Kay's vulnerability?

Burka thinks Kay is vulnerable (link). Excerpt follows...

What this says to me is that Hutchison is unelectable in 2012. Her base has been compromised, and there is a large constituency that is already aligned against her. Clearly the door is open for Dewhurst or Roger Williams or Dan Patrick, or Michael Williams, or just about anybody with name recognition to challenge her. This poll isn’t going to help her fundraising either.

I think he might be right, even if he is basing his assertion on that shoddy poll...

I still think she can recover, but she has to take much bolder action in terms of being a team player... her speech with Rick at the Republican Convention in Dallas got mixed reviews... some felt she still had animosity toward Rick despite her self deprecating jokes... some also felt she was a little defensive... Wayne Slater basically panned the speech and the whole thing but then again he is a liberal editorialist...

Still, I think Kay has missed some chances to really go out of her way and bring the party back together... and she would be well served to take up a few high profile conservative causes and run with them... also admit she was wrong on the bailout and some of the other issues that got her in so much trouble during the primary...

Right now I think there is a strong sentiment in favor of having a new senator from Texas instead of Kay in 2012... but if the alternative continues to be a muddled field of a dozen wannabes I think she goes into 2012 a lot stronger than she did in March 2010...

Mark Miner for the win...

I may have to amend my postulation yesterday (link) that perhaps Rick's peeps are not being aggressive enough in getting the real story about Bill White's corruption into media stories...

The Corpus Christi newspaper lets loose some zingers (link). Excerpt follows...

Mighty small-tent of the Texas Democratic Convention last week to deny access to Mark Miner, campaign manager for the enemy camp of Gov. Rick Perry. The explanation — that the convention was a place to support Democratic candidates and Democratic issues without reservation — sounded a might Orwellian. This from what we thought was the party of live-and-let-live, pro-open-access freedom of expression ‘n’ more.

[SNIP]

Before the day was out, he e-blasted news releases including: “Statement from Texans for Rick Perry Spokesman Mark Miner on Bill White’s convention speech,” which began with “In delivering one of the most negative speeches by a nominee for Texas governor in modern history ...” And, “How to survive the Texas Democratic State Convention,” with helpful hints such as “A packet of NoDoz to help maintain consciousness during Bill White’s floor speech,” and “Some Tylenol to battle the headache of Bill White’s liberal political agenda ...” Included in the survival guide was a Top 10 list of “confessions you will not hear from Bill White during his convention floor speech,” starting with “I will raise your taxes,” of course.

Had the Democrats been more open and accommodating, they might have cut into Miner’s valuable propagandizing time and maybe he’d have been less prolific. Also, had they not kicked him out and thus violated our sense of above-the-fray fair play, none of said propaganda would have been quoted in this space.

Another perspective from the Dallas Morning News (link). Excerpt follows...

Miner was asked to leave, Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Gray confirmed.

"We didn't feel it was appropriate," she said.

Miner said he was there to raise questions about White's leadership in Houston and the $2 million contract to BTEC for providing emergency generators afterHurricane Katrina (White's former company had purchased BTEC and White himself invested money in the company a year after the hurricane.)

Miner was inside the convention center, preparing to get guest credentials from a friendly vendor when he was asked to leave. He did. But Republican folks earlier did hand out a free newsletter to delegates, the Whitewash Report, where all the news stories were attacks against White.

Then there was that infamous chicken suit incident I missed out on when I was on hiatus (link). Excerpt follows...

From the peeps I have talked to... it sounds like Mark Miner just kept talking like a real pro and ignored the buzzsaw he had ventured into... and he still got his quotes in the news... what could have been a total disaster turned into only a mild disaster...

While doing a press conference on your opponent's front lawn while there is a campaign school going on there is a bit like Napoleon invading Russia in winter as far as decisions go... and let's not mince words... that generator back drop was not really very telegenic with those crummy BTEC signs they put on it... the whole stunt was ill fated from the beginning...

While all that is the case... my flippant speculation yesterday that Miner might not be pushing stories enough was just not supported by the evidence...

More likely the press just are biased beyond what they even realize. Some of them may even think they aren't biased because they occasionally ignore a White attack on Rick or pick up a Rick attack on White. What is strange though is that Bill White has a lot more room for exposure whereas Rick has just been through the grinder for the past year... not to mention campaigns in the past... Rick's laundry has been aired and re aired and re aired again... but Bill White is still unknown...

This Bill White not revealing his tax records thing for example...

The natural default for the media should be to push for more taxes to be released. Always... more information, more transparency... that is the journalist's duty... that is the call of the entire profession...

Instead... when it comes to Bill White the press look at his pathetic partial release of his taxes and say "we are satisfied..."

No... it shouldn't take Rick calling on Bill White to release his taxes every day for it to happen... it should be the working press doing their jobs and hounding him about it...

Where is the journalistic integrity? Where are the stories on Bill White's corrupt activities? Why did they bury the stories about Bill White's lawsuit against military voters?

Bill White was recently on a conference call with the media and announced he is "partnering" with the press (link). That sounds a little bit too much like this JournoList scandal for my taste (link). Excerpt follows...

The fact that 400 journalists did not recognize how wrong their collusion, however informal, was shows an enormous ethical blind spot toward the pretense of impartiality. As journalists actively participated in an online brainstorming session on how best to spin stories in favor of one party against another, they continued to cash their paychecks from their employers under the impression that they would report, not spin the agreed-upon “news” on behalf of their “JournoList” peers.

The American people, at least half of whom are the objects of scorn of this group of 400, deserve to know who was colluding against them so that in the future they can better understand how the once-objective media has come to be so corrupted and despised.

We want the list of journalists that comprised the 400 members of the “JournoList” and we want the contents of the listserv. Why should Weigel be the only person exposed and humiliated?

I therefore offer the sum of $100,000 to the person who provides the full “JournoList” archive. We will protect that person’s privacy and identity forever. No one will ever know who became $100,000 richer – and did the right thing, morally and ethically — by shining the light of truth on this seamy underworld of the media.

Bill White's conference calls with the press and comments about "partnering" with the media raise questions... are the press in Texas more than just informally in bed with the Bill White campaign? Are some of them actively on the Bill White team?

One of Rick's allies made a big stink to me a few months ago about how Gardner Selby and other Texas journalists are "fans" of Bill White on Facebook, but not a fan of Rick...

Selby is the one who oversees all of those laughably biased PolitiFact ratings... so his Facebook fanboy status of Bill White is not surprising.

Maybe I am making a mountain out of a mole hill... but it does seem like those little anecdotes... coupled with the Rasmussen Media Meter analysis showing that Bill White receives so much better media coverage than Rick... really make you wonder what is going on and why the press seem to determined to sink their own ships (link). Excerpt follows...

