Kay Bailey Hutchinson to Run for Texas Governor, Leaving Few Republican Moderates

July 29, 2009 RSS Feed Print
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By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Kay Bailey, we'll miss you! Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson has made public her plans to leave Washington, D.C. and return to her home state of Texas to campaign for governor:

In an interview Wednesday on WBAP-AM of Fort Worth and Dallas, Hutchison said she wants to stay in the Senate long enough to fight President Barack Obama's healthcare plan. She said her departure will be some time in "October, November, in that time frame."

Sen. Hutchison represents a vanishing breed of moderate Republicans whose disappearance is turning the GOP into the Party of No. She's seen by right-wing conservatives as pro-choice, even though she has a more nuanced opinion on abortion rights. She's seen by liberals as anti-choice. That places her squarely in the murky middle occupied by the vast majority of mainstream voters:

Hutchison can be a moderate on some social issues such as abortion and stem cell research, but is a hard-line fiscal conservative who supported all of President George W. Bush's tax cuts and more. One of her biggest issues in the Senate has been trying to overturn the "marriage penalty," which causes some married couples to pay more taxes when filing jointly than they would if each person filed seperately [sic].

She'll need to spend a lot of time building up a muscled campaign warchest. As a moderate, she's going to have to convince a lot of Texas GOP primary voters NOT to vote for Gov. Rick Perry, a social conservative. Best of luck, Kay Bailey!

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I am glad she is going to stay in the Senate. That would have been a terrible loss. But my son Hank Alan Johnson was murdered in Hearne in 2008 and she did care. But as I have told everyone about John Paschall in Hearne Texas of the corruption in my son;s case because of his brother in law Billy Blackburn is true. The movie made about him American Violet is true. the 20 months later for the DNA to find the killer just happened. John Paschall exumed my only son, took the samples to Austin where all the other samples are and now we will never know. You, the people are letting getting away with it. I don't care where you live or if it closely relates to your hometown or not it involves you. You the people. It is an injustice. It is happening to other people as well as to myself. Other people are hurting. Other people have died. Murdered. Covered uP. Threats, intimidation, retaliation,unmarked graves. Have we become such a society that if it doesn't affect us we don't care. Does it have to happen to you before you do care? Murders are not something that happens just to bad people. It happens to innocent people,good people, by bad cold hearted killers. They get away with it. They come to your town they kill your loved one. Someone that doesn't deserved to be brutally beaten with a baseball bat as they continue to kill over and over again. While a man in political power sets the stage, arranges their criminal records,paroles,allowing them to continue. Is it not wrong? You may say it happenes all the time,everywhere. Well of course it does. But if you know about it and you have evidence,but they are like a cat in the cat box that keeps covering up their stink sooner or later the cat box is full! It can hold no more stink. Then what do you do? You clean house. You don't put the same old stink in there. You put fresh and new. If you continue to put the same old stink back in time after time everything around it stinks. Everyone around it stinks. The whole place stinks. Take out the stink. Rid the county by putting the stink in the trash in jail where he belongs. If you don't my son's case will never be solved and the murderers will do what they do best. Steal your stuff,steal your car, drive drunk and kill you,beat your loved ones to death,and then sooner or later it will involve you. Because one person can make a difference. It starts with you. Ignor it? Pretend it didn't happen. Pretend my son didn't exist. His little girl and little boy don't matter to you. their tears you don't have to hear. Their faces you don't have to see if you turn your head? If I would have known about Hearne and John Paschall if you would have told me, I would have never let my son go there to his death. He would have been alive and at work today. And planning the weekend with his kids.

sandi Johnson of TX 10:40AM April 09, 2010

back up what you say,and make sure you high-lite it.don,t talk about illegal immigration do something,stop pollution in major cities by allowing Trucks in left and not cars for one year and it will go down and you will get alot more votes. Do not lie about transportation being equal when mexico gets to travel with big trucks and are protected in the US but we are not when we go to Mexico,needs to be taken care of.

Richard Spaustat of TX 6:45PM February 27, 2010

Rick Perry continues to talk about how he has kept taxes under control in Texas. He neglects to talk about all the fees he has added on our backs. He will not discuss the Texas Corridor and emminient domain. He uses tx Dot to do his bidding. I wonder how he feels about term limits. If we do not get term limits for all our political leaders we will never own our future. Vote for anyone that is not currently in office. I guess that leaves Medina in the Governors race

Eldon of TX 6:22PM February 17, 2010

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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