Republican Governors Association "accidentally" endorses Rick?

NBC DFW reporter @OmarVillafranca Omar Villafranca tweeted about this...

New email from RGA: "$ we raise will go dir 2 supp our conservative, Repub candidates like McDonnell,Jindal and Rick Perry."

RGA's Barbour suppts #Perry, but has said RGA will remain neutral. This email was from Exec Dir, Nick Ayers. Will follow up...

Here is the full email...

Dear Fellow Conservative, This Thursday, December 31st marks a critical deadline for the GOP Comeback. At that point, we'll report how much money we raised in 2009. It is essential that we raise more money than the Democrats, and we need your help! The money we raise will go directly to supporting our conservative, Republican candidates, and ensuring we elect tax-fighting, job-creating governors across the country like Bob McDonnell, Bobby Jindal and Rick Perry. Moreover, the media will judge our fate by the amount of contributions we report as of December 31st. Please contribute $250, $100, or $50 to our GOP Comeback by donating to the RGA today. By out-raising the Democrats we will prove that Americans are sick and tired of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama's reckless spending and plan to hijack our healthcare system. We know times are tough, but it you contribute $50, $37 or even $25 to the RGA today you will send an unmistakable message to the tax-and-spend Democrats. Click HERE to contribute to the RGA right now! Thank you for your support of the GOP Comeback. It means so much to our conservative governors who fight to kick-start our economy every day. Sincerely, Nick Ayers Executive Director, RGA P.S. There are 37 governors' races in 2010. Consider donating $37 - just $1 for each race - at http://www.rga.org/homepage/initiatives/comeback-fund/ today!

Is Omar reading too much into this? It may have been an accidental slip, or it may have just meant that Rick is a good if not the best example of a Republican job creating governor out there.

This is a very unique situation... Rick was the chairman of this group one year ago... this year he is still the chief fundraiser for the RGA... and never in the history of America has a sitting senator challenged a sitting incumbent governor in a primary...

In fact only 5 senators have ever been elected governor... ever. Not even in the general election has a senator become governor after defeating an incumbent governor...

In other words, the RGA is usually neutral in primaries, but they also have a tendency to support incumbents... two competing things at work here...

Rick has such a big role in the RGA that it would be strange for his buddies to not support him just because someone has declared her candidacy against him... especially since Rick currently has a leadership role where he is hosting RGA national conferences, recruiting candidates to run, and bringing in the big bucks for Republican candidates all around the country...

Makes you wonder just how "accidental" Rick's inclusion in the RGA really was. I was told months ago that the RGA like many other organizations did some polling in Texas over the summer and found that Rick was far ahead...

Months old data still relevant? Or did Rick's campaign manager leaking his 13 point poll lead this week confirm the old numbers and prompt Rick's inclusion in the latest RGA email?

A lot of groups simply try to get behind the likely winner... which explains one of the reasons why Rick has been able to nail down so many organizational endorsements from groups like the Texas Medical Association... most of them wouldn't be endorsing if they didn't believe Rick was up by a solid margin and instead believed the race was a nailbiter based on their polling...