79.5% of the media mentions for White were positive, and only 20.5% were negative.

For Perry, during the same time frame, the coverage was far more mixed: 45.6% of the media mentions were positive, and 54.4% were negative.

Are the press hoping for a tight race? Are they just waiting until Labor Day before they write the stories that are damaging to Bill White? Do they see their subscriber declines and layoffs as inevitable... so they just throw away all pretense of objectivity... trying to go out with a bang...

Whatever it is... it seems to have escalated from when I was more in the game... not that the working press were objective angels back then... but in this Rick versus Bill White race and many instances I see in other races in other states these days... the bias is beyond the old acceptable threshold... and credibility of news outlets out among the people is suffering dearly as a result.

Karen Hughes makes nice with Rick's peeps...

Karen Hughes was on Team Kay, but she is on Team Rick now (link). Excerpt follows...

Karen Hughes, the former George W. Bush strategist, predicts a good year for Republicans, calls the Obama oil spill response "almost unbelievably passive" and lauds Texas Gov. Rick Perry skill at surviving a widespread anti-incumbent mood.

At a panel discussion today on the midterm elections, she called the BP spill a good analogy for the political climate. Anxiety about unemployment, deficit spending and the new health care plan "has turned into anger, and it's spilling over in a way that our normal party leaders, from both parties, have really not been able to channel or control."

But incumbents can avoid the backlash if they're careful. "There was a good model in Texas, where Gov. Perry really showed a political tour de force running against Washington. He took a very popular incumbent senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and defeated her soundly in the primary by basically turning her strengths - which were to bring Washington dollars to Texas for projects there, and turn that against her. ... Anti-Washington is what is popular and what is selling right now."

Hughes, who advised and supported Hutchison during the primary fight with Perry, made the comments at a panel discussion on the midterms hosted by the George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.

Not surprising, but it does she she is a good sport and that Rick is consolidating support of Kay's peeps...

Gun rights decision... Kay wins... Bill White loses...

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that the right to bear arms means that people have a right to bear arms... gun bans are illegal. This is a win for Kay (link). Excerpt follows...

The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling today, siding with a challenge to the city of Chicago's tough gun control law, underscores the stakes at Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing that starts this afternoon. It also vindicates the legal and political stance of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison , R-Texas, who has worked with Montana's Democratic senator, Jon Tester, to fight gun restrictions.

Hutchison called it "a major victory for the rights of all Americans to protect themselves and their families. The Supreme Court once again sent a clear message to local, state, and federal governments: the individual right to keep and bear arms applies to all law abiding Americans, regardless where they live."
.
The ruling clarifies an earlier Supreme Court ruling that struck down gun restrictions in the city of Washington. Hutchison orchestrated a friend of the court brief in that case, Heller v. District of Columbia; the justices overturned the city's longstanding firearms ban 5-4, but left open whether the ruling applied to states and cities that, unlike Washington, aren't subject to federal oversight.

In today's case, Hutchison and Tester rounded up signatures from 309 senators and U.S. House members - the most ever to sign a friend of the court brief - to argue that individual gun rights under the Second Amendment do, in fact, trump state and local firearms restrictions aimed at law-abiding citizens.

It is also a loss for Bill White, although you may not have heard about that because nobody reported on it. This is getting beyond the level of gross negligence or incompetence. The Texas press corps is just proving itself to be an arm of the Bill White campaign.

From my vantage point, it seems like Bill White whispers something about Rick, and the press go with it... run with it... do his work for him...

Rick and his peeps proclaim Bill White's legitimate, verifiable, thoroughly cited malfeasance from the hilltops, and they bury it. Here is what I am talking about (link)...

For Immediate Distribution: News Release June 28, 2010

Texans for Rick Perry: (512) 478-3276 Mark Miner: markminer@rickperry.org Catherine Frazier: catherinefrazier@rickperry.org

On Day 113 of liberal trial lawyer Bill White refusing to release his taxes for his years in public service, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Second Amendment rights also apply to state and local governments with its decision in the McDonald v. Chicago case.

Bill White was an active member of the US Conference of Mayors while he was mayor of Houston, and on April 24, 2009, the US Conference of Mayors filed an amicus brief defending Chicago’s ban on handguns by arguing that the Second Amendment does not extend to state and local governments. [1,2]

Bill White has stood silent and allowed yet another big-government Washington-based special interest group to attempt to chip away at basic American freedoms.

The US Conference of Mayors has also endorsed the principles of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group founded by New York City Mike Bloomberg that White was a member of for years and which the National Rifle Association has called an “anti-gun front group.” [3,4]

“Supporting limitations on gun rights is yet another example of how out of touch Bill White is with the people of Texas,” said Texans for Rick Perry spokesman Mark Miner. “The Supreme Court’s decision that Second Amendment rights also apply to state and local governments is a defeat for Bill White and others who seek to restrict gun rights.”

SOURCING

[1] “Mayors Meet with President Obama, Vice President Biden, Key Cabinet Secretaries at White House on Implementation of Economic Recovery Plan,” US Conference of Mayors, 3/9/09, http://www.usmayors.org/usmayornewspaper/documents/03_09_09/pg3_mayors_i...

[2] “Local Gun Laws Tested in Federal Courts; Conference Files Brief in Chicago Case,” US Conference of Mayors, 5/11/09, http://usmayors.org/chs/uploads/amicus%20brief.pdf

[3] “Coalition History,” Mayors Against Illegal Guns, http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/about/history.shtml

[4] “The $500 Million Man?” National Rifle Association Institute For Legislative Action, 3/30/07, http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=2828

How many articles mentioned that Bill White was part of this anti gun group and later dropped out in 2009 when it became clear it would hurt him politically? Unless google is broken which may very well be the case I don't know... none.

Where is the hard hitting coverage on Bill White? He profited from a company he was being paid by during hurricane Rita, and the press downplay it and pretend "deferred compensation" somehow is not income... He disenfranchises military voters while TDP chairman and war hero Scott O'Grady calls on him to apologize but the media don't want to touch it...

What about Metro gate...

Where is this stuff? Why am I not seeing these stories? Is Rick's team lazy and not pressing this stuff as actively as they should? Are they just not very good at debating or arguing? Is Bill White just that good of a trial lawyer that he is talking his way out of it? What is going on here?

Rick is paying people to tweet? Where do I pick up my check?

Spotted an interesting comment in an article by Abby Rapoport in the Texas Observer, with an interesting comment about Rick paying peeps to tweet (link). Excerpt follows...

