Only Kay Bailey Hutchison knows whether she'll seek another six-year term in the U.S. Senate.
But Texas' senior senator -- once the most popular Republican in the state in terms of voter support -- has a target on her back if she does run, put there by the increasingly influential and conservative Tea Party grassroots movement.
"She personifies everything that the Tea Party is fighting," said Konni Burton, a member of the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party steering committee. "She is a Republican, but when you check her votes on many issues, they are not ones that conservatives are happy with."
Hutchison hasn't said whether she'll retire or seek re-election in 2012, but several prominent Texans -- including Republicans such as former Secretary of State Roger Williams and Railroad Commissioners Michael Williams and Elizabeth Ames Jones, along with Democratic former Comptroller John Sharp -- have long said they plan to run.
And now there's talk of perhaps a half-dozen or more Tea Party-affiliated candidates joining the race if Hutchison seeks re-election.Kay's entire campaign against Rick showed the blue print for whatever Republican emerges to challenge her in 2012... or all the Republicans who will challenge her in 2012...
Kay got some really bad advice... she had some staffers who were unable to direct her the right direction either because she didn't listen to them or because they were just bad...
I hope Kay doesn't force the Republican party to spend tens of millions of dollars in 2012 fighting within itself... but at the same time that obviously didn't hurt much in 2010... if anything it might have clarified some issues and energized the base...
