11.14.09
Hutchison will stay in the Senate…until 2012?
The interesting part about Hutchison’s latest “announcement” is not that she’ll stay in the Senate through the primary, but that she says she she’ll resign win or lose.
Hutchison will resign the Senate seat next year after the primary.
“I will be resigning this Senate seat,” she says in the prepared remarks. “For all of the good Republicans out there who plan on running for my Senate seat next year, make no mistake, this will happen.”
Despite her note of certainty, Hutchison’s decision to quit in the middle of her term is likely to upend the usual process that Republicans use to fill out their statewide ballot.
Good Republicans? Anyway, she did sell her house in the D.C area, which is a sign she’s leaving but not about how soon. But it’s really hard to trust anything she says regarding her Senate seat, much less trust that she will resign after the primary when she loses.Her loss to Perry will also leave the more sane, and moderate Republicans without a candidate for governor, and rather defalted.
But in the bigger picture in the race for governor, this gives the GOP nomination to Perry. And it’s hard to believe that KBH will then turn around and resign immediately, her last political epitaph being a defeat at the hands of Perry. Any smart politician in Texas shouldn’t base their future decisions on the current whim of Sen. Hutchison. It’s extremely likely her Senate seat won’t be on the ballot until her term is up in the 2012 cycle.
What’s left is to see if this decision changes anything on the Democratic side of in the 2010 cycle. Kuff has his take and links to candidates and media, KBH: Not resigning till after the primary. But Hank Gilbert’s statement, as his usually are, is spot on:
“Anyone who says they are shocked by her announcement hasn’t followed the lengthy trail of broken promises she’s left in her wake, starting with her promise to serve only two terms. She is an unreliable and undependable public servant who dodges and weaves as it suits her political ambitions. Senator Hutchison has left her supporters and contributors holding the bag once again.”
Let’s just hope that the money millions both Perry and Hutchison will spend will finally make a majority of Texans realize that our state needs a change in leadership.