Republican Ambitions for Statewide Office Break Loose in Texas

Maybe you work in a big organization, with relatively young and healthy people at the top.

That’s just wonderful, unless your plans include upward mobility. You might as well be a Texas politician.

Democrats can’t move up the food chain in Texas until they’ve changed a political environment that will currently elect a Republican for every statewide office, whether or not that Republican is the best person for the job. It’s not the content of the candidate’s character that matters most — it’s the color of the partisan flag.

Republicans looking to move up face two obstacles: competition and a couple of stoppers at the top of the organizational chart. The competition is still there, what with a state full of Republicans and a political climate — see above — where moderates and independents who want to get into a high elected office often have to run as Republicans to succeed. That doesn’t appear to be changing right now.

But the stoppers — their names are Kay Bailey Hutchison and Rick Perry — might both be moving on, and the very idea of that animates Republican ambitions in Texas.

Ms. Hutchison, elevated to the United States Senate in a special election in 1993, isn’t seeking re-election. Mr. Perry could run for another term as governor in 2014. But the lines are already forming as if he won’t be on the ballot that year.

At least at the top, the 2014 ballot is as busy as the one for the current election year.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is in the Republican primary race for Ms. Hutchison’s seat. Maybe he wins, maybe he loses, but that cautionary note didn’t stop anyone from expressing interest in the office he currently holds. Comptroller Susan Combs is interested. So are Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples. State Representative Dan Branch, Republican of Dallas, is looking at it, too.

There’s another race for lieutenant governor in motion, too, based on the assumption that Mr. Dewhurst will win the Senate race. That would leave the 31-member Texas Senate with the happy chore of hoisting one of its own members into that office for the remaining two years of Mr. Dewhurst’s term. That intrigue is well under way, with some members angling for just an interim position and others thinking the winner of the inside race could have a shot at winning the job outright in the 2014 elections.

That triggers another round of conversations. Who would be the new comptroller, or land commissioner or agriculture commissioner should any or all of the current occupants dive into the race for lieutenant governor?

The political tribe is full of ambitious, risk-taking characters. The rest of us might not be thinking about this stuff, but they surely are.

A recent news blurb about Senator Glenn Hegar, Republican of Katy, stirred up another race. He’s been sounding out support for a run for comptroller should Ms. Combs run for something else or step aside. Some of his fellow Republicans thought he was considering Mr. Staples’s agriculture post.

The news prompted Representative Harvey Hilderbran, Republican of Kerrville, to let reporters and others know that he would be interested in Ms. Combs’s job. Mr. Hilderbran is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the arbiter of tax and revenue legislation. The overlap between the supplicants there and the supplicants to the comptroller is significant.

Mr. Hegar’s splash sent a ripple across the agriculture commissioner race. Former Representative Dan Gattis, Republican of Georgetown, isn’t exactly looking at it and isn’t exactly not looking. He said he would be interested, maybe, if Mr. Hegar was not. But he said he isn’t thinking about it and that there is a lot of time between now and then. And he said to stay in touch.

Wouldn’t want to get left out of the conversation, now that the org chart is in play.

Nothing is a lock, particularly with elections and other decisions in the way. Ms. Hutchison is leaving, but Mr. Dewhurst might not win and might not leave the Senate. Attorney General Greg Abbott might want to run for governor in 2014, but Mr. Perry hasn’t opened that door for him. And if Mr. Abbott doesn’t run for that, then the attorney general hopefuls — whoever they are — would be stuck.

Just like they are now.

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Romney Opens Iowa Office (The Atlantic Wire)

Sarah B. Boxer, National Journal Sarah B. Boxer, National Journal – Sat Nov 19, 4:56 pm ET

Mitt Romney is skipping a big Republican presidential candidates’ forum in Iowa Saturday but that doesn’t mean he’s skipping out on the Hawkeye state.

Related: Romney Leads in Latest Iowa Poll

The former Massachusetts governor, who has kept a deliberately low profile in a state that gave him a rude stumble coming out of the box in his 2008 presidential effort, quietly opened a campaign office in Des Moines this week. While some of Romney’s rivals have made photo opportunities of such headquarters’ openings, Team Romney is not going out of its way to publicize it’s Iowa beachhead. Romney’s Iowa team consists of his top Iowa strategist, Dave Kochel, state director Sara Craig and three field staffers, all of whom have been on board for some time.

Related: Romney's Job-Creation Plan: Cut Taxes and Punish China

This is in stark contrast to his office in Manchester, N.H., with a staff nearly double in size - though the Granite State is half as large as its Hawkeye counterpart. Romney is putting a big emphasis on New Hampshire, where he’s practically a favorite son. As governor of neighboring Massachusetts, he was a familiar presence on the state’s TV screens and he owns a vacation home in the Granite State. In Iowa, Romney has been such an infrequent visitor that Gov. Terry Branstad, a fellow Republican, has publicly chided him for his truancy.

Related: Mitt Romney May Be Fighting for Iowa After All

Four years ago, Romney was badly burned in Iowa, finishing a distant second to Mike Huckabee despite having poured resources into the state for more than a year. The Mormon ex-governor has had difficulty gaining traction with evangelical voters, a key constituency among Iowa caucus-goers. The Iowa forum that Romney is skipping – while six of his chief rivals attend – is sponsored one of the state’s leading evangelical groups. 

Related: Chart: Some People Have Forgotten Who Mitt Romney Is

Even so, a respected poll of GOP caucus-goers by the Des Moines Register showed Romney within striking distance of a win. And, despite a two month absence from Iowa between August and October, Romney has been slowly ramping up in the state.  He has been to Iowa twice in the last month, and is heading back again on Wednesday.

Related: Both Romney and Obama Want to Make 2012 a Sequel to 2004

During Romney's last trip to the state, on Nov. 7, professional cameras shot his appearance, leading to speculation that he was filming a commercial and will be on air there shortly. The campaign has yet to confirm this, and Romney commercials have not yet appeared on air anywhere in the country.

Meanwhile, as expected, Rick Perry’s campaign released a new 30-second TV commercial that will be airing on Iowa broadcast TV, as well as on cable stations in the state and nationally. The ad emphasizes Perry’s credentials as a Washington outsider.

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