History suggests that absenteeism, by itself, is rarely much of a factor to voters. It's more effective as a proxy for something else – say, political cowardice. Hutchison would be vulnerable if she skips a vote on anything as controversial and dear to hardcore GOP voters as abortion, or raising the federal debt limit, or immigration.
Let's see... Kay has two separate missed votes on ACORN funding, several missed votes related to Obama's stimulus package, at least one earmark reform vote, a vote on confirming the Census director, and several other key votes.
Missing votes is a big pet peeve of mine, especially when the votes are missed to attend fund raisers or political rallies...
It is not just me... I hear all the time from Republican peeps I know that her missed votes on some of these big issues is just plain unacceptable. It is not a minor issue to a lot of people that she skipped the chance to send ACORN a message. It gets to the heart of why she is running... is it because she is a movement conservative who wants to reform Texas? No. She is far from a movement conservative.
Is it because she is out for her own career? Maybe...
This is a year when Republicans want our peeps to stand and fight... not run and hide and let the Democrats run the agenda unchecked...
The major thing about missing votes is that there just aren't that many votes in the senate, and almost all of them take place from Tuesday through Thursday, so every missed vote is a huge deal.
Todd Gillman is way off on this... primary voters do care about Kay's frequent missed votes. That absenteeism and her excuses for it fits into Kay's image as a typical Washington politician rather than someone who is up there fighting for us, it's not helpful to her run for governor. It also fits into her varied answers on when she is resigning or not resigning and all of that... which doesn't help her image as a wishy washy equivocator...
KBH is a RINO! An absentee RINO!
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