"I think Republicans tend to take more risks than Democrats with social media," Farris says, pointing to the Perry campaign's Spanish-language Twitter account and reports that the Perry campaign has paid others to tweet and Facebook about the governor. Democrats, on the other hand, have generally have been more predictable.

Seriously?

Who are they paying... and for that matter... how do I cash in on this... come on guys, throw me a bone here...

Actually when you think about the left and blogs in Texas, it is mostly peeps funded by the Texas Democratic Trust or some other similar group... maybe if Republicans wanted to dominate the net they should get a big funder to devote some serious money to paying bloggers and staff to do web work...

You guys paying attention?

Get the top 5-10 Republican guys together, have them each throw in fifty or a hundred grand, and go out and hire an editor or manager who would probably be someone with strong political connections, a couple of bloggers who just have a talent for writing and researching, a multimedia guy who can make videos and animate things and be creative, and a strict nerdy webmaster guy who can make it all work, then put them in an office in downtown Austin and then feed them information on a regular basis.

I know that is what the Lone Star Report and the Texas Insider and others purport to be, but they are not getting the job done. You need peeps who are ruthless political operatives hell bent on destroying Democrats and helping Republicans get elected and win policy fights in the lege...

Jan Brewer is no all around conservative hero...

I have met Jan Brewer a few times over the past couple of years. She is a decent lady. Not especially warm or engaging, but not in the good Iron Lady Thatcher kind of way... more in the "I don't want to be here" way...

Brewer though is currently on fire as a sort of conservative hero for signing "that Arizona immigration law."

Here is the deal though... she is not really all that special (link). Excerpt follows...

But Red State blogger and CNN political analyst Erick Erickson, who points to Brewer's "terrible" tax and spending record, doesn't think much of her prospects for national office. "I am a bit appalled by conservatives building her up because of the immigration fight after she personally lobbied members of the state legislature to kill the bill and then kept it on her desk, refusing to sign it until she realized she could use it to help her. One issue and one fight does not make a conservative hero."

Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist is likewise not impressed with the self-described "pragmatic conservative."

"She has made no effort to rein in spending," Norquist told The Examiner. "Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has a hostile legislature, but he wrestled $10 billion the previous governor wanted to spend to the ground without a tax increase. So did the governor of Virginia."

Apparently Jan Brewer polls within a few points of Obama in a hypothetical 2012 matchup... please America, please Republicans, no... she is more to the left than McCain on just about every issue. At least McCain is a fiscal deficit hawk... Brewer is a big spender...

I tend to like her fire on the immigration issue and against Obama even if I quibble with her actual policy stand, but please peeps... don't crown this lady as some kind of presidential timber... she would disappoint the base and be slaughtered worse than McCain... it wouldn't even be close...

Why am I even mentioning this on this blog which is about Texas politics? Well because I try my best to stay in touch with political grassroots in all corners of the state from my lofty arrogant perch (inside joke)... and I have heard many times now from peeps in small town Texas and tea party groups in urban areas about how great Jan Brewer is and how she is what the national Republican Party needs right now...

As that Geico caveman once said, yeah, maybe next time, do a little research...

Thanks to one of my loyal readers for pointing me to this article...

PolitiFact strikes again...

More like Politifarce...

Every single thing they "check" is filled with errors and liberal bias and opinions. I am done taking every single one apart piece by piece, but they are a sham.

PolitiFact Texas is a huge flop and will accelerate the demise of the Austin American Statesman...

More on Texans for Public Justice, the Soros backed liberal "watchdog" group...

Reporters who call liberal front groups "watchdog" groups are really distorting the truth (link). Excerpt follows...

Texas Democrats` So-Called "Watchdog" Misses Major Democrat Ethics Violations

For a self-proclaimed "watchdog," Democrat puppetmaster and activist Matt Angle manages to miss a lot. As several Texas Democrats have been hit with trials and ethics probes and corruption trials, and the Democrats' nominee for governor faces growing questions about his business dealings, Matt Angle has preferred to say nothing about his fellow Democrats while launching baseless attacks against Republicans.

"Matt Angle calls himself a watchdog, but he is the proverbial fox watching the henhouse," said Republican Party of Texas spokesman Bryan Preston. "The fact is, while Angle and his tangle of money pots and front groups create smoke where there's no fire on our side, his own party is burning down around him. This is their convention week, but if you look at some of the headlines, Angle's presiding over a convention in crime."

Former Democratic state Rep. Terri Hodge of Dallas reported to jail this week following her conviction on bribery charges. Angle said nothing. State Rep. Joe Heflin (HD-85) got slapped with fines for campaign finance violations this week. Angle said nothing. Democratic state Rep. Kino Flores is under indictment for a range of corruption charges. Angle said nothing about that. And the Democratic Party's nominee for governor, Bill White, has come under scrutiny for failing to disclose all of his tax returns during his years in public service. He has also come under fire for his relationship with BTEC, a company he steered business to following Hurricane Rita when he was mayor of Houston, and whose majority owner was paying him at the time.

And Angle said nothing.

Also saying nothing about any of these Democrat crimes and scandals are the leftwing front groups allied to Angle's goal to elect Democrats in Texas by any means necessary - the Soros-funded Texans for Public Justice and the Texas Values in Action Coalition, whose chief funder, Steve Mostyn, is also funding a Democratic state House candidate.

Angle has, however, admitted to colluding with Democrats in the state House to block voter photo ID, which is supported by about 70% of Texans across all political and demographic lines (Quorum Report, March 26, 2010).

According to a January 2010 Roll Call report, Matt Angle controls the Texas Democratic Trust, which in turn controls the Texas Democratic Party via the Trust's millions of dollars. The Trust's chief source of funding is the estate of the late Fred Baron, who made headlines in 2008 for paying to help conceal the relationship between former Democratic Senator, vice presidential nominee and presidential candidate John Edwards and his then campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter.

From the Washington, DC rowhouse where he pulls the Texas Democrats' strings, Angle said nothing about that, too.

Summary:
1. Former Democrat state Rep. Terri Hodge goes to jail this week
2. Democrat State Rep. Kino Flores remains under corruption indictment
3. Democrat State Rep. Joe Heflin fined for campaign finance violations
4. Bill White under fire for business dealings as mayor of Houston
5. Deafeaning silence from Matt Angle/TPJ/TDP/TEXVAC

Texans for Public Justice is not a watchdog group. They are an arm of the liberal elite in Texas.

The case against the liberal Public Policy Polling...

I have been hard on PPP for more than a year, so this is nothing new, but others like Paul Burka are starting to see how terrible this company is in Texas races (link). Excerpt follows...

