Thursday, March 18, 2010

Kay knew she was doomed... felt betrayed by George W. Bush...

Wayne Slater has some after the fact gossip from the campaign trail about Kay's mood in the final few days of the campaign (link). Excerpt follows...
Traveling with Kay Bailey Hutchison in the final days of the primary campaign, I knew one thing was clear: Hutchison expected to lose the primary but was hoping for a sufficient showing against Rick Perry to somehow win the runoff. Aboard her campaign bus, Hutchison expressed frustration at the trajectory of her campaign (basically, down) and her failure to get the endorsement of former President George W. Bush (he stayed publicly neutral).Kayface.JPG
She indicated that Bush 43 was in her corner, as evidenced by the Bushies supporting her (Karen Hughes, Karl Rove, Margaret Spellings, Barbara and George Bush 41) "That was the signal," she said. Hutchison stood with Bush 43 in October 2009 to her political peril. Bush lobbied his fellow Texan to vote for the Wall Street bailout, she did -- and Perry pounded her for it. Didn't Bush owe her something, a reporter asked? "I know, I know," Hutchison said, shaking her head. She never got the endorsement
As further evidence the Hutchison camp had a sense their campaign was doomed, the Austin American-Statesman's Politifact quotes Hutchison campaign chairman Jim Francis of Dallas saying the senator was ready to abandoned the race even if she made the runoff. Francis said Hutchison had decided to concede if she trailed Perry by 20 percentage points or so -- and she did.
Kay has still maintained a certain cone of silence since the election... and there is no word on if or when she will resign as promised... and I have heard absolutely nothing about any reconciliation tour between Rick and Kay. I have really not seen or heard from Kay's peeps hardly at all since the election. Rick's peeps are running around the Austin scene like they own the place, and rightfully so...

I have also seen some evidence of fences mending between Rick's peeps and Kay's peeps... and I have heard about some overt magnanimous gestures from Rick's peeps toward Kay's peeps... but you have to wonder how serious that stuff is...

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Hey now, campaign characters. Be nice. I know a lot of you on both sides, so I don't want any overly foul language, personal attacks on anyone other than the candidates themselves, or other party fouls. I will moderate the heck out of you if you start breaking the bounds of civility.