Rick Perry vs World

04 August 2005

Craddick wants sine die

Harvey Kronberg reports that Speaker Craddick suggests sine die adjournment for the House.

That would mean that school finance reform is dead.

Question: does Perry's repeated call for special sessions on school finance help him or hurt him now that we know that they failed?

Posted by Evan @ 08/04/05 06:53 PM | Comments (1)

Leaving the door open?

Gary Scharrer has Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's comments today:

"Of course I'm disappointed, as every Texan is, that we are not fully funding our schools and that we are not (lowering) these onerous property taxes on many of our citizens," she said after speaking to the Texas Association of Broadcasters.

...

"I thought when I bowed out of the governor’s race that it would take the politics out of the Legislature. That's one of the reasons why I announced early," she said. "I really thought that would help. I see no change, and I’m disappointed."

But she is proceeding with her Senate re-election plans.

Posted by Evan @ 08/04/05 05:32 PM | Comments (0)

02 August 2005

Bush staying out of the fray

It's not too surprising that President Bush has decided to stay out of the gubernatorial primary. I'm pretty sure George W has better things to do, and I'm guessing that almost any ex-governor of Texas would rather think about anything other than school finance:

One thing Bush said he will not do during his visit home is get involved in the looming gubernatorial primary battle between Gov. Rick Perry and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, whose son is White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

"I held a high position in Texas at one time in my life and I have made it clear to all parties that I am not going to get involved in the race," Bush said.

"They are both friends."

It'd be hard to go against your former #2, and it'd make for an awkward situation at the White House with Scott McClellan if Bush came out for Perry.

Posted by Evan @ 08/02/05 08:50 PM | Comments (0)

Half-full or half-empty for Perry?

The news du jour for school finance is that Perry says he'll take compromise on school finance. Jay Root in the FWST:

With yet another legislative session teetering on the brink of failure, Gov. Rick Perry indicated Monday he would welcome a partial solution that includes new education funding now, even if Texans have to wait a little longer for property tax relief.

Perry was asked if he could support efforts to fund teacher pay raises and textbooks now and leave the more controversial reforms, including the complicated tax swap needed to grant property tax reductions, on the table for now.

"If you can get a half loaf versus a full loaf ... you generally take a slice or two if you can get that," Perry said. "We understand how this process plays out here."

He said lawmakers would have to face the wrath of the electorate if they don't provide tax relief to property owners right away. The primary elections are scheduled for March and the general election will be in November 2006.

"There's going to be an election in the not-too-distant future," Perry said. "We can either do it now or we will talk about it in March and November of 2006."

In the comments of a post at the always-excellent BlogHouston, Kevin Whited has an intriguing idea -- though I highly doubt a Democrat would try it:

I don't think [Chris Bell] can win, BUT wouldn't it be interesting if he had the intestinal fortitude to make the race truly interesting, and get to the right of Perry and Dewhurst on property taxes AND school finance?

He could run as more of a moderate than Perry on social issues, and try to frame Perry as beholden to the religious right for political survival (mind you, I'm not necessarily making that assessment of Perry, I'm just saying that's how I'd try to frame it if I were advising Bell).

The combination of getting to the right on fiscal issues and the middle on social issues might actually make the race interesting. But it's not going to happen.

Kevin's right. It's not gonna happen, but it would make the race interesting.

Posted by Evan @ 08/02/05 03:47 PM | Comments (2)

Cheers

Cheers to our state's congressional delegation for improving our share of transportation money to 92% of what we send to Washington.

Of course, it's not 100% like it should be. But it's better than what it was. If we could get 100% back, we probably wouldn't even need to have debates about toll roads.

Posted by Evan @ 08/02/05 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

Kay Bailey -- 87th most powerful woman in the world

Kay Bailey Hutchison ins 87th on the Forbes list of powerful women. Here's the blurb:

As the three-term vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, Hutchison, 61, is the fifth-highest-ranking Republican senator. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1993, after serving in the Texas House of Representatives and as the Texas state treasurer, Hutchison is now in her third term. The senator chairs the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, where she helped pass legislation to improve national security measures in the aftermath of 9/11. Hutchison will also help oversee the country's space exploration program this year as she takes on the role of chairman of the Science and Space Subcommittee. The author of two books about American female political leaders, Hutchison has a rich Texas legacy. Her great-great grandfather signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Not bad for a girl who says big law firms wouldn't hire a girl when she graduated from Texas Law. Good for her.