A Perry supporter points out that in the last PPP poll before the March 2 Republican primary, PPP had the race at Perry 40%, Hutchison 31%, Medina 20%, and said the race was headed for a runoff. Perry, of course, won without a runoff. If you put this together with their early polling in the race, which showed Hutchison with a 25-point lead on Perry, you can make a case that the firm does not have a good track record in Texas.

This group has zero credibility in Texas.

How does Terry Sullivan keep getting work?

Earlier this week I blogged about the Joe Pounder curse in politics (link)... it looks like there is also a Terry Sullivan curse (link). Excerpt follows...

The world little noted nor long remembered Terry Sullivan’s clueless work as lead consultant for the Hutchison campaign before he returned to South Carolina with a suitcase full of her money. A Hutchison supporter sent me a gleeful e-mail noting the defeat of Sullivan’s candidate in the Palmetto State’s gubernatorial primary yesterday. State rep Gresham Barrett, Sullivan’s candidate, lost 65-35 to Nikki Haley yesterday in the South Carolina gubernatorial primary. The result was foreordained, as Haley had 49% on primary day.

It is a chicken and egg debate... are these peeps working for candidates who are long shots, or are they just so bad that their candidates keep losing? Rubio was the favorite when Pounder came on board... Kay was the frontrunner at one point too over Rick...

I wonder if Terry Sullivan was paid as much by Gresham Barrett as he got from Kay's campaign... a huge waste of money in both cases no matter the amount...

Brian Birdwell's victory in SD22 is a win for Rick...

Last night, tea party favorite Brian Birdwell beat shady insider lobbyist and former senator and now establishment candidate David Sibley...

This is a win for Rick.

How so?

First, it is a stick in the craw of Kip Averitt who has never been friendly to Rick or the conservative movement in the legislature...

Second it shows that the conventional wisdom is way off base and conservatives are being undervalued by the media and the establishment... yesterday morning everyone in the establishment circles I run in was blustering about a big win for Sibley because of high turnout in the Waco area...

What they didn't understand was that the Waco tea party was turning out for Brian Birdwell... just as they will turn out for Rick Perry...

The Empower Texans are fired up about it (link). Excerpt follows...

Talk about a case of elitist conceit. Outgoing State Sen. Kip Averitt (R-Waco) managed to badly mangle his transition into political retirement, with a ham-handed withdrawal, forcing a series of very costly elections. Now, because a conservative has won the seat to fill his unexpired term, the Waco moderate is considering not withdrawing from the November ballot. And some politicos wonder why so many people have given up on what they see as a corrupt, good-old-boy system.

Averitt's comments in the online news source Texas Tribune came out on Tuesday, curiously coinciding with the special election to fill the unexpired term created when Averitt resigned his seat for vague health reasons.

By way of history, Mr. Averitt announced he wouldn't seek re-election too late for his name to be removed from the 2010 March primary ballot. Through a series of backroom dealings and whisper campaigns, he still managed to win the primary. That means absent other action, he is the GOP nominee for November. So then he resigned his seat so he could give his predecessor (lobbyist David Sibley) a chance to re-take the seat in a special election.

But he has cynically held on to the nomination – apparently as a trump in case the voters got uppity.

As they did. It seems voters weren't interested in having a squishy senator-turned-lobbyist in the seat. After all, he stepped out a decade ago to go take up a lobby practice (representing some taxing entities, by the way) -- even listing his Austin home as his primary residence for tax purposes.

There is a headwind that liberals and "moderate" conservatives are running into...

PPP now rumormongering... really stupid rumors... @ppppolls

PPP really has no credibility in Texas polling (link). They had Kay up over Rick by 25 points at one point, and consistently had poll results outside the range of the vast majority of polls which turned out to be correct in the end. They never showed Rick anywhere near 50% in the primary...

Basically they were a sham.

Now PPP is using its twitter account @ppppolls to peddle rumors... really really stupid rumors that are easily disproven (link)...

Apparently Rick Perry is attacking up because we showed him losing the primary- a year before the primary was actually held!

Oh really? Rick is currently in Taiwan... and Rick makes a strong point of pretending to never care about polls... although like all politicians you know he cares... but he is good at staying on message and I doubt he has said anything about this poll over in Taiwan several time zones away...

PPP, you are showing not only your bias but your thin skin as well...

The PPP poll was the worst hands down of any poll in Texas in recent elections... their numbers are so outside reality and outside every other poll that they should never be taken seriously as a legitimate or reputable polling firm in our state.

Texans for Public Justice is a shady liberal trial lawyer front group... no wonder they are filing frivolous complaints...

Calling TPJ or Texans for Public Justice simply a "watchdog group" is absolutely misleading. They are a front group for Democrats, funded by frivolous lawsuit loving trial lawyers (link). Excerpt follows...

(AUSTIN, TX) Texans for Public Justice calls itself a non-partisan watchdog group that focuses on political campaign contributions in Texas, but the only contributions publicly reported on their 2005 tax filing came from some of those big political campaign contributors they claim to be monitoring -- personal injury trial lawyers.

TPJ has long refused to disclose their funders, but their 2005 tax report reveals that three high-profile personal injury trial lawyer firms “Baron & Budd and Silber Pearlman, LLP in Dallas and Williams Bailey, LLP in Houston -- gave a total of $50,000 dollars to the organization last year, almost a third of the total organizational budget. TPJ did not report the source of the additional $107,000 in contributions they collected.

TPJ is not a credible party to file a complaint. Treating them like an objective watch dog group is liberal msm bias in action...

Outlier PPP poll not credible...

PPP has a poll out showing Rick tied with Bill White 43-43 (link). Yeah right is all I have to say.

PPP was consistently way off course on its polls during the primary between Rick and Kay (link).

PPP is a liberal poll of course... and it has a horrible track record in recent Texas elections... they wildly inflated Medina, had Rick at around 39 or 40 percent the entire time... basically they sucked. A joke is putting it mildly.

At one point they even had Kay up by 25 points, which was always a joke.

Simply put, don't buy this poll. Rick as I have predicted all along will win by about 10 despite any poll along the way saying it is tied or Rick is up by 20.

Paging Politifact Texas... Bill White caught lying...

If Bill White doesn't get a "Pants on Fire" designation from PolitiFact Texas on this one, they should really be cited by the Texas Ethics Commission for failing to report a massive and elaborate in kind contribution...

If not Politifarce then maybe the Dallas Morning News will break out a few peppers on this...

The claim...

Bill White falsely claimed that Rick broke a campaign promise to donate pay raises to charity (link). Excerpt follows...

At yesterday's press conference, Democratic nominee for governor Bill White accused Perry of breaking his promise to refuse a pay raise passed by the Legislature. Another reporter told Bill White that Perry actually promised to donate the increase to charity. We called the Perry campaign yesterday to ask for clarification. Campaign press secretary Alejandro Garcia told LSR that Perry, in fact, donated the raise to three charities for 2007-08. The three charities are the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, the March of Dimes, and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

Bill White... pants on fire.

