AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Republicans will select a new party leader after Tina Benkiser's departure to become a senior adviser to Gov. Rick Perry.
The chairman position is supposed to remain neutral in primary elections, but the two leading candidates to replace Benkiser are avid Perry supporters. Perry, the longest serving governor in history, faces a primary challenge from Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Announced candidates so far include Cathie Adams, head of the conservative Eagle Forum and a member of the Republican National Committee, and GOP activist Melinda Fredericks. Also running for the post is El Paso native Mary-Yoly Moore.
It will be difficult to find a credible candidate among the Kay peeps. I think this sort of shows what I have been saying for a long time. Kay alienated the grassroots with a lot of her votes over the years, and even people who were outspoken critics of Rick for one issue or the other in the past are now on his team. Kay will really depend on getting a lot of people who don't usually vote in primaries to come and vote for her. That is not really a winning strategy from my experience...
I just don't see how the math adds up unless she gets all the Hillary Clinton supporters who helped her beat Obama in 2008. If she gets them though she loses real Republicans and still loses. The way she is going now I don't really get who she is trying to win. The conservative base? Moderates and liberals? Kay is all over the place, while Rick is consolidating the conservatives.
Why do you talk about things you know nothing of? If former National Committee Woman, Denise McNamara, wanted to be party chair, she would be hands down. She's a loud KBH supporter. She would have beat Benky in June 08 had she ran for it.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the RPT chair will have next to zero to do with the outcome of the race.