KBH versus Perry spotlights GOP in a tug-a-war

Sam Merten in the Houston Press:

At stake is more than just the governor's mansion. It's a pitched battle for the soul of the Republican Party not only statewide but nationally as the GOP tries to figure out how to keep itself relevant in the age of Obama. Must it go to the hard right and maintain ideological purity by purging itself of moderates, as Perry suggests; must it cast its lot with newly elected Republican Party of Texas chair Cathie Adams, the former president of the socially conservative Texas Eagle Forum and a Perry supporter who feels there's a high moral cost to tempering ideology with moderation?

Or is there room underneath the tent for pro-choice Republicans, Log Cabin Republicans and "environmental wackos," as Adams describes them, who believe in limited government, lower taxes and a strong national defense? ...

The battle lines of the civil war are drawn: Hutchison vs. Perry, Longhorn vs. Aggie, party diversity vs. party purity, right of center vs. extreme right, a race that could energize the party or one that may tear it apart.

We already know which way the RPofT wants to go. Paul Burka posted the letter from George Strake imploring Kay Bailey to abandon the governor's race, and another post brutalizing her first television advertisement:

What can I say? This is what we have been waiting for? Everything about this spot is dreadful. I can’t even give it a positive grade. It is going to lose votes. She has no energy. Her body language radiates defeat. The fighting words have no defiance in them. The subject matter is wrong. The message is wrong. And where was an editor when somebody wrote a script that raised the red herring of a state takeover of health care? That’s from outer space. Anyone who is backing her and sees this spot is going to be not just disappointed, but dismayed. Even horrified.

Perhaps Hutchison is trying to follow the old rule of “hang a lantern on your problem.” But the problem that she is hanging a lantern on is not that she had a difficult time making a decision about leaving the Senate. The real problem is that she has never given a rationale for her candidacy. If she had spent half the energy she devoted to worrying about her resignation on developing a message, she would be in much better shape today. Are we supposed to vote for her for governor because she’s against Obama’s health care program? We already have a governor who is against it. Who is going to be persuaded to vote for Hutchison because she vows to do the job she was elected to do?

Why in the world would Hutchison choose to make her first spot one that focuses on a process issue? Nobody cares about process. People care about what she is going to do for the state. Why is she still talking about a decision that has been made? She can’t undo the past and all the dilly dallying and undisciplined talk about whether and when she would resign, September, October, November, December, January, never, whenever. It just highlights the lack of self-confidence that comes out in her body language.

...(She has become) is a creature of Washington — not in the way Perry means it, that her values have been infected by the cooties of the Capitol, but in the sense that she stayed too long. She originally said she would serve two terms, and that is what she should have done: quit in 06 and run for governor, and there is a good chance she would be running for reelection today. She has no feel for Texas politics any more, or what the Texas Republican party has become — otherwise she would never have undertaken the suicide mission of attacking Perry for refusing the unemployment insurance stimulus funds, when 70+% of Republican primary voters agreed with him. But she is determined to prove that she is as much of a conservative as he is, which is futile. She had months to do her homework on Texas issues, and that time is now gone, and she hasn’t done it. If she gets in a TV debate with Perry on Texas issues, she’d better have EMS on hand because she is going to get slaughtered.

And Burka is -- by my estimation -- the voice of Texas Republican moderation. (Mostly.)

Anyway, the purge in Deep-In-The-Hearta on the undercard of the Kay-Rick death match is well under way. Here is one of my occasionally unhinged right-wing-blog brethren attacking state Sen. Kip Averitt -- he represents ten southern D-FW metro suburban and rural counties -- suggesting he might switch parties. Believe me, Kip Averitt is no Chuck Hobson.

That New York Congressional race won by the Democrat when the Republican withdrew and endorsed him because of the insane TeaBagger Party challenge? Look for a lot more of that all over the country, and especially here in Texas. The extreme right will win a few more of these (primary challenges) than they will lose, and what the moderates do in November 2010 is anybody's guess. None of the internecine fighting strengthens the GOP brand, no matter what they think. Harvey Kronberg, from the Press article also linked at the top:

"We now have two reasonably popular Republicans in a bloodbath with each other. Everybody who is an active Republican understands the loser's supporters are going to be put into exile; they won't be able to play in politics anymore. So it's going to divide the fund-raising base, it's going to divide the supporter base and it's going to damage the party for years to come."

