Kay Must Decide, says new Texas GOP Chair and Perry supporter Cathie Adams

W. Gardner Selby at the Austin American-Statesman reported today that "Cathie Adams of Dallas, who also said she won't be withdrawing her earlier endorsement of GOP Gov. Rick Perry's re-election, said her hope that Hutchison acts on the resignation issue reflects concern among party activists waiting for Hutchison's decision before setting their own political plans or making political commitments."

"It would help the people of the state of Texas to know more clearly, especially by (the candidate filing deadline of) Jan. 4," Adams said, "because if she resigns after that, we're going to throw things into quite an unknown."

Selby also reports that, "Adams told reporters it would be impossible for her to withdraw her earlier endorsement of Perry for another term."

There are 39 days remaining until the Filing Period begins. Perhaps Senator Hutchison will soon reveal her plans for the future to all of us. Several folks have been puzzled by the lack of information and action coming out of Team Kay. You'd thought that she would have publicized the sale of her Washington, DC home; instead we're all wondering what's going on?!

Perry: Washington Republicans got us in this mess

Jason Embry at the Austin American-Statesman reports that Rick Perry and his Chief of Staff, Ray Sullivan, attended a donkey roast of a meeting with Washingtonian republicans:

Gov. Rick Perry’s broad criticisms of Washington Republicans aren’t sitting well with Washington Republicans.

In a closed-door meeting Thursday in Washington with Perry chief of staff Ray Sullivan, several top aides to Texas Republican U.S. House members expressed anger over the language Perry is using as he tries to fend off a challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Perry often criticizes Hutchison in code by complaining about Washington.

Stoking their anger was a Sept. 14 fundraising letter in which Perry contrasts Texas’ relatively healthy budget climate with the Washington model of “more government, pork barrel spending and fiscal ruin.”

But instead of just talking about Democratic congressional leaders or President Barack Obama, the letter calls out Republicans.

“Let’s be frank,” the letter says. “Washington Republicans got us in this mess.”

Later in the letter, Perry writes, “If Washington Republicans hadn’t spent like Democrats for 12 years, they might have maintained enough votes to actually kill Obamacare.”

Hutchison’s campaign sent the fundraising letter to Republican chiefs of staff on Capitol Hill.

One would think Perry switched back to the Democratic party after reading Embry's post. We tip our hats to Jason's muckraking style of reporting. Embry's report continues with:

According to two sources in Thursday’s meeting who did not want to be named because they did not want to draw attention to their bosses, Sullivan was unapologetic. “He was nice, but he said, ‘We’re running against somebody from Washington and that’s the strategy,’ ” one source said.

Another said of Sullivan’s reaction, “I think there was shock and awe with the arrogance of it all.”

Perry campaign goes Negative, launches anti-Kay website

Well, it didn't take long for Governor Rick Perry's campaign to go negative.

Texans for Rick Perry has created and posted a website named "washingtonkay.com" in an attempt to portray her as a 'Washington outsider' and rapidly counter Kay's campaign.

We're not sure how long Perry's campaign will keep the negative website around, but for now it seems to indicate Rick's camp was shaken up earlier this week with Kay's allegations of redundant bill signing around the state for political purposes.

The website is http://www.washingtonkay.com and includes altered photos of Senator Hutchison that make her appear goofy. Visitors to the website can download a variety of YouTube videos that seem to have been developed to respond quickly to Kay's camp using the internet. Graphics and PDF documents may also be downloaded that attempt to show differences between the "Washington Kay" and the "Texas Kay".

Here at KVR we believe that Governor Perry is walking a very fine line. First of all, the site is outright negative in content. The site attempts to humorously ridicule a standing U.S. Senator elected by Texans to represent our state in Washington. Its also easy to construe this new website as misogynistic. Texas has a history of strong women leaders in politics. I'm not sure we've ever seen anything like this in recent political history; even with Strayhorn's gubernatorial bid.

We're waiting to see what Kay's campaign will do in response to this website. They will either ignore it to try and stave off attention from the new site or meet it head-on with a site of their own or calling shame on Perry's camp.

Gov. Perry claims $9.3 Million in Campaign War Chest

Gardner Shelby at the Austin American-Statesman is reporting this afternoon that:

Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign revealed today that it ended June with $9.3 million cash on hand, having raised $4.2 million in the last nine days of the month, which was the only period this year that he could legally accept donations.

For the moment—and surely just for the moment—that means Texans for Rick Perry is reporting more cash on hand than Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s gubernatorial committee, which entered this year with nearly $8 million cash on hand, a tally that then outpaced Perry’s end-of-2008 cash balance of $6.6 million.

Hutchison’s campaign, which could legally raise money through the regular legislative session and post-session veto period, is widely expected to report much more cash on hand by the time all finance reports are due a week from today.

The two are expected to face off for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in March.

Today, Perry’s campaign didn’t release his full report and it disclosed no information on who precisely accounted for his end-of-month haul.

But broadly, the campaign said it had raised $4.23 million—including $454,094 online—from 1,076 donors from June 22-June 30, which it said nearly doubled the amount he collected over a similar time period after the 2005 regular legislative session. (UPDATE: By my math, the campaign’s contributions this June fell $455,410 short of doubling the $2,343,248 Perry’s campaign raised in the June period of 2005—about 10 percent shy of a doubling.)

Jim Lee of Houston, one of Perry’s state finance chairs, said: “This is a remarkable accomplishment and a ringing endorsement of Gov. Perry.” He noted that 95 percent of the contributors are from Texas, “showing that Texans continue to appreciate and value his leadership.”

The Austin American-Statesman is awaiting a response from Kay's campaign.