The Texas Observer

In what was perhaps the most expected announcement in the history of Texas politics, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has officially declared that she is challenging Gov. Rick Perry in the 2010 election. The senator began the first leg of a five-day announcement tour on Monday morning in the Gulf Coast town of La Marque, where she went to high school, and ended later that afternoon at the University of Texas in Austin, where we met up with her.

While she did finally commit to the race, Hutchison remained vague as to her plans to vacate her senate seat, only promising to stay on long enough to fight the “massive government takeover of our health-care system.” And she beat that conservative drum steadily throughout her announcement.

After reflecting on her family’s place in Texas history (her great-great-grandfather Charles S. Taylor signed Texas’ Declaration of Independence), she repeated the conservative mantra: “spend less, borrow less and tax less.” This last point segued nicely into her critique of Perry’s “job-killing” new business tax, which she subtly hinted at being the cause Texas’ high job losses this year. She then pointed at the 30,000 new state employees put on the payroll in the last decade as evidence of Perry’s penchant for Big Government. Harsh criticisms of the governor’s failed Trans-Texas Corridor — or “the biggest land grab in the history of Texas” as Hutchison labeled it — and solemn mourning for the Republican Party’s loss of power (read: relevance) soon followed.

Hutchison’s backers ate it up, though Austin clearly is not her bread-and-butter given the scant turnout. Volunteers worked to reshuffle the crowd before the cameras clicked on, in order, they said, to “make it look like there’s a lot of people here.”

What the attendees lacked in number, they made up for in loyalty and enthusiasm. The pantsuits and “Kay” stickers seemed more like battle regalia than business casual — though that might have been because of the shoulder pads.

Serious questions linger about whether Hutchison can go toe-to-toe with Perry. Hutchison’s soundbite-ready condemnations of the governor were delivered with the cadence of a teacher reading to schoolchildren, with nowhere near the charisma we’re used to seeing from Gov. Goodhair. Whatever the results, watching the two trumpet their conservative credentials till they’re blue in the face will make for months of priceless political theater.

Progressive Texans’ hopes to have a dog in next year’s gubernatorial hunt were dimmed on Friday when Kirk Watson announced that he’ll forego the race and run for re-election to the state Senate.

On his Watson Wire, the former Austin mayor displayed his political acumen by explaining his decision without really explaining it. “First of all, I really like serving in the Senate and representing the citizens of Travis County,” he wrote. The other consideration, Watson said, was—repeat after me—wanting to spend more time with his family, particularly his younger son, who’s just entering high school.

In reality, of course, Watson would have been leading a semi-functional Democratic state party into battle against the huge money and superior organization that’ll be behind the Republican nominee, whether it’s Gov. Rick Perry or Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Watson, a tall, charismatic fellow who can “talk Texan” with the best of them, wasseen by many as the only Democrat capable of putting up a fight. But Watson, who’s in his early 50s, can afford to wait another cycle for Texas’ blue tide to rise a few more feet.

Watson’s decision leaves former state Rep. and U.S. Ambassador Tom Schieffer and humorist Kinky Friedman as the only Democratic candidates more than a dozen Texas could name. It could make it more likely that Ronnie Earle, the former Travis district attorney whom Watson once worked for, will jump into the race, as he’s been hinting for months.

The least-surprising reaction to Watson’s announcement came from an undoubtedly relieved Schieffer. According to the Houston Chronicle, he “welcomed Watson’s announcement” and said that “men and women of his character and capability are needed in the state Senate.”