The Joe Pounder effect?

Rubio is now down by 11? Seriously?

Ouch (link). Excerpt follows...

Question: If the General Election for U.S. Senate were held today and the candidates were Democrat candidate Kendrick Meek, Republican candidate Marco Rubio and Independent candidate Charlie Crist, for whom would you vote?

• • Kendrick Meek: 14%
• • Marco Rubio: 31%
• • Charlie Crist: 42%

That means Rubio needs to win basically all of the remaining undecided vote to win. Just a few months ago, it looked like Rubio was going to cruise to victory...

Marco Rubio really needs to win for a lot of reasons... we need a bright and up and coming Hispanic and a strong conservative voice... not some terminally tanned orange squish... it is too bad they hired former Kay flack Joe Pounder, who seems to perpetually work for losing candidates... it's almost like a curse... the Joe Pounder effect...

Still rooting for Rubio, but he needs to get it in gear. Crist may be a good politician, but he is not what America needs right now... and his presidential ambitions need to be put in check now before he thinks he is going to run in 2012 or 2016...

Following the blue print of the discredited senator who lost by more than 20 points...

Kay was widely acknowledged as never having a good message during the primary... and for being the loser in both debates...

So what do the Democrats do?

They put together some clips of Kay making false claims that were fact checked and found to be bogus...

Really?

That is awful...

Bill White's campaign is following most of the same failed criticisms of Rick that Kay made... and for some reason the press is reporting it all like it is brand new...

Jim McGrath and Anthony Gutierrez are idiots...

I am not sure who is a bigger idiot... Anthony Gutierrez... or Jim McGrath...

So many idiotic comments here...

Bill White has no chance... and the idea that Rick has been "lucky" in his career doesn't really hold water. He took down an immensely popular populist Jim Hightower for Agriculture Commissioner in 1990 when nobody thought he could win. In 1998 he took down the wildly popular "conservative" Democrat John Sharp.

Rick has faced more than a hundred million dollars in negative ads against him. Tony Sanchez and the "dream team" in 2002 were supposed to shake things up. Sanchez was Bush's buddy, spent a zillion dollars, and had a top to bottom dream team ticket...

In 2006, he wasn't lucky to have so many candidates running against him. If Rick had faced Chris Bell by himself he would have won by solid double digits... oh wait he already did win by 10 points over Chris Bell as it was...

In 2010, Kay was up by dozens of points and was considered the greatest political force in Texas politics... she brought in a dream team of the best staffers... she was not some slouch of an opponent. She was certainly more of a force than Bill White... by far. Bill White out of all of those mentioned above is not really outstanding...

The whole "he is below 50%" line is one of the most outdated lines of thinking out there. Rick never polled above 50% before the primary and won with over 50% and without a run off...

A tip for Jim McGrath. If you are going to go on television and rep the Republicans, rep the Republicans. Know the talking points... or at least know what you are talking about... are you on the team or not?

A tip for Anthony Gutierrez... try to get your facts less wrong next time. Rick has been above 50% and is averaging right near 50% in all the polls according to the TPM average (link)...

Bill White is on a downward trend since March... and Rick has not even run any ads against him. Bill White ran more than a million dollars worth of television ads though and just kept falling...

48-40...

Rasmussen has a new poll out showing Rick at 48 and Bill at 40... not that much movement (link). Excerpt follows...

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Texas now finds Perry with 48% of the vote, while Democratic challenger Bill White picks up 40% support. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.

A month ago, Perry crossed the 50% mark for the first time in the contest, leading White, a former Houston mayor, 51% to 38%.

Still, in surveys stretching back to January when White first entered the race, Perry’s support has remained in the narrow range of 47% to 51%. White’s support has fluctuated from a low of 38% to a high of 44%.

[SNIP]

Fifty-three percent (53%) of all voters in the state now approve of the job Perry is doing as governor. Forty-five percent (45%) disapprove. This marks little change from a month ago.

Perry holds a double-digit lead among male voters, while White edges him slightly among female voters. Voters not affiliated with either major party prefer the Republican by 14 points.

I am sticking with my long standing prediction of a 10 point win for Rick... which is about the average for recent public polls in this race so far...

Polls will fluctuate up and down. There may be polls showing it "tied" or within the margin of error... but it will be a double digit win for Rick in the end.

A new winner for media bias...

I made a blog recently detailing some of the most biased instances of "journalism" in the race for governor since the primary... with 19 really bad hit jobs and misleading articles (link). Now there's a new number one (link)...

Some GOP stalwarts plan to vote for Bill White

Among the reasons: Hutchison defeat, honesty, 'smarts', eminent domain

By JOE HOLLEY
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Incredibly... no mention of the dozens and dozens of Democrats who have endorsed Rick... of course it wasn't really reported when he got the endorsements in the first place so maybe Joe Holley just didn't know about it...

Of course a few peeps will be sour grapes voters... this always happens in tough primaries... but this article makes no mention of the various polls that have been done showing Rick strongly consolidating those Kay peeps behind him... the article makes no mention of Kay's entire finance team that now is on Rick's team... the article just takes the liberty to bash Rick and encourage moderates to vote for Bill White...

How was this "article" not on the editorial page?

By far this is the most biased article I have read in months.

Congratulations Houston Chronicle you have out done yourself...

Out of the state for a while...

I'll be on actual family vacation with the kids for a couple of weeks, followed by some time away from Texas working on a project... not sure how much yet... so new blogs will be few and far between for the foreseeable future...

Good luck campaign peeps... play nice...

Bill White Wall Street...

Pratt with a good hit against Bill White, comparing his problems to the problems Wall Street has (link). Excerpt follows...

The Austin American-Statesman reported it this way: “As the storm was walloping parts of Houston, [Bill] White helped line up private companies to provide goods and services as part of a massive relief effort. One of those companies was Btec Turbines, where White had served on the board of directors before he was mayor.”

Turns out Bill White made a million-dollar investment in the company after he handed them business during the hurricane. And what came of that one million dollar investment? Somehow, defying all but the Hillary Clinton cattle-futures market rules, Bill White turned that million into one-and-a-half-million.

Yes, it is evidence that Bill White may be competent investor. The only problem with his method of investing is that it’s a method you and I cannot use. The average American investor does not have the ability to hand no-bid emergency contracts to our friends, with whom we are tied at the hip, and then stick around to enjoy the profits made from the taxpayers’ money.

What’s wrong with Wall Street, in-part, is what’s wrong with Bill White: Too many tentacles of government and super-investors all tangled together for the mutual benefit of themselves at the expense of everyone else.