Posted by Evan @ 08/02/05 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

29 July 2005

"Strayhorn takes gamble on Democrat donors"

Wayne Slater takes a look at at Carole Strayhorn's campaign finance report:

In her bid to unseat Republican Gov. Rick Perry, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is pursuing an unprecedented strategy of soliciting big-dollar donors with a history of backing Democrats.

The approach carries considerable risk for a candidate trying to woo faithful Republican primary voters, but it may be Mrs. Strayhorn's only option for matching the GOP incumbent's fiscal firepower, analysts say.

Of the Republican comptroller's $7 million campaign account, more than $800,000 has come from some of the Democratic Party's biggest political donors, according to an analysis by The Dallas Morning News.

The donors include dozens of trial lawyers, whose financial largess probably will be a theme in Mr. Perry's campaign against Mrs. Strayhorn in next year's GOP primary. But experts say Mrs. Strayhorn had little choice.

Probably? I think Wayne Slater, you, and me all know that Democratic trial lawyer campaign contributions getting towards a million dollars will DEFINITELY be in a few tv ads for Governor Perry.

Strayhorn camp's response:

"The primary on March 7 is going to be the general election. And what the comptroller is obviously doing is strengthening and growing the Republican Party, believing in Ronald Reagan's big tent and George Bush's big tent."

...

Mr. McClellan said one reason Mrs. Strayhorn has attracted such support from attorneys is that her father served as dean of the University of Texas School of Law.

"He taught a lot of these guys and gals and knew a lot of them," he said.

I think Todd Smith said it best:

"It's one thing for Rick Perry to call Carole Strayhorn a Democrat," [Smith] said. "It's quite another for her to make the case for him."

Strayhorn isn't making it easy on herself.

Posted by Evan @ 07/29/05 07:08 AM | Comments (0)

28 July 2005

Chris Bell is running for governor

I know, I know, it's a shock, isn't it? Chris Bell is officially running for governor.

He'll officially announce August 14th in Austin.

Posted by Evan @ 07/28/05 12:43 PM | Comments (1)

Cornyn's rival doesn't sound like he wants hardball

Senators John Cornyn and John Ensign are both planning to run for vice chair of the Senate Republican Caucus, the #5 rung in the leadership ladder.

Ensign declared first, after making a deal with John Kyl and Kay Bailey Hutchison as to who would run where. Then, surprisingly, Cornyn jumped into the race as well, which would give Texas two of the lower ranking spots in the Senate leadership.

The Hill reports that the junior senator from Nevada doesn't seem to mind the challenge at all.

"I think he'd be a great member of leadership," Ensign said.

He said Cornyn told him as a courtesy that he was planning to jump into the race for vice chairman before going public with the news.

"I told him: 'Go for it,'" Ensign said. "Even if he beats me, he's a great guy."

Ensign, who is well-liked within the conference, said that he has spoken to almost every Senate Republican to seek their support and that he plans to keep campaigning for the leadership post. But his warm praise for his colleague signaled that Ensign might not be willing to engage in some of the tough politicking that has dominated other recent leadership battles.

"Sometimes people have hard feelings about leadership races and stuff," Ensign said, adding that he is not one of those people. He noted that he and Cornyn share a similar political philosophy.

"Obviously, I'll try to win," he added. "But it's kind of like two good friends battling."

Well it's always nice to know that your challenger doesn't seem likely to declare all-out war on you or let it affect your working relationship.

When Trent Lott ran for leadership after he'd been in the Senate a relatively short while, the senior senator from Mississippi Thad Cochran was known to be less than pleased. From what I've heard, their relationship could still be better.

Leadership contests are often nearly impossible to handicap, particularly a year and a half in advance. Ensign started first, has seniority over Cornyn, and may be seen as smoother in front of the cameras. On the other hand, Cornyn has quite the senatorial bearing himself. Cornyn also benefits from his close ties to the White House.

Kay Bailey Hutchison won't say who she's voting for. Cornyn didn't endorse Perry until after she bowed out, so she has to feel some loyalty there, but she also made the deal with Ensign.

Posted by Evan @ 07/28/05 03:15 AM | Comments (0)

27 July 2005

Lance Armstrong for governor...of Arizona?

All this talk of Lance Armstrong running for governor someday gets increasingly strange with each passing day.

Today's oddity: the Arizona Republic has an editorial promoting the notion that the Arizona GOP should recruit Lance Armstrong to run for governor.

I mean, moving to run for office did work for Hillary Clinton. But then, most folks seem to think that Lance is more likely a Democrat.

Posted by Evan @ 07/27/05 01:53 PM | Comments (0)

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