Word: hutchison
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...Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutch@fas.harvard.edu...
Ironically, Hutchison won her Senate seat in a crowded, bruising 1993 special election to replace then U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen by running on an anti-Washington platform. Ever since, she has won handily in re-election bids and has enjoyed high approval ratings, although, as Jillson notes, she has run afoul of the Republican Party's conservative wing, which is very active in primary politics. A few years ago she was booed at an appearance at the state convention over her perceived softness on abortion issues. Now, Jillson says, this election "will write the last paragraph in her Wikipedia entry...
...While Hutchison avoided primary challenges and subsequent conflict with primary voters thanks, in great part, to the power of incumbency, Perry has cultivated the conservative right ever since switching to the Republican Party as a state legislator in 1989. He also tuned into the Tea Party movement long before others sensed its influence, Henson says. Last April 15, Perry made headlines worldwide when he mused publicly at an Austin Tea Party rally that Texas might secede if Washington continues its "oppressive" ways. He also embraced the movement to reaffirm the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining state's rights...
While the secession remark drew derisive commentary, particularly beyond Texas, Perry is mining a historically rich Texas vein of independence. (Coincidentally - and helpfully for Perry - primary day on March 2 is also Texas Independence Day; Hutchison has tried to play on the coincidence with a "declare your independence from Perry" tour.) It is no accident that his final week on the campaign was dotted with economic-development press conferences and talk of balanced budgets in contrast to Washington ways. That message of Texas resiliency and fiscal conservatism resonates with Texans of both parties. A recent poll by the Texas Politics...
...final weekend of the campaign, both Perry and Hutchison were stressing their Texas roots. Hutchison, a fifth-generation Texan and a Daughter of the Republic of Texas, sat astride a quarter horse, wearing a black Stetson as she rode in the Houston Rodeo parade. Her cowboy boots were decorated with the word Senator. As for Perry, he spoke to the Texas State Rifle Association Saturday. "Texas is just a sensible place to live. It's a sensible place that takes sensible approaches to issues like gun rights," he said. "We treat our citizens like adults in this state...