If elected governor, which firms will Bill White award business to, invest in, and then enjoy fifty-percent returns on investment from? Is this the behavior Texans want to install in Office of Governor?

No... it's not... especially when things have been going so well for Texas in recent years... why cast that off for this corrupt guy with no charisma? I don't get my some of the liberal Democrats are still so gung ho about Bill White? He has no chance.

Bill White's mockery of a campaign on the ropes...

Bill White is running a terrible campaign... and by all accounts he is actually the one running it... right off the rails (link)...

Why would a man with a plan take a chance on an investment that, while not illegal in the slightest, raises questions and supplies ammunition to an opponent?

I raised that question this morning with Bill Miller, an Austin political consultant who advises candidates and companies. As Miller noted, every politician is constantly making that calculation. "If the deal is profitable enough," he said, "they're willing to take the risk." (By risk, he means political risk, not financial risk.)

White, a man of constant and careful calculation as best I can tell, must have decided that his million-dollar investment in BTEC Turbines, a company with which he'd had dealings as mayor, was worth any potential risk.

[SNIP]

Like a champion boxer burrowing in, they attacked him at his strongest points: his successful tenure as mayor, particularly during the aftermath of the hurricanes, and his reputation for probity.

"By campaign standards, that was highly professional, A-plus work," Miller said.

[SNIP]

"I think Bill White is in serious trouble," Miller said this morning. "It's early enough to recover, but so far in the campaign his direction has been backward, and that's a disturbing trend."

What do you think, dear reader: Has Rick "Pretty Boy" Perry landed a Tysonian blow to the solar plexus of his plucky challenger? Or, since we're still in the early rounds, can Battlin' Bill White bounce back?

Bill White's campaign has been going in reverse... despite ample assistance from the liberals who oversee the dinosaur known as the liberal msm.

Texas Tribune upset by White's implosion... wants to prop him up...

Just listen to this garbage from the Texas Tribune (link).

As Robbie Cooper has said many times, these people seem like they are part of the Bill White campaign communications team. Maybe they're even on conference calls together...

Why do they want Bill White not to suck as bad as he does?

For one, the Texas Tribune benefited greatly from the Rick vs. Kay stuff late last year and early this year... that was a critical driver of traffic...

Second, they are all a bunch of Bill White loving Democrats...

To paraphrase Bill White, my goodness they are completely obvious about their support for Bill White...

Bill White has yet to release all of his taxes on the same level that Rick did. Rick released his to the mid 1980s... all Rick is asking Bill White for is taxes back to the 1990s when he was in the Clinton administration and used those connections to profit mightily...

There must be more smoking gun kind of stuff there if Bill White is so reluctant to release that information...

More than two years since the governor's mansion was burned by arsonist...

It has been two years since some still unknown scum bucket torched the governor's mansion during the Democrat Convention in Austin. Repairs are slow going (link). Excerpt follows...

AUSTIN – Two years after arson gutted the Texas Governor's Mansion, the slow, methodical, painstaking work of re-building the Texas treasure continues.

“What really hurt it was the fire and the water. The water, we had so much water,” said State Preservation Board project manager Dealey Herndon.

The mansion's thick brick walls and 1850s building techniques essentially helped the building save itself from destruction, especially the signature white columns, still blackened two years after the blaze.

“These columns, you just look at them and think they’re ruined, but (the fire) actually created a coating because the old wood was so dense, if this had been new wood it would have been gone,” Herndon said.

The smells of old smoke and new lumber fill the mansion. Cosmetic interior work will have to wait, though. Months of exterior work will begin soon. First removing lead paint from the outside, then comes the crucial step of installing a new roof.

“We can’t get to the inside of the house until we put a good solid roof on the house - we don’t want anymore water in the house,” she said.

A sad story... and especially sad that the authorities have not found who did it... you have to wonder about the timing... right during the Democratic Convention in Austin...

Bill White completely off his game...

Bill White is rattled (link). Excerpt follows...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Governor Rick Perry says Bill White should drop out of the gubernatorial race if he can't clear up allegations he profited from Hurricane Rita. Today White is doing just that.

Bill White says that Governor Rick Perry is clouding the issue with lies and falsehoods.

"He's well known for slash and burn type politics to keep himself in office perpetually through his political career," White said.

White explained that what Perry calls 'profiting from Hurricane Rita' was in reality an effort to respond to an emergency by recommending a company called BTEC to help supply temporary power to the coastal water authority. A year later he did invest in BTEC and turned a profit. He says the two are unrelated.

"It's a good company," White said. "I've been in the power business before. I was on the board of the NERC. I liked their business plan and I made an investment in that company."

White says BTEC was one of many energy related investments he made as mayor. And that Perry is twisting the facts to draw attention away from his own mismanagement as a career politician.

"The governor doesn't want to be accountable for his own record as a state employee," White said.

It doesn't matter if BTEC is a good company or not. Bill White profited from directing city business while mayor toward that company. The dots are not that difficult to connect...

Bill White is really rattled... you can tell his peeps are rattled too...

Rick just keeps announcing more and more Kay supporters that are now behind him...

Bill White's game plan had to be to win all the Democrats and a large portion of Republicans. So far I am not seeing any evidence that the Kay peeps are heading over to Bill White in any kind of large numbers, and now Rick has announced a whole slew of new peeps from Kay's team now on his campaign finance team (link). Excerpt follows...

Former University of Texas regent Bob Rowling, whose support for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison sparked one of the bitter skirmishes of the GOP primary battle, is one of the statewide campaign chairmen announced today by Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry had appointed Rowling to the board of regents, but the Irving businessman supported Hutchison for governor. Rowling then resigned from the board of regents after criticism by state senators over a $1 million bonus to the top higher education investment official. A letter from Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst had brought the bonus issue to the forefront, and Hutchison accused the GOP incumbent of playing politics to embarrass Rowling.

Rowling said after the primary that he'd support Perry, and his newest position cements his return to the Perry camp in a prominent role.

Here's Perry's press release:

Texans for Rick Perry today announced its statewide leadership team, which includes more than 125 supporters from across the state who are working together to re-elect Gov. Perry.

"Because of a shared belief in the conservative values that have fortified a solid foundation for our state, we have built the most effective leadership team our state has ever seen," said Gov. Perry. "I am thankful for the commitment of these individuals to share my vision for Texas' future and uphold the positive momentum that our state has achieved through our dedication to principles of limited government, low taxes and individual freedom."

