An old campaign promise might weigh on Hutchison

[Judi Lynn]

March 24, 2005, 11:58PM

An old campaign promise might weigh on Hutchison
As she decides which job to seek, she decides if she's bound to her word on term limits
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

AUSTIN - U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's decision on whether to challenge Gov. Rick Perry in the GOP primary next year may rest heavily on whether she keeps a promise she made 13 years ago: to serve no more than two full terms in the Senate.

Hutchison declined a request for an interview Thursday. Her spokesman, Chris Paulitz, said she is not ready to talk about her future.

"Senator Hutchison is concentrating on doing her job and will announce her plans this summer," Paulitz said.

Hutchison will have been in the Senate for two full terms when her service expires Jan. 3, 2007.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3101722

[last_texas_dem]

1. Interesting

Sadly, I doubt she'd be hurt if she chose to break her pledge to limit her terms. Lots of 'pugs (and, to be fair, some Dems as well) made those pledges and ended up breaking them, and didn't suffer for it when they decided to run again. Term limits seemed to be a fad of the early to mid-nineties (a lot of Contract-on-America 'pugs ran on them) that have since faded off.

That said, I'd probably prefer her to run as Governor rather than Senator if it meant she could defeat that piece of excrement Goodhair in the primary. That's tough, though, 'cause I figure if the Dems could field a strong enough candidate he/she might have a longshot chance at knocking off Goodhair but would probably not even have a one in a million chance at knocking off Hutchison. This is just my gut feeling, though. For some reason, Hutchison continually manages to sell herself as a moderate, despite voting almost exactly the same as Cornyn and his predecessor Gramm, which keeps her popularity up.

And if she runs as Governor, who might the 'pugs run as Senator? Goodhair? <Gasp> Ugh... I may have to reconsider what I said about preferring that she run as Governor!

[fryguy]

2. drunk on the power

its not uncommon for a person to campaign on being in office for only a short time and then, once they've gotten a taste of the power, to change their mind and go back on their pledge...

[merci_me]

3. I think she'll leave the senate because

her life has taken a drastic turn since she ran last time. The nearly 60 year old KBH and her 70ish husband, in the past few years, adopted two babies, KBH's only children. I think she truly wants to be back in Texas on a full-time bases to go into semi-retirement, which the governor's office can be if you so choose. Enough with international "fact finding missions" and endless committee meetings.


I think she can bloody Perry very nicely, in a wild primary. I also would expect her to lose. The wingnuts hate her and they never miss a Repuke primary. Hell, they ARE the repuke primary. There are hundreds of women in that party, just barely holding on while holding their noses. Most of them determine to win back their party. After the wingnuts get done slashing KBH (their heroine), I think it will be the final straw, where the sane repukes finally take a walk.


Chris Bell (former congressman who filed the house ethics complaint against Delay) will most likely be the Dem candidate for governor. Don't ever underestimate Chris's ability to appeal to sane repukes as well as Dems and that's exactly what we need to take this state Blue. A nice blood-bath in the repuke primary certainly will be a leg up!