Texas Tea Party

In Texas, noted secessionist Rick Perry won the Republican nomination to run for an unprecedented third term as governor, handily defeating U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Perry shrewdly ran by capitalizing on the anti-incumbent anger of the Tea Party movement, even though he himself is an incumbent. Mrs. Hutchison gave him the opportunity. Perry simply ran against Washington and made Mrs. Hutchison's seventeen years as a U.S. senator an issue. The man the late Molly Ivins called the "Lite Gov" of Texas (a pun on on the fact that he had been lieutenant governor, or "Lt. Gov.") tied Mrs. Hutchison to several unpopular pieces of legislation, like the bank bailouts, and ran as much for state and local control as against federal control. Mrs. Hutchison, for her part, never had a chance; she spent too much time defending her votes in the Senate and too little time articulating a reason for her candidacy or explaining her agenda.

And she's a former television news reporter. So much for her communication skills.

Oh, yeah, the Democratic Texas gubernatorial nomination, as if it mattered. That prize went to Bill White, a former Houston mayor who quickly moved to depict Perry, being such an entrenched incumbent, as part of the problem, not the solution. White has a case, as Perry has been governor of Texas for a decade, and he may be the best chance Texas Democrats have had to elect one of their own to statewide office in a long time. There are two big problems for White, though. First, even though he is neither an incumbent governor nor a current office holder, White will have trouble making Perry the issue because Perry ran in the Republican primary against Washington, not Austin. Secondly, the Tea Party movement almost always endorses Republicans, and Texas Tea Party voters in the Ron Paul mold aren't likely to vote for any Democrat. Thirdly, White is suggesting that he can build a successful coalition of Democrats and anti-Perry Republicans.

Bill, you need a majority.

So that's the race in the fall, Rick Perry versus Bill White for governor or Texas. Perry-White. An election campaign the Daily Planet would cover? This race promises to be so toxic, even Clark Kent, despite his superhuman abilities, would avoid it like kryptonite.