Statewide Chairmen
Tom Hicks
Ned S. Holmes
Peter Holt
James Huffines
Red McCombs
Mica Mosbacher
Bob Rowling

Statewide Finance Chairmen
Roy W. Bailey
Jose Cuevas
Jim Lee
Kit Moncrief
Gene Powell

Statewide Regional Leadership Team:

NORTH TEXAS

Regional Finance Chairmen
Joe Colonnetta
Vance C. Miller

North Texas Co-Chairs
Louis A. Beecherl
Jim Dondero
Ralph Duggins
George Seay
Ray Washburne
Roger Williams

Arlington Finance Co-Chairs
Alan Harper
Stanley Harper

Collin County Finance Co-Chairs
Larry Anders
Craig James
Craig Keeland

Dallas Finance Co-Chairs
Stefani Carter
Dick Collins
Dr. John Gill
Albert Huddleston
Milla Perry Jones
Jaime Ramon
Clayton Reaser
Jason Villalba

Fort Worth Finance Co-Chairs
Ramona and Lee Bass
Joy Ann Havran
Iris and Ardon Moore

Waxahachie Finance Chair
Ali Sharaf

SOUTHEAST TEXAS

Regional Finance Chairman
Berdon Lawrence

Southeast Texas Co-Chairs
Leslie Doggett
Steve Mach
Drayton McLane
Paul Murphy, Jr.
John Nau
Gary Petersen
Michael J. Plank
Charles W. Tate

Beaumont Finance Chair
Lonnie Arrington

Bryan/College Station Finance Chair
Phil Adams

Houston Finance Chair
Ashley Smith

Houston Finance Co-Chairs
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
Alfred Jackson
Vernon Reaser
L.E. Simmons
Wil VanLoh, Jr.
Dick Weekley
Welcome Wilson, Sr.
Welcome Wilson, Jr.
Fred Zeidman
Jay Zeidman

Montgomery County Finance Chairs
Nelda and Jim Blair

Sugar Land Finance Chair
Dr. Ayeez Lalji

CENTRAL TEXAS

Regional Finance Chairman
John Steen

Austin Finance Chair
Steve Hicks

Austin Finance Co-Chairs
Manny Flores
David Friedman
Jeff Hunt

San Antonio Finance Chair
Ed Whitacre

Waco Finance Co-Chairs
Bill Bailey
Carey Hobbs

Williamson County Finance Co-Chairs
Hon. Nyle Maxwell
Tim Timmerman

WEST TEXAS

Regional Finance Chairman
Ted Houghton

West Texas Co-Chairs
Mark Bivins
Woody Hunt
Carla Moran

Abilene Finance Chairs
Gina and Tucker Bridwell

Amarillo Finance Co-Chairs
Salem Abraham
Bob Stafford

El Paso Finance Co-Chairs
Robert Brown
Paul Foster

Lubbock Finance Co-Chairs
Dr. Randy Hickle
Pam and Fred Underwood

Midland Finance Co-Chairs
Tim Dunn
Renee and Mickey Long

Odessa Finance Co-Chairs
Dr. J.B. Naidu
Dick Saulsbury

SOUTH TEXAS

Regional Finance Chairman
Margaret Martin

South Texas Co-Chairs
Glenda and Jerry Kane
Nick Serafy

Brownsville Finance Chair
Nico Schaefer

Corpus Christi Finance Co-Chairs
Colleen McHugh
Stuart Sasser

Laredo Finance Chair
Antonio "Tony" Salinas

McAllen Finance Chair
Dr. Fred Farias

Mission Finance Co-Chairs
Hollis Rutledge
Hon. Beto Salinas

EAST TEXAS

Regional Finance Chairman
Gaylord T. Hughey

East Texas Co-Chairs
Dr. Dixon Golden
Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim

Athens Finance Chair
Patrick Wallace

Carthage Finance Chair
Dr. Dennis Golden

Center Finance Chair
David Koonce

Centerville Finance Chair
Dan Wallrath

Crockett Finance Chair
Dr. John McCall

Henderson Finance Chair
Andy Mills

Jacksonville Finance Chair
Larry Durrett

Longview Finance Chairs
Linda and Dick Stebbins

Lufkin Finance Co-Chairs
Buford Abeldt
Mark Dunn

Mineola Finance Chair
Rodney Watkins

Mount Pleasant Finance Chair
Cliff Butler

Nacogdoches Finance Co-Chairs
Keith Drewery
John Ruckel

Palestine Finance Chair
Joe Crutcher

Paris Finance Chair
Brad Drake

Pittsburg Finance Chair
Dr. Rex Law

Texarkana Finance Chair
George McWilliams

Tyler Finance Co-Chairs
Dr. Margarita de la Garza-Grahm and Dr. Tom Grahm
Bill Hartley
Whit Riter

Strong showing... lots of squishy moderate types on that list that Bill White needed to get to have any chance...

It takes a blogger to do the work the msm should be doing...

BlogHouston.net brings up a great couple of points that the msm writers are glossing over (link). Excerpt follows...

Here's where The Houston Way comes into play. As noted by Root in his reporting (and above), Btec Turbines is a private company. That means small-time investors like you and me don't generally have any ability to invest in the company, no matter how impressed we might be with their performance during a regional weather event or otherwise. It also means that even while serving as an elected public official, Mayor Bill White was actively building his personal wealth in part from knowledge gained as a public official and in part by taking advantage of an apparently fantastic investment opportunity that most members of the public could not.

That arrogant little exercise in investing may not shock locals familiar with The Houston Way (by which Houston's elites sometimes do "bidness"), but perhaps it does explain why the White campaign resisted for so long releasing the candidate's tax records. The way Houston's elites sometimes do "bidness" may not appeal to a statewide audience!

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Bill White lead the Wedge Group, and didn't he have a hand in Wedge buying BTEC? Wasn't BTEC a Wedge Group subsidiary at the time in question?... and didn't Bill White earn more than 80 thousand dollars from Wedge in 2005... not to mention deferred compensation and direct personal investment in BTEC later on...

Bill White's explanations don't hold water.

Rick continues to consolidate Kay supporters behind him...

During the primary and right after we heard a lot about how all of these Kay supporters were going to go over to liberal Democrat Bill White instead of Rick...

Is there a shred of evidence of that? Maybe a few Kay supporters are with Bill White now, but every indication I have seen is that Kay's supporters on the web, in the grass roots, in moneyland, and around the Capitol in Austin are solidly behind Rick. Some are even overcompensating to help Rick out and prove they are back on the team.

Another article points this out... Rick has the Kay peeps on his side (link). Excerpt follows...

News flash: Highland Park is filled with rich Republicans. With election season upon us, the 75205 township is guaranteed to see office-seekers in search of the three essentials: money, money and money.

