Huffington Post underscores importance of Texas in 2010...

Kay's peeps are linking to the Huffington Post... which sez that the 2010 Texas race is the most important thing in the whole nation (link). Excerpt follows...

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, one of the state's most popular Republicans, is challenging Gov. Rick Perry, the first time ever that a sitting Senator has come home to challenge a sitting Governor. That primary is expected to be well-funded and brutal. The right is already taking sides - Dick Cheney is sticking with Hutchison. Sarah Palin is for Perry.

Hutchison had originally intended to resign her seat in the Senate to concentrate on the governor's race, which would have set up a special election to replace her. With a runoff system instead of a nominating contest, that would have given Democrats their best possible chance of taking that Senate seat. Houston Mayor Bill White, with his 80% approval ratings and excellent fundraising ability, seemed the perfect candidate.

But pressure from her party and lagging poll numbers convinced Hutchison not to resign her seat. White, in turn, pulled out of the now non-existent special election, and turned his sights toward the governor's race, where he will take on the winner of the Hutchison/Perry rough-and-tumble.

Seems weird for Kay's peeps to pass around an article highlighting "lagging poll numbers" for Kay...

The point of the article... that Texas will add 4 new Representatives and redistricting will be a huge deal in 2011...

Which begs the question... are Kay and Rick the same on redistricting?

Rick took extraordinary measures calling a special session to fix the broken districts that gave Democrats a 17-15 edge in Congress despite the state being tilted toward the Republicans in reality... the Republicans and Democrats fought it out, and Republicans ended up tilting it far in the other direction... 21-11 after 2004...

At the time, Kay did not say anything supporting redistricting and in fact seemed to criticize the way Rick and the Republicans went about it (link)... so for Republicans who want to see Texas maximize its number of Republicans in the Congressional delegation it looks like there may be another battle in 2011... so having someone who is proven as a fighter on the issue may be hugely important... Kay is not a conservative fighter who takes tough positions on things like this.

The point of Kay's peeps passing around the article is that Bill White is a strong candidate and can beat Rick but not beat Kay... and Republicans need Kay because she is a stronger general election candidate.

They definitely have a point that Kay is more attractive to non Republican voters, but I think in a heated Republican primary that puts the cart in front of the horse and might be a negative...

Electability is a big thing in any primary, but arguing the longest serving governor in Texas history... who has beaten back tough opponents with a lot of money... is not electable is laughable at best...