Rick signs legislation to end state school abuse problems...

Yesterday Rick signed his name... I guess with his left hand?... to legislation that will clean up the state schools in Texas.

GOP12 has a good blog about it (link).

Today Texas Gov. Rick Perry took a big step toward addressing the problem by signing legislation which includes new video surveillance, criminal background checks for employees (they didn't have this before?), as well as more on-the-job training.

[SNIP]

Let's hope this doesn't turn into a campaign issue in the upcoming primary between Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison, which will likely be the costliest in the state's history.

Exactly... as far as a battle between Rick and Kay goes, I think most of us just want to flesh out who is the more conservative candidate, who is the better leader, who has a better record, and who has a better vision for the future. If the campaign gets into a tit for tat blame game with lots of negative ads about state schools or shady bond deals I could easily see turnout being well below the anticipated 1.4 million plus people and closer to 800 or 900 thousand. Negative campaigning will just turn people off, especially if it is about things like this.

That is not the campaign the GOP needs. We need an Obama/Hillary style race where the two are cordial and mostly offer positives about themselves. That is what drew so many people to the Democrats last year. Both candidates were great, as far as most Democrats were concerned. I fear that the upcoming Rick and Kay race will be full of pettiness and attacks that will force Republicans to choose sides and begin to hate the other side. I hope I am wrong.