Kay Bailey Hutchison

February 13, 2013

Egypt Looks to El Paso for Water Wisdom

The city's massive inland desalination plant is drawing admirers from near and far.

By Madelyn Herzog and Texas Monthly

January 21, 2013

Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Valedictory Speech

After 18 years in office, the first and only female senator from Texas says goodbye.

January 21, 2013

Karen Hughes and Kay Bailey Hutchison Would Like Republican Men to Stop Saying Offensive Things About Rape

Real talk from some prominent Republican women.

January 21, 2013

Romney’s Texas Cabinet Members?

U.S. Senator John Cornyn and outgoing senator Kay Bailey Hutchison were floated as potential members of a Romney administration, and Greg Abbott is a top choice to head the EPA.

January 21, 2013

Sadler Defeats Cruz! In Major Newspaper Endorsements, That Is

Update: Four of the state's five editorial boards have now opted for the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, including the Austin American-Statesman, which endorsed Ted Cruz over David Dewhurst in the primary.

January 21, 2013

Hutchison: “Governors Don’t Make the Best Presidents”

During an exit interview with NBC's Chuck Todd, Kay Bailey Hutchison talked about Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and "RINOs"—Republicans in Name Only.

January 21, 2013

Negative Campaign Ads Fire Up the Senate Race

With the May 29 primary five weeks away, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and former Dallas mayor Tom Leppert run two spots attacking their opponents.

News & Politics|

January 21, 2013

Hutchison Criticizes Perry over Women’s Health Program Decision

Texas's senior Senator pushed for Rick Perry and the Obama Administration to work out their differences to ensure the Women’s Health Program can serve low-income women.

January 21, 2013

The U.S. Senate Race Takes Center Stage

Candidate Ted Cruz announced that he's "effectively tied" with David Dewhurst in funding, while the Lite Guv released a poll that shows he has fifty percent of the vote.

January 21, 2013

Early Endorsement: “Express-News” Says Romney is “Clear GOP Choice”

The San Antonio paper