Related:

Tea partiers turn on each other

Beck stakes out activist role

Republicans eye the tiger of populism

Lou Dobbs: The Anti-Palin

Update: And more ... Beck unveils plan to save America

And starring Blanche Lincoln as Olympia Snowe

The gentlewoman from Arkansas Walmart Big Pharma takes center stage in advance of Joe Lieberman's second act ...

Her clear warning that she would oppose the Democratic plan in its current form is certain to keep her squarely at the center of the increasingly contentious health care fight and intensify a campaign in Washington and back home to put her on the spot in advance of a re-election bid next November.

For once I would just like to hear a modern-day diva say :"I vant to be alone."

(T)he political implications are inescapable. Of the swing-state Democrats struggling with the health care issue, Mrs. Lincoln, a 49-year-old mother of twins who is married to a physician, is one of the few set to be on the ballot next year. Republicans are lining up to oppose her in a state where President Obama performed badly in the 2008 election.

Mrs. Lincoln is likely to join a motley crew of Senate Democrats quietly conspiring to euthanize the public option in favor of triggers. Go read this now, because it's what the talking heads on teevee will be chattering about next week.

Update: A Streetcar named Opportunism.

Friday Funnies (Rogue to the White House edition)

The latest on the mayor's race, and more statewide

-- Annise Parker and Gene Locke have made plenty of headlines as the Houston mayoral contest moves closer to the December runoff date. In the wake of an internal poll showing Parker at the cusp of victory, Locke continues to try to distance himself from the gay-baiting and is assembling a last-minute smear against Parker as soft on crime. The TeaBagger wing of the Harris County Republican party is going full-throttle as well, with master of disaster Allen Blakemore arranging meetings between Locke and Roy Morales as well as advising Locke informally. Miya Shay:

While Locke may not have spoken with Hotze or Blakemore much, it’s clear that Blakemore’s had semi-consistent contact with parts of Locke’s campaign. Blakemore’s told me that on several occasions. Blakemore says he’s Republican, and he won’t work for Democrats, even though Locke’s campaign staffers have asked him several times if he’s interested in working with Locke. Blakemore, though, is offering up free advice here and there. It’s clear that Blakemore is relishing his role as an uncommitted, unpaid player.

Update: Of course match-making and power-playing doesn't work well if one of the player-matches is demonstrably insolent.

-- Dick came to town, after a little dithering Kay made it in with him, they got on all the news channels locally, she asked him if he was running for president in 2012, he said 'no chance', she's running some radio ads now. She's had a good week pushing back with media. Rick Perry let another man die by the needle last night despite the Parole Board's recommendations that he halt the execution. So he is certainly maintaining his, ah, 'credibility'.

-- Farouk Shami declared for governor and Kinky Friedman had to issue denials that he was getting out of the race because of it.

-- Barbara Radnofsky was Keith Obermann's "Best Person in the World" on last night's 'Countdown'.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

-- Hank Gilbert and Tom Schieffer and Felix Alvarado discussed the issues at the TCU Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum in Fort Worth on Wednesday. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, thinks that the hair-pulling contest between the two cheerleaders makes it more difficult for the GOP to hold Austin in 2010.

-- And Bill White got the Texas Monthly spotlight treatment, but continues to be dogged by rumors that he will file for governor. I don't think he will (and I don't think he should).

Texas Democratic candidate updates

-- Farouk Shami is a candidate to dye for, according to the Texas Tribune. His recent political contributions are what stand out to me, however ...

Shami's (hair care products) business, founded in 1986, took off when he signed a distribution deal with Austin-based Armstrong McCall. John McCall is a part owner of Farouk Systems now, and the two men — particularly McCall — were the biggest contributors four years ago to Kinky Friedman's campaign for governor. Shami gave Friedman $24,400 for that run; McCall was in for $1.3 million and was listed, until last February, as Friedman's campaign treasurer.

Shami also contributed to former Rep. Martha Wong, R-Houston, who lost a 2006 race to Democrat Ellen Cohen. And in May of this year, he gave $5,000 to Republican Ted Cruz, who had his sights set on a run for attorney general. In federal races, he's contributed to candidates of all political stripes this decade, including Democrat Hillary Clinton, U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Houston, Houston Mayor Bill White (for the U.S. Senate race), Ralph Nader (in 2004 and 2008), Tennessee Democrat Graham Leonard, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (the same month he gave to Cruz), and the Republican National Committee (most recently in 2007).

