I didn’t post about this earlier because, come on, it’s not exactly an earth-shattering revelation. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Incidentally, I frankly do not believe she ever lied, at least not intentionally. I think she fully believed that she would resign (and she was certainly ambiguous when WBAP radio host Mark Davis cornered her about resigning). I think she also believed, right up until the end, that she was going to win the gubernatorial primary, though the fact that she decided not to resign before the primary makes one wonder how soon she began to see the writing on the wall. Whether or not she had good reason to believe those things, well, that’s another story altogether. Meanwhile, she’s one of our two U.S. senators for the foreseeable future. And again, that’s not exactly “news.”
Robbie over at UrbanGrounds says we can probably call 2010 ““The year where stuff that everybody already knew is considered news.” I’d say that’s rather fitting and even though we’ve got nine months left, I think we can start taking bets on what else will be considered “news” that we really already knew about.
Good and proper speculation at this point should concern the myriad presumed Senate candidates on the Republican side (Michael Williams, Roger Williams, Florence Shapiro, Elizabeth Ames Jones), who raised millions of dollars for campaigns that are now at least two years out. That’s a lot of cash bottled up for a race that isn’t happening anytime soon – and here’s where KBH’s hubris did some serious damage to Republicans from the bottom up. Campaign cash is precious, especially in lean times, and so much of it was locked into the speculating Senate campaigns and the enormously expensive gubernatorial primary that it’s hard to say if down-ballot races will be able to make up the difference as candidates head into a heated general election this November.
And let’s not forget the attorney general’s race that never happened. Now-former attorney general candidate Ted Cruz just sent out a message to supporters that included: “..for all of you who were so generous contributing financially, if you would like your money returned pro rata, I will be happy to do so.” He made it clear that he will run for public office, but of course, the soonest he could choose to do would be a special election for a seat or 2012 – whichever comes first.
I did some posting about the possible chain reaction that a KBH resignation could trigger, here, and again here when Dewhurst announced he was running for reelection. All of that is completely moot now, of course. Everyone’s fixed where they are for the time being, unless there are other resignations, and until late 2011/early 2012 we really won’t know to expect in terms of candidacies and the usual chess game.
So, now can we focus on November, or at the very least the runoff elections on April 13? Please?
