Don’t get me wrong, I like some things that slick Rick Perry has said and done in the past year. But my fear is that it is just campaign talk. He did this stuff 4 years ago and did not act on any of it.
The Medina Campaign reactivated the “hard right” votes. Hopefully we can keep them active and take back the Republican Party. (and keep Rick Perry out of the pocket book of big business like Centra and MERCK)
“There are some who’ve forgotten why we have a military. It’s not to promote war; it’s to be prepared for peace.”
— Ronald Reagan
I don't agree that he didn't do any of it.
AceInTX (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:07PM EST (link)Perry has been wrong on the vaccine issue and the TTC…but he’s been rock solid on fiscal issues.
he’s taken us through two recessions maintaining a balanced budget throughout without raising taxes. He’s cut spending and built up a huge budget surplus and Texas is one of the few states that has shown positive growth over the last couple years. We have five cities that top the list as the best real estate markets in the country.
Recently he’s told Washington the take their money…and the control that goes with it and stick it up their back sides rather than accept their centrally planned mandates over Texas education.
He’s not perfect…who is…but he’s the real deal and I’d take him over Kay Baily Hutchison and/or Sandra Medina and half the other crap weasels we have as leaders in the Republican Party any day!
It amazes me
Mark_L Wednesday, March 3rd at 7:58AM EST (link)that people continue to be fooled by Perry. He tried to push through one of the largest landgrabs in the history of the state in the name of a big government project.
He tried to shove a required vaccination down the throats of parents and their teenaged daughters – for a friend at a pharma company.
He is the worst sort of politician – he panders at election time, and turns his back on the voters as soon as he’s in. Just witness the recent courting of the “tea party” in Texas. Want to rev up the troops? Talk about seceding. Give me a break.
Texas desperately needs another governor.
You mean a governor like
izoneguy (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:01AM EST (link)the socialist Bill White? Who will try to turn Texas into another Kalifornia?
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
and Hutchison would be different how?
streiff (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 10:16AM EST (link)nt
“What keeps me here is the reek of beer, the ladies and the craic”
MONEY!!!!! nt
AceInTX (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:09PM EST (link)Really, what do have in Mind?
Richard Mullins (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 1:02PM EST (link)Some times I wonder about people that like to keep things going when there dead because it makes things work well for them. I’m sure that you’ll vote for Cue ball White but the only Democrats that I could think of that would good to run against Perry(Nelson Wollf and Phil Hardburger) weren’t going doing to do it. I’m sure that Perry will remind everyone of where Houston money went.
Richard Phillip Mullins BlogThe Squash Satire SiteNews on Happy Jet Airlines
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Joe Biden is like a Decrepit Park owner with a Meth lab that happens to not only be a dealer but a user.
Let’s Bankrupt the Democratic paty. Make spend all the money to defend thier candidates.
At This Point, I'm Hoping For An Independent
Mark_L Wednesday, March 3rd at 2:35PM EST (link)I can’t vote for a Democrat, but Perry just turns my stomach.
At This Point, I'm Hoping For An Independent
Mark_L Wednesday, March 3rd at 2:35PM EST (link)I can’t vote for a Democrat, but Perry just turns my stomach.
If you vote for that "Independent," you're voting for the Democrat. nt
Achance (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:17PM EST (link)In Vino Veritas
Rich, I'm working in Angleton and couldn't make my precinct convention....
AceInTX (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:14PM EST (link)Can you tell me who won in my Congressional primary and will be running as the Republican against Charlie Gonzales?
Kay won't resign
jano4 Wednesday, March 3rd at 11:22AM EST (link)I wish she would but I really don’t think she will. She showed during the campaign that she is too much of flip flopping politician. IMO she would have done much better in the race if she had showed some conviction, and a definitive stance on the issues, and actually resigned. Heck I might even had voted for her. Too many I think saw for what she has become, a career politician.
Off Topic, but Texas related
robobbob Wednesday, March 3rd at 11:45AM EST (link)Is the Dem house of cards truely on FIRE?
Larouchite wins Dem primary in Texas 22nd Dist running on an impeach Obama platform
http://www.keshaforcongress.com/
Kay will be the politician she is and stay in Office....
AceInTX (Diary) Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:22PM EST (link)She’s everything I loath about politicians…..she won’t leave Washington until we blast her out of her seat with Dynamite…(I’m speaking about metaphorical Dynamite for those of you from Rio Linda…heh)
KBH spin begins
houtxconservative (Diary) Thursday, March 4th at 7:52AM EST (link)KBH and her team have already begun to put their spin out there that “GOP leaders” are urging her not to resign. What a bunch of BS.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6895979.html
Join other grassroots conservatives and take the 1776 Challenge @ www.1776challenge.com
Perry wants Hutchison to stay in the Senate through end of her term
pilgrim (Diary) Thursday, March 4th at 2:30PM EST (link)http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/03/perry-wants-hutchison-to-stay.html