My, it's just like Peter Brown all over again.

-- Elliot Shapleigh is still hem-hawing about a run for Austin ...

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, asked recently to respond to those who say Democrats can't win statewide, today poured forth a torrent of reasons Rick Perry can be beaten.

Is Shapleigh thinking of running for governor in the March Democratic primary? It sounds like it.

"The key is turnout," Shapleigh said in an email this morning. "If turnout matches March 2008, Rick Perry gets retired. When he leaves Austin, people not predators, polluters and paid lobbyists run the state. We believe that most Texans thirst for that message and that day."

LIEUTENANT Governor. Please. Kuffner has more on Shami and Shapleigh.

-- Hank Gilbert's campaign is really hustling:

How does an 8-cents-a-gallon increase in the gasoline tax to fund transportation sound? What about state recognition of same-sex civil unions with the same rights as traditional marriage, a $5,000 teacher pay raise, and bigger penalties for polluters?

They're certainly not all politically canny positions (who campaigns on new taxes?), but give Democratic candidate for governor Hank Gilbert this much: He's already offered detailed proposals in some half-dozen areas affecting Texans. That gives Gilbert something other gubernatorial candidates largely don't yet have less than four months before the primary.

“Serious candidates issue serious, comprehensive policy statements,” said Gilbert spokesman Vince Leibowitz. Gilbert hasn't yet proposed how he would pay for his education initiatives but plans to do so Nov. 24. There's little detail yet from most others hoping to oust GOP Gov. Rick Perry.

Gilbert's team has also appointed an Asian-American senior staffer. Be sure and note Kinky Friedman's response.

-- Speaking of gay marriage, that constitutional amendment banning it in Texas that was passed in 2005 may have a little problem in the wording ...

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Texas Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by Texas voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the trouble-making phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships.

But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.

She calls it a "massive mistake" and blames the current attorney general, Republican Greg Abbott, for allowing the language to become part of the Texas Constitution. Radnofsky called on Abbott to acknowledge the wording as an error and consider an apology. She also said that another constitutional amendment may be necessary to reverse the problem.

Abbott and his Army of God respond with the usual sniffing disdain but in the wake of a Dallas civil court's decision last month that the state's ban of gay marriage violates the Equal Protection Clause, the issue of codifying discrimination in Texas should warm up nicely as a 2010 election talking point.

-- We have a candidate for the Texas Court of Appeals, and his name is Keith Hampton. More on Hampton and the CCA from the Austin Chronicle.

Welcome back to Houston, Dick

No Kay tonight with you, it looks like ...

Few events have been more important to (Hutchison's gubernatorial) campaign than Cheney's endorsement. And while there were indications Monday that a Senate vote that would cause her to miss the Houston event would be delayed, her campaign won't risk that she would miss a major health care vote just days after making it such a big priority.

"If there's even a 10 percent chance" of a procedural vote in the Senate on Tuesday, "she won't get on the airplane" and fly to Texas to join Cheney, said campaign manager Terry Sullivan.

Here's hoping all the attendees have government-run health care from having served in the previous administration, or lots and lots of money, just in case you get crazy with the shotgun again.

Come to think of it, that ought to cover everybody at tonight's event.

Update: Look at that, she made it back.

The contest may yet shape up as a classic Republican vs. TeaBagger, Washington D.C. versus crazy-talk conservative donnybrook.

Update II: Wayne Slater at the DMN's Trail Blazers blog has video from the Hobby airport rally portion of the event. And don't miss Big Jolly's glowing, fawning account.

Radnofsky for Attorney General announcement tour

BAR gets ready to crank up her campaign ...

Barbara Radnofsky will formally announce her candidacy for Texas Attorney General and her December 3 filing for the March 2010 primary election in a five-city tour.

The kick-off event will be a meet and greet for Republicans, independents and Democrats at the home of Ed and Marie Malouf in Dallas on Tuesday, November 17 at 6:00 p.m. On Wednesday, November 18, Barbara Ann will attend and make a short announcement prior to the Democratic Gubernatorial Forum at Texas Christian University. To conclude her week-long trip and meetings in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Barbara Ann will announce at the Mid-Cities Democrats Birthday Bash on Friday, November 20 at 6:30 p.m.

