Will Kay actually resign in 2010?

I write blogs about Rick vs. Kay, but I also have a keen interest in the senate race that will open up if and when Kay resigns. I have a certain candidate I have begun to support... I won't say who... but I have begun to hear far more grumbling rumors about Kay's resignation maybe not happening. Rick Dunnam of the Houston Chronicle blogs about this in his top ten predictions list for 2010 (link). Excerpt follows...

3. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison doesn't resign from the Senate after all.

Does Dunnam know something the rest of us do not? Or is he just echoing the sentiments that are out there...

Todd Gillman speculates more about Kay's plans for 2010 (link). Excerpt follows...

The first domino: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. How and when that one falls will trigger an unstoppable chain of events, though some of those could go in a few directions.

Let's start with the senior senator.

She said last summer that she would quit by December. In December, she said she'd wait until after the March primary and then quit, win or lose. Check back in March to see if someone with nothing waiting but a retirement party gives up all the perks of Senate membership – or, if she wins, she changes her mind about handing over the salary, staff and airtime to a successor hand-picked by the guy she just beat.

But let's take her at her word. March 2 comes and goes. She wins theGOP primary, or loses to Gov. Rick Perry, and she resigns.

Then what?

A Texas governor can create a U.S. senator at the stroke of a pen. The fix may already be in for Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, conservative stalwart and Perry ally. But Perry may play for time, especially if Hutchison's resignation comes out of the blue.

The newcomer will start casting votes and offering fiery floor speeches about health care, cap-and-trade and a slide into socialism that are more strident but otherwise identical to those Hutchison has given lately. Sen. Al Franken will introduce himself to the new Texas senator and say thanks for taking over the bottom rung of seniority.

And then, in Texas, the real fun begins, because the only prize more enticing than an open Senate seat is a Senate seat held by someone hand-picked by a governor who just survived (or lost) a bloody primary.

It will be costly, vicious and frenetic. Both national parties and all the key pundits will pay close attention. A Democratic win would give a huge lift ahead of midterm elections in which the president's party is fixing for a drubbing; a Republican win would prove the natural order hasn't been upturned.

But those dominoes are months away. Others will fall in coming weeks.

Let me tell you if Kay does not resign there will be a lot of angry people who have gotten behind a candidate to fill her senate seat... and they won't be happy with her far longer than 2010 if she runs for senate again in 2012... she might be challenged...

This is so far away but imagine if Kay loses to Rick, then does not resign... then runs again in 2012 for senate... do you think Rick would be spiteful and help out another candidate take her out? I could see it. Revenge is a dish best served cold... and I know for a fact at least two of the current candidates for senate would be more than happy to challenge Kay... and in fact they are not happy with her right now because it has put their 2010 plans in such limbo.