By now it appears that our senior senator has taken so many steps down the path to challenging Rick Perry that there really is little chance of turning back. For her the choice is now or never. So the question becomes whether she will resign her senate seat when she officially announces her candidacy. The odds, as calculated in a completely unscientific sense by me, are 9 to 1 that she will. Well, I'm going to take those odds and wager she won't. Here's why.
As we all know, if she resigns before being sworn in as governor (like most, I'm guessing if the election were held today she would win) then Perry would get to appoint her successor. So would she really want to let him put one of his faithful cronies in D.C. to snipe about her "failures" as our senator while the governor's race is in full tilt? Sure, if she does not resign Perry gets to say she's failing the people of Texas by spending all of her time campaigning for his job instead of taking care of business in Washington. But is that a better or worse position to be in?
And what about legacy? If she waits until she's sworn in as governor (see above caveat), she would have the opportunity to appoint her own successor, someone more like herself (e.g., state senator Florence Shapiro or Congressman Michael McCaul?).
The argument that failing to resign hurts her ("Why aren't you in D.C. working for Texas?") just doesn't seem particularly compelling. You could say the same of any campaign. ("Why are you out here making a campaign speech in Anson instead of back in Austin doing some work Governor Perry?")
So, I'm putting my money on "runs but doesn't resign."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I was surprised she didn't run before, but I understand Tom Delay (or Republican leadership at the time) had a come to Jesus meeting with her to convince her not to run because it was more important to keep her in the Senate.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not like Republicans don't need Republican Senators now.