The announcement tour continues in Austin on December 1, 2009 and will conclude in her home city of Houston (December 4, 2009). She will file for election the first day on December 3, 2009. Details regarding the Houston and Austin announcements will follow.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
6:00 p.m.
Home of Ed and Marie Malouf
Dallas, Texas

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Tarrant County Young Democrats Gubernatorial Forum
Texas Christian University, Student Center
The Horned Frog Ballroom, 3rd Floor
2901 Stadium Drive
Fort Worth, Texas 76129

Friday, November 20, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Mid-Cities Democrats Birthday Bash
Sheet Metal Workers Union Hall
1020 South Industrial Blvd
Euless, Texas 76040

Radnofsky -- assuming the Democratic primary for AG remains uncontested -- will square off against incumbent Greg Abbott, one of the lousiest Republicans ever to hold office in this state. Radnofsky has detailed his positions against women, as well the legal cover he provided to Tom Delay's mid-'90's redistricting escapade. The Lone Star Project has archived the dozens and dozens of abuses of power foisted on Texans by his hyper-partisan, fundamentalist, demagogic interpretations.

Abbott wants to be lieutenant governor but is stalled from seeking higher office -- just like incumbent LtG David Dewhurst and several other aspiring Texas Republican politicos -- by Kay Bailey Hutchison's dithering. Radnofsky, like the rest of us, has observed the kabuki dance and notes: "Texas Republicans in disarray show they are more concerned about their political ambitions than the people of Texas."

Radnofsky previously took on the Kay Bailey monolith in 2006 and understands the uphill battle she has, facing off against a well-funded and entrenched Republican incumbent where a statewide Democrat hasn't been elected in the past 16 years. She also understands that the Texas GOP is at a tipping point, fearing intra-party assaults from their right flank and losing Texas voters who self-identify as Republicans.

Radnofsky will have to be a warrior, and a lot of things outside her control have to break her way in order to win. One thing I know about Barbara from personal experience: she has the intestinal fortitude for the fight.

She said it

"She is not here. She is campaigning all over Texas. But she is taking her pay from the taxpayers ... I don’t consider that integrity, and I don’t consider it leadership."

-- Kay Bailey Hutchison, about her opponent, Harris County treasurer Nikki Van Hightower, in their 1990 run for state treasurer

==========

In her book "Going Rogue", Sara Palin says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers".

Fact-check: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.

==========

"I went to sleep, and when I woke up people were mad at Obama. And I thought, 'Did I miss something? Did Obama start an illegal war? Did he fly over a flood zone and just wave? Did he torture detainees in a secret prison? Did he start illegally tapping phones? Did he alienate the world and squander a surplus? Because if he did any of that, we need to impeach that jackass.' ...

Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California, made a triple-X movie of herself. So now we know why she was stripped of her title --not for being anti-gay, but for being pro-stupid. She actually thought it wouldn’t get out? C'mon! It always gets out. That's the first 'Law of Pornodynamics': A pair of fake boobs in motion stays in motion."

"I hereby appoint myself the president's Tell-People-Where-to-Go-and-What-to-Kiss Czar. Fox News, if you want an exclusive: pucker up!"

-- Wanda Sykes

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is starting to feel an odd craving for can-shaped servings of cranberry sauce as it brings you this week's highlights from the blogs.

TXsharon continues to follow the abuses of Aruba Petroleum in a Barnett Shale backyard and Wednesday the Wise County Messenger picked up the story. It's all on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is really p*ssed that some South Texas Democrats voted against women's health care.

WhosPlayin posted an interview with Neil Durrance, the Democratic candidate seeking to unseat Michael Burgess in Congressional District 26.

A guest post from the ReEnergize Texas blog is the pick of the week over at Texas Vox, where we were quite disappointed that the Georgetown city council snubbed students over nuclear power.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on some of the talk this past week about raising the statewide gas tax. All that being said there are only two options to pay for transportation in Texas. Which will we choose: taxes or tolls?.

McBlogger takes a look at Sen. Hutchison's decision not to resign from her Senate seat.

Off the Kuff looks at a threatened outbreak of homophobic behavior in the Houston mayor's race.

The War on Christmas starts early at The Texas Cloverleaf, complete with a beach landing at Walmart.

