Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Is Hutchison Spending Enough Time Campaigning?

Paul Burka of Texas Monthly suggests that she isn't, and there is good reason to agree with him.

After Sen. Hutchison announced that she will not be resigning from the Senate, the question must be asked how, exactly, will she balance campaigning with the need to be in Washington to vote in the U.S. Senate.

I realize that there is still almost a year until Election Day, but Perry has already entered campaign mode and Hutchison must follow suit soon or she will lose ground.

From Burka Blog:
Speaking of whom: Where is she? Hutchison hasn’t been heard from much. I know from the story that I wrote on the governor’s race in February that their strategy is not to engage with Perry. That is the advice that Karl Rove gave them. (There is no love lost between Rove and Perry, going back to Perry’s 1998 race for lieutenant governor. Rove wanted Bush to demonstrate his strength among Hispanic voters by carrying El Paso, and the more Hispanics he turned out, the more votes he produced for Perry’s Democratic opponent, John Sharp–at least that’s the way Perry saw it.) Hutchison is going to have to start positioning herself in this race. Perry wants to make her the candidate of Washington (as opposed to himself, the candidate of Texas), and she is going to have to burnish her GOP credentials by taking on Obama and the Democrats. Perry is not going to let her run on her personality.

So many people seem to think that Hutchison will win this primary walking away. That just isn't going to happen. Perry continues to have a strong lead among Republican men and social conservatives. As long as he can hold on to those two groups, this will be an extremely competitive and close primary.

No comments: