Who didn't see this coming? Kay breaks promise, announces she is staying her entire term...

Kay has resigned (link)...

Just kidding. She is going to serve out the rest of her term. Who didn't see that coming?

I blogged it here many many times... Kay should have resigned about a year ago if she was serious about becoming governor... and when she did not resign by late summer I predicted over and over that Kay would not only serve out her whole term after losing but actually entertain a reelection run in 2012...

Chris Cillizza has a good blog about Kay's decision (link). Excerpt follows...

Hutchison's decision comes roughly one month after she was badly bested by Gov. Rick Perry in a primary fight that was once seen as hers to lose. During that campaign, Hutchison repeatedly pledged that she would resign her seat in the aftermath of the primary -- win or lose.

Smart political operatives, however, were always skeptical that Hutchison would step aside if she lost and, as primary day drew closer and it became more and more apparent she would come up short, conventional wisdom congealed around the idea that she would ultimately go back on her word for two reasons.

First, resigning her seat in the wake of a loss would be an unsatisfying end to a political career that some believed might ultimately end in the White House. Hutchison entered the race against Perry as the most popular politician in the state but left it with much of that shiny veneer rubbed off. She can now use the next two years to rebuild that image and burnish her legacy.

Second, if Hutchison did resign, Perry would have the ability to choose an interim successor who would then almost certainly have a leg up in the special election to serve out her remaining two years. The idea that the person who had just all-but-ended her political career would also be able to pick her replacement was an unsavory one that Hutchison almost certainly wanted to avoid.

There are a few other ways to see this.

First... this prevents an expensive open primary that would drain resources from Rick as he tries to build up his war chest for November, and force party peeps to throw down cash that could also be going toward taking back the U.S. Congress, or toward picking up seats in the state legislature before redistricting commences next year... the NRSC gets to save some money rather than defending a seat this summer or next year or whenever the resignations was alleged to have taken place...

Second... this prevents Rick from making an appointment... which is probably good news and bad news for him. It is bad news in the sense that he does not get to play king maker and does not get to appoint someone like Michael Williams who would generate a lot of buzz... it is good news in the sense that David Dewhurst and all the others don't have to be mad at him now for not appointing them... Rick has to work with Dewhurst next year to cut a lot of spending... to redistrict... and to solve some serious infrastructure problems that look far away time wise but are really pretty close...

Third... this forces Rick to play nice with Kay... as a sitting senator she has a lot of power and influence still... and Rick has to court her before the election in November... had she resigned she would have immediately become irrelevant... now Rick almost has to partake in building Kay back up to avoid having her work behind the scenes against him... a rare situation following campaigns... usually the vanquished has to suck up to the conquerer not the other way around...

Fourth... this gives Kay two years to build her reputation back up and run again in 2012... I know "sources" are saying she has no intention to run again for the senate in 2012 but come on... she absolutely plans on making that happen... get real if you don't think she and her team... and her husband Ray... are already plotting this course toward a comeback and a victory in 2012... if she is truly ready to call it quits at the end of this term I think we will see evidence of that in the next few months... signals to other candidates that they are good to go for a primary in 2012... otherwise she totally plans on staying...

I think Kay's ultimate justification for this is flimsy and weak... she should be staying to avoid more division and bloodshed and expense within the GOP... what she is saying however is that she is the only person capable of fighting Obama and the Democrats and that she is doing it despite her own best interests... that her staying is a big chore and a burden that we should all be thankful for... which is stupid...

Kay will continue to vote the right way most of the time but side with the squishy senators from Maine and the Democrats on far too much... and as her voting proved over the past year when some light was shined on it she was not good at fighting Obama and in fact probably aided and abetted him on a few key agenda items...

Kay should stop playing the victim who is sacrificing herself role and instead should just be up front about why she is staying. She was elected to serve a 6 year term. She took a year or more off to run for governor... she said she was resigning because that was the only way to win the governorship... and now she is staying to fulfill her term and prevent a messy primary battle in which a popular moderate well known name brand Democrat John Sharp could sneak in and win...