Sue Schechter announced for Harris County Clerk last week and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs caught the press release.

With Thanksgiving almost here, Neil at Texas Liberal ran a picture of a sultry pilgrim holding a turkey, and included in this post information about the status of women in colonial New England.

Sunday Not Very Funnies

Pacquiao - Cotto not quite one for the ages

Thrilling but one-sided.

(Manny) Pacquiao knocked (Miguel) Cotto down once in the third round and again in the fourth, pummeled him repeatedly and easily lifted the World Boxing Organization welterweight belt from the Puerto Rican with a 12th-round stoppage. The time was 55 seconds into the final round, as referee Kenny Bayless leaped between the fighters to save Cotto a more savage beating and ignominious end.

Some observers thought Cotto would defeat Pac-man late because of his size advantage (10 pounds), reach, and equivalent quickness and defenses.

Not so much.

My friend Waterman was quite a bit closer ...

Still, although no outcome will surprise me, I tend to favor Manny by TKO somewhere around the 8th or 9th round. The biggest factor, in my opinion, will be his advantage in hand speed. Pacquiao is a crisp puncher at welterweight, and Cotto’s eyebrows will not hold up. The reduction in his field of vision will make it easier for Pacquiao to deliver punches that Miguel does not see coming. And Cotto has a history of being hurt by fast punches that he doesn’t see coming – not only in the Ricardo Torres fight, but more importantly, even against Malignaggi.

Pacquiao owned Cotto from about the thrid round on and the fight was nearly stopped at the end of the ninth by Cotto's corner. It should have been. I have prepared tenderized skirt steaks that weren't as rough as Cotto's face by the twelfth, when it finally and mercifully was.

I followed the fight on Twitter and blow-by-blow online at Yahoo and ESPN simultaneously. Twitter was by far the lousiest way to do this; besides there being fifteen morons feeding the stream -- some calling action in Round 6 at the same time others were giving the Round 4 decision -- a couple of comedians would post lame jokes like "I beat Manny at Pac-Man" and such. The stream being too full, too slow, and too many repetitive tweets occurring out of chronological sequence makes this medium impossible for me to enjoy. (This same stew of fact, conjecture and rumor rushes out like a firehouse at times like the Ft. Hood shooting and the "Balloon Boy" caper. I would rather be locked in a room with fifty people all talking at me at once. Twitter is excellent for a blogger or two reporting details from a meeting, speech, dinner or some such, but not at all for breaking news.)

The Yahoo guys live-chatting the fight were way too slow on the uptake. Minutes behind the action most of the time, and that's useless when you're "live-blogging" three-minute fight rounds and one minute in-between. ESPN was by far the best. Their punch-by-punch updates were right on time, and they snapped out good summaries between the rounds.

Kay Bailey dithers on being with Dick next week

The woman just has not made a promise she can keep. Never made a commitment she hasn't waffled on.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said in Galveston today that she hasn’t yet determined whether she’ll be able to make a Tuesday appearance and fundraiser in Houston with former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The full Senate’s first major procedural vote on health-care legislation could come Tuesday.

Hutchison has made the fight against health care the main rationale behind her decision not to resign from the Senate before her March primary against Gov. Rick Perry. At the same time, the Cheney appearance is one of the most important events of her campaign.

“We’re working on it,” Hutchison said this morning in her first interview since her campaign announced she would not resign the Senate seat before the primary. “That’s going to be a tough situation. But again, I’ll make the judgment call.”

No you won't, Kay. Next Tuesday morning, you'll take your makeup out of the refridgerator, spackle your mug, hand your purse to one of the boys whose sole job is to carry it for you, adjust your wretched-looking coiffure, prance over to the Capitol, hope a TV reporter asks you for a comment, then hang out all day in your office waiting for something to happen, someone to call you. A purse boy will bring you a salad for lunch and you'll make a few phone calls to your lickspittles here -- just to be meddlesome and overbearing -- who are organizing the Dick event.

You'll get the post-event cash wrangle report by phone on your way home, have a martini and pass out at ten p.m. (Eastern time).

This is how you get Dick's help without having to pose for a picture with him. That, naturally, might help maintain the "Democratic cross-over vote" sham you hold as your last fading hope for defeating the worst governor in the history of the state of Texas.

Good luck with both the vote and the fund-raiser, you loser.