Rick leads Kay in latest Poll, but 45% are Undecided

Yesterday's big news was the release of the Texas Lyceum Poll on the upcoming Texas gubernatorial race. The Dallas Morning News included an AP report that highlighted the results of the poll:

A new poll shows Gov. Rick Perry is leading his major primary challenger, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, in his 2010 re-election campaign.

The Texas Lyceum Poll released Wednesday also found many Texans aren't paying much attention to next year's elections yet.

The poll found Perry backed by 33 percent of those polled, while Hutchison had 21 percent. Some 45 percent of Texans were undecided.

On the Democratic side, 80 percent of those polled were undecided, but humorist Kinky Friedman had 10 perecent, followed by former ambassador Tom Schieffer with 6 percent. Schieffer formally launches his campaign on Wednesday.

The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Its obvious that with nearly 45% of Texans undecided on this race, the results of this poll shouldn't cause a party at Rick's re-election headquarters. There's still a lot of campaigning to do between now and election day.

We already know that Governor Perry's plan is to attack Senator Hutchison as a "Washington outsider" who is out of touch with us Texans. We're still waiting for the KBH campaign to crankup in full gear. As both campaigns start to hit full throttle, you'll see more postings here at KVR.

AP: Texas race for gov. a Republican slugfest

Kelley Shannon at the Associated Press captured in one word what the upcoming Republican gubernatorial race is turning out to be so far, a "slugfest".

Shannon's article delves into state of fundraising for both campaigns.

Even if Perry trails in money this summer — a real possibility because he couldn't accept donations all spring but Hutchison could — he'll likely catch up quickly because of established donors who are willing to give him as much as $100,000 per four-year term, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

"This is a race that will see larger amounts of money spent in the primary, maybe, than in the general election. It's going to be a slugfest between Perry and Hutchison," Jillson said.

Shannon's article continues, with spokespersons from both campaigns.

Hutchison held an early money lead at the start of this year, with nearly $8 million to Perry's $6.6 million in the bank. Most of Hutchison's total was transferred from her federal campaign account.

Since then, she's been working on more state fundraising. She named John Nau, a Houston businessman and former Perry backer, as her finance chairman. She sent out a fundraising letter that sounded the national Republican theme but referred to Perry in saying, "We simply can't afford this type of leadership negatively defining our party for four more years."

Hutchison is stepping up complaints that the two-term governor is showing "hypocrisy" on issues ranging from property rights to the state's business tax.

"Real leaders don't grandstand on a temporary fix to the problem of their own making. This is a new height of hypocrisy even for Rick Perry," Hutchison spokesman Hans Klingler said this month when Perry signed a law revising the business tax that he backed when it was crafted.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the Hutchison accusations ring hollow.

"It's easy to criticize when you've been on the sidelines," Miner said. Perry's camp will continue to point out Hutchison's long history in Washington and link her to federal bailouts and deficit spending, Miner said.

"We'll continue to highlight the differences between someone who's been in Washington and someone like the governor who's been in Texas working to improve the lives of all Texans," Miner said.

So the Parry camp continues down the destructive path of claiming Senator Hutchison is a 'Washington outsider' and some kind of federal government cowgirl. So far, it may be playing out okay on talk radio, but as Kay's campaign kicks into full throttle, we won't be surprised to see her talking about how out of touch Perry with reality.

Kay says Perry is hurting the Republican party

Senator Hutchison was on Hardball last night. If you missed her on MSNBC last night, no worries, Todd Gillman at the Dallas Morning News provided a summary in this morning's Trail Blazers Blog:

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was on Hardball last night on MSNBC, talking mainly about Iran and President Obama's latest posture there. But Chris Matthews asked her about the Texas governor's race, too - specifically, whether she thinks she can beat Gov. Rick Perry, given her "centrist conservative views" and the fact that he's a "character... who's talked about secession from the union, who now enjoys... the endorsement of Sarah Palin, who, for whatever crazy reason, has gotten herself involved in Texas politics?

Short answer from Hutchison: "Yes."

She invoked Ronald Reagan - the big tent part, not the 11th Commandment part.

"I'm a conservative. I want the party to be growing and building and bringing people into our ideas by welcoming them into the party, by holding to our principles, while we say, here are what we believe, and we know you can't agree on 100 percent of everything, but we can form a party around basic principles of freedom, of lower taxes, of entrepreneurship and -- and the American spirit. We can build a party around that. And we can argue about differences that we might have, but we should not repel people from the party. And that's what I think has happened with Governor Perry, in some instances."

Polls indicate both Perry and Sen. Hutchison are tied

A Rasmussen poll released today indicates that Governor Perry and Senator Hutchison are "essentially tied in an early look at their 2010 Primary battle."

The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey shows Perry attracting 42% of the vote while Hutchison earns 38%. Seven percent (7%) say they’d like to vote for somebody else and 13% are undecided.

Perry leads by 15 percentage points among conservative voters but Hutchison leads by 35 points among the moderates.

Garner Shelby at the Austin American-Statesman reported yesterday that "A poll taken Sunday and Monday on behalf of Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election campaign suggests that among Republicans likely to vote in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary, Perry is in striking distance of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison."

