The big story - Perry's endorsements
The big story while I was gone is that Rick Perry has released a list of endorsements from conservative leaders. Jay Root at the FWST has a rundown as does Clay Robison.

Perry's list of endorsees is as follows:

Cathie Adams, Texas Eagle Forum; Jim Cardle, Texas Club for Growth; Bill Crocker, Republican National Committeeman for Texas; Becky Farrar, Concerned Women of America PAC; Kay T. Goolsby, Texans for Texas; James Graham and Elizabeth Graham, Texas Right to Life PAC; Tim Lambert, Texas Home School Coalition; Norm Mason and Jeanne Mason, Texas Christian Coalition; Allan Parker, Texas Justice Foundation; Dr. Joe Pojman, Texas Alliance for Life; Marisa Rummell, Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Texas; Kelly Shackelford, Free Market Foundation; Janelle Shepard, Texans for Texas; Peggy Venable; Susan Weddington, former Chair of the Republican Party of Texas; and Kyleen Wright, Texans for Life Coalition.

It's an impressive list. The "movement" conservatives are pretty clearly on Perry's side.

I'm reminded of LBJ's first race, for the 10th Congressional district in Austin. The seat opened up when the Congressman died, but his wife was considering running to replace the late Congressman. If she'd ran, she'd almost certainly have won. Here's how Robert Caro puts it his seminal work The Path to Power, in the words of LBJ's father:

"Goddammit, Lyndon, you never learn anything about politics. She's an old woman. She's too old for a fight. If she knows she's going to have a fight, she won't run. Announce now -- before she announces. If you do, she won't run."

Mrs. Buchanan's announcement was scheduled for Monday afternoon. After driving back to Austin on Sunday afternoon, Lyndon Johnson quickly called in reporters and told that he was in the race to stay -- whether or not Mrs. Buchanan entered it. When Johnson's decision appeared in the newspapers, Mrs. Buchanan's son telephoned reporters. "Mother has reached the decision not to run," he said.

KBH is far from a late Congressman's widow, but the situation is analogous. Perry is doing everything he can to signal to KBH that if she runs, it will be a fiercely-contested, hard-fought campaign.

That's why we had the recent media blitz, that's why Perry travelled to DC recently, and that's why he's releasing his endorsements now. The Perry campaign is doing everything possible to give KBH second thoughts about challenging him.

KBH might have wishfully thought that she and Perry could switch jobs; at one point, that seemed a possibility. It's clearly a no-go now.


- posted @ 1:58 AM permalink