Didn’t the election cycle just end? Yes, but everyone’s chattering about U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s exploratory filings for the governorship in 2010, challenging incumbent governor Rick Perry. Expect the race to help shape and color the 2009 legislative session — that period of policy-making the interrupts campaigns.
Both Hutchison and Perry seem at this moment to be intent on making the race about policies — specifically tax and spending issues.
They both have political houses with a fair amount of glass. Hutchison voted for the $700 billion bail-out. Perry championed the new business tax.
Some of this will shape the legislative session, as partisans for each attempt to lay claim to strong reform and taxpayer protections.
And that, my friends, is why I am excitedly toasting the start of the ’10 campaign season!