Coming Showdown in Texas

By Douglas V. Gibbs

After George W. Bush left Texas to become the President of the United States, Rick Perry became the new governor. Perry, known for his conservative ideas, and his "swashbuckling" style, may be up for a fight in 11 months. His Republican foe, Kay Bailey Hutchison, is too liberal, he says, but she is willing to end her U.S. Senate career to try to unseat him.

Hutchison claims becoming governor of Texas is a long-held dream, and expects to gain the moderate Republican vote in Texas during her battle against Perry. Nonetheless, Perry leads the polls over the Senator, fueling that lead with the argument that Hutchison is just another undefined moderate who believes in Washington's one-size-fits-all approach.

Some may say this is evidence of a split in the Republican Party between Conservatives, and not-so-conservative Republicans. But as the GOP battles to define itself, and hopefully move away from the leftward lean it has been infected with over the past few decades, the war in the Democrat Party has become even more fierce as Democrats, and independents willing to vote for the party of the donkey, are running for their lives from the radical hard left agenda of the Obama Administration, and the Congressional Democrats.

The question, then, is which party will solve its civil war first, and who will gain the most votes after the smoke clears?

One could argue the big winner will be independents.

The battle for the Republican Party is well represented by the battle between Governor Perry and Hutchison. He is a gun-slingin' Conservative with only a few hiccups in his ideology, and she is a wishy-washy moderate with nuanced positions on the social issues. He believes in Reagan Conservatism, and she is a big-tent Republican that thinks Reagan meant diluting the message to get others in the tent.

Hutchison has won the support of former vice president Dick Cheney, who many Conservatives appreciate despite the fact that he was Vice President under George W. Bush, who, though was hailed as the right president to be in office when America was attacked, was hardly conservative on many of the other issues. Perry recognizes that Hutchison is all about Washington Politics, and the big government aspects of the Bush Administration.

Hutchison is seen as one that is a part of the Washington DC cesspool, while Perry tries to identify himself as a grass roots politician of the likes of Sarah Palin.

A third candidate, Debra Medina, is of the Ron Paul style of politics. If she is anything like the man she supports, like Ron Paul she is constitutionally right 80% of the time, and street cat crazy the other twenty percent.

The Democrat in the race is Bill White, the Houston mayor that is popular among Democrats.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

In Texas, a showdown at the GOP corral - Washington Post