Last week, Gov. Rick Perry made up with many Kay Bailey Hutchison supporters who attended a fundraiser for his general election campaign at the HP estate of developer Harlan Crow. Hutchison stalwart Louis Beecherl and state Rep. Dan Branch, thought to be a future gubernatorial contender, were among the GOP thoroughbreds on hand when the governor was introduced by Dick Collins.

If anything Rick is getting a bunch of those independents and Democrats that Bill White can't afford not to have on his team (link).

The calls for Bill White to step down begin...

Bill White's money making scheme involving exploiting Hurricane victims and his role as mayor of Houston for his own personal profit is so serious that Rick is now calling for him to resign from the race (link). Excerpt follows...

Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that Democrat Bill White should leave the governor's race it's true that he owned part of a company that got taxpayer money to deal with Hurricane Rita while White was mayor.

“By his own admission, Bill White intervened regarding a contract given to BTEC, a company he had personal financial ties with, to provide generators for the Houston Coastal Water Authority following Hurricane Rita’s landfall in 2005. If this is true, and Bill White did unethically steer taxpayer dollars to a company he had a personal financial stake in, I am calling on him to immediately resign from the race for governor.

“Hurricane Rita was one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit our state, affecting hundreds of thousands of Texans. For the mayor of Houston to engage in profiteering during a tragedy is unacceptable and local authorities should investigate this alleged violation of public trust, as well as any others that may exist. Bill White has an obligation to the people of Texas to address these allegations immediately.

“There is no greater responsibility for a governor than to protect citizens from a natural disaster. I am proud that Texas is a national leader in emergency preparedness and response, and I will continue to make this a priority as we enter the current hurricane season.”

Perry's remarks were made in response to an Associated Press report that White invested in a company — Btec Turbines — that was hired, when he was mayor, to assist in the cleanup after Hurricane Rita. White was on the company's board before he was mayor, and invested $1 million in the company after the hurricane work was done. He told the news service he made $500,000 on that investment. Katy Bacon, his campaign spokeswoman, reiterated Wednesday that White had no conflict of interest, because he had no financial stake in the firm at the time it was receiving government money. "Career politician Rick Perry has sunk to new lows," she said via email. "His attack on Bill White's leadership after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is not only false, but absolutely appalling. Bill White had no financial interest in BTEC during that time."

Michael Q. Sullivan adds his two cents (link). Excerpt follows...

While we at Empower Texans are all a bunch of market-loving capitalists, there is something unseemly about an elected official giving sweetheart deals to his business buddies in the middle of a hurricane... And then making a nice profit on the side.

As mayor of Houston, Bill White overspent the city coffers and left office before the effects of his hurricane-strength deficit spending could be fully felt. But at least he and his friends made some money along the way…

Martin Bartlett also blogged about this and added something I hadn't even noticed (link). Excerpt follows...

Quotes in the governor’s campaign rhetoric have rarely been attributed to the governor himself, but instead to a spokesman.

It rises to that level, I guess...

Between this and the military voter disenfranchisement... Bill White is toast. That's before the national issues even drag him down... such as his support for cap and trade, his support for Obama Care, his support for card check, and his other liberal positions that are so unpopular right now.

How can Bill White even recover from these revelations?

Sequence of events.

Rick, who has released his own taxes back to the 1980s, sez he won't debate until Bill White releases his taxes for his time in public positions...

Bill White thinks he is calling Rick's bluff by releasing a few years of taxes... you can almost sense giddiness in the liberal blogs... that they had turned the tables and made it "Day whatever of Rick not debating" in one fell swoop...

Boy did that blow up in their face...

It turns out that Bill White profited while mayor of Houston during Hurricane Rita when he hired his own company to do relief efforts...

So to recap...

Bill White did not release enough of his taxes to satisfy the debate requirement... but the ones he did release show that he is a crook. There may be more hits to come as well...

How can Bill White even recover from this debacle?

The ads are practically writing themselves. He took advantage of the misfortune of others to cash in... using his elected position... and he still won't get a debate from Rick...

Add in the denying military voters over seas the right to vote and a whole host of other issues, and it is difficult to see how Bill White even sniffs a victory.

How permanent and lasting will the damage to Kay be?

Kay was very gracious in defeat to Rick and has by all accounts been a decent team player since losing badly in March... although most Texans have heard almost nothing from her since March 2...

The question arises... how lasting will the damage done by Rick and his peeps be for Kay when she tries to run again in 2012?

You hadn't heard that? Kay is still making up her mind about it which probably means she is running (link).

The Public Policy Polling outfit currently has Kay at plus 3 (link). Excerpt follows...

If you think there are a lot of competitive Senate races this year just wait for 2012. We've found 9 of the 16 folks we've polled since October who are up for reelection next year with negative approval ratings.

It might be easier to start with the list of who's doing alright- the folks in positive territory in order of their net approval are Olympia Snowe (+15), Tom Carper (+13), Jeff Bingaman (+12), Herb Kohl (+10), Kay Bailey Hutchison (+3), and Jim Webb (+2)

Even within those folks who are doing comparatively well there's the potential for some competitiveness next time. Snowe's popular because Democrats like her and could have difficulty winning another Republican primary. Hutchison just showed she's capable of getting trounced in a primary and that could embolden a more conservative challenger to her, although it's doubtful such a candidate would be remotely on par with Rick Perry.

The first commenter there put it pretty well...

brian72975 said...

KBH will get absolutely hammered from both sides for credibility issues. She said she'd quit the Senate to campaign for Governor. Then she said, no, I'll quit after the campaign. Then she lost and said, no, I'll quit in 2012. Guess what -- wrong again.

JUNE 4, 2010 1:14 PM

I think Kay would be vulnerable, but not doomed. I could see Debra Medina running against her again... plus all the other candidates who are ready for the musical chairs to fall... the game plan for how to beat Kay is out there. I don't think Kay will be able to do much to rehab her image other than hope time heals the wounds... that earmark queen song is still burned into my mind... maybe if she takes up some conservative causes over the next two years, cuts out the pork, and makes nice with Rick... then we'll see...

I have heard some things that point to Kay helping Rick behind the scenes, but she has to swallow her pride, Rick has to be gracious, and they have to make up for the good of the state. It is probably a good first step, whatever it is they have planned at the convention this weekend (link). Excerpt follows...

Word is that Texas' favorite political frenemies, Hutchison and Perry, will be together this week for the first time since their fractious primary election. The chill is gone ... or at least the political necessity has arrived of presenting a united Republican Party if the GOP hopes to win big in the fall. The governor and senator are expected to appear together at the Texas Federation of Republican Women breakfast at the state Republican Convention in Dallas.

This ought to be interesting... but Rick and Kay... especially Kay... both need to do more to show unity in 2010 at least.