The summary doesn’t precisely say how pollster Mike Baselice chose who to poll.

Hutchison’s camp later questioned the methodology.

Her campaign manager, Rick Wiley, and a senior strategist, long-time GOP pollster Lance Tarrance Jr., took issue with Perry’s campaign testing the candidates in two ways—both with their officeholder titles (Gov. Perry, Sen. Hutchison) and simply by their names. Tarrance said the sample size in each case means the margin of error for each sample of 250 GOP voters is plus or minus 10 percent.

“Maybe they’re baiting everybody” with the poll, Tarrance said.

Baselice said later the plus or minus margin of error for a sample of 250 voters would actually be 6.1 percent.

In the summary, Baselice advises: “The overall ballot score shows the race much closer than some of recent polls floating around the Internet.” The percentages as relayed to Perry supporters by Perry consultant Dave Carney: Hutchison 44 percent, Perry 39 percent.

Yet those percentage combine the two samples. When the two were paired against each other by names alone, Hutchison led by 11 percentage points, that is: Hutchison, 47 percent, Perry 36 percent.

Put another way, nearly one in two Republican voters favors Hutchison for governor at this time.

Baselice, reached later, defended his approach.

Chris Bell's lawsuit over 2006 contribution for Perry still on

Jason Embry at the Austin American-Statesman reports "District Judge John Dietz late today denied efforts by Texans for Rick Perry and the Republican Governors Association to throw out a lawsuit brought against them by Democrat Chris Bell, who ran against Perry in 2006, said Bell lawyer Buck Wood."

Bell has alleged that reporting errors made by the Perry campaign on campaign-finance reports kept the public from fully seeing the source of money that the governor received for his re-election in the final week of the 2006 race. He has argued that the governors’ group did not follow proper state procedures in making the donation.

Wood said the Dietz ruling did not address Bell’s own effort to have a summary judgment in the case. If that effort is also denied, the case will move closer to a trial.

At issue is $1 million that came to the Perry campaign from the governor’s group in the final month of the campaign.

Job Security: Perry's Appointees reportedly contribute Millions

Wanna show the boss that you like him and hope to keep your job? Better pay up. Matt Stiles at the Houston Chronicle reports today that, "The appointees have given about $4.9 million since Perry became governor in late 2000, with the average donation topping $7,000."

Gov. Rick Perry has accepted nearly $5 million in political campaign donations from people he appointed to state boards and commissions, including some in plum jobs that set policy for state universities, parks and roads, records show.

Nearly half the appointee donations came from people serving as higher education regents, including more than $840,000 from those at the University of Texas System, according to a Houston Chronicle review of campaign-finance records.

Stiles' article includes the following link to see a list of top contributors with State Jobs:

http://images.chron.com/content/news/pdfs/09/05/04/donations.pdf

Perry to speak at Family Research Council summit in September

Governor Perry made a lot of news with his support of a pro-life license plate in Texas last week. For many that are following the 2010 road to the Governors Mansion, his support of the license plates shows a strategy that includes courting 'right wing conservatives'.

Earlier this morning, Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News, reported in his blog that Governor Perry is scheduled to speak at the Values Voter summit.

Gov. Rick Perry, whose efforts to woo the religious right to beat Kay Bailey Hutchison in next year's GOP primary, will be a featured speaker at the big Values Voter summit in Washington DC in September. The event -- an annual gathering of the who's who among social conservative political types -- is sponsored by Family Research Council. The group lists the Texas governor on its web site as a confirmed speaker, along with others invited and confirmed -- Sarah Palin, former Ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell, radio talkers Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, Congresswoman Michele Bachman, Phyllis Schafly and gay marriage opponent Miss. California Carrie Prejean.

Perry is stepping up his appeal to social conservatives with repeated tweets on his Twitter account boosting Tuesday's prayer breakfast in Austin, part of the National Day of Prayer observance.

Governor Perry's efforts to distance himself between Senator Hutchison as a 'Washington Outsider' seems to be faltering. KVR reported earlier that Perry has more money from Washington contributors and guess where the Values Voter summit is going to be held? The Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC.

Texas House debates flag for Governor

Things must be really busy at the Capitol these days what with the latest debate centered on what type of flag should be designated for the governor.

Robert T. Garrett of the Dallas Morning News writes in today's Trail Blazers blog about the flag.

The House just had its daily leg stretch and heehaw. This one over designating an official flag for the governor.

House Democratic Leader Jim Dunnam of Waco, offered a bill proposing a red, white and blue flag dating to 1839 and the Republic of Texas (right). Dunnam said, "I think he should have a flag." Gov. Rick Perry has failed to issue an order specifying one.

Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, said Dunnam's proposed flag looks too much like the current flag of Russia. Though Dunnam pleaded that Russia imitated the Republic of Texas, King swayed House members to substitute a blue flag with stars and a seal for Dunnam's 1839 pilot flag of the Republic of Texas.

"Members, vote for America, not Russia," King said.

The Handbook of Texas Online states that the pilot flag was probably used from January 25, 1839, to December 29, 1845.

We thought the Governor already has a flag... our current Lone Star state flag. Sure its our sixth one, but we're proud of it and we hope the Governor is too.