Rick and Kay... and the others, six weeks later...

It has been six weeks since the primary... suddenly there is all sorts of talk about Rick running for president... which PerryvsWorld slaps down (link). Excerpt follows...

Paul Burka wrote almost 800 words on why he thinks Rick Perry is running for president. But in those 800 words the only factual support that he gave was that 1) he asked people to text fired up to his campaign, and 2) he talked about the federal government being too big.

Well, I grant that number 1 is evidence to be weighed. A fundraising network outside of Texas is important to running for president. On the other hand, campaigns require money and Perry is in a campaign now. If we're talking about running for president, Perry has served as Chair of the Republican Governors Association and currently serves as Finance Chair. Those two pieces of information probably weigh more towards Perry running than the fact that the tried to expand his campaign text message database. All in all, I wouldn't put too much importance on Perry asking people to text him. He can use that to raise money, and that's what politicians do: they raise money.

I agree with this analysis... although doing a big photo shoot with Newsweek seems like an indication... a hint of some kind... although we will have to see what he says in the interview...

So where is Kay these six weeks later?

Still earning demerits from the Citizens Against Government Waste in their new 2010 Pig Book (hat tip to a reader who would like to remain anonymous) (link)... Excerpt follows...

$693,000 for beef improvement research in Missouri and Texas by Senate appropriator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and House appropriator Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas). According to beef.org (the beef industry’s website), “Consumers’ love of great steaks and burgers, their confidence in the safety of U.S. beef and their renewed interest in the nutritional benefits of protein help create strong demand for beef. Consumer spending on beef was $76 billion in 2008 and has grown $26.9 billion since 1999. Per capita spending for beef in retail and foodservice was about $249 in 2008 — up about $50 from 2001. In 2008, per capita consumption of beef was 59.9 pounds, compared to 59.2 pounds for chicken.” Taxpayers have a real beef paying for this big fat earmark.

Kay has to be thinking to herself... why did I ever run... or at least... how could that guy have beaten me? She was supposed to be the VP pick in 2008... she was supposed to be the governor of Texas... but things don't always work out the way the plans say...

In the meantime... Debra Medina is still being ineffective and playing the poor me victim card according to someone I know who was at this hearing this week (link).

Then there is Bill White. Even the joke known as PolitiFact gets it right for once in saying Bill White is full of crap for saying Rick's budget cuts equal soviet style budgeting (link). Bill White got a pants on fire and rightly so... budget cuts are basically the opposite of soviet style budgets...

Bill White is running a terrible campaign so far... he seems to be repeating many of the same mistakes Kay made... and even repeating some of the same Kay talking points word for word. In other ways he is running a cookie cutter Democrat campaign.

I guess he thinks it will help him get the 30% of the Republican vote that went for Kay... and if he can get 100% of the Democrat vote then he wins... which is stupid thinking. I see zero evidence of any Republicans who were for Kay that are now for Bill White... other than maybe the increasingly marginalized and irrelevant political wing of Farm Bureau Insurance company. Republican voters vote for Republicans, even when they vote for the wrong candidate in the primary. Independents in Texas are really just general election Republicans. Texas independents like guns. Bill White doesn't. Texas independents don't like Obama. Bill White does. Texas independents are basically Republicans especially this year... and to think that Republicans are going to vote for a liberal Democratic party activist like Bill White (who bragged last year about advising Obama on important policy matters) in a Republican year like this... 8 months after the primary dust has settled and Rick has had time to unite the party...

The Rick vs. Bill thing just has anti-climax written all over it... more than even the Rick vs. Kay race in those final couple of months when the writing was on the wall about Kay's imploding efforts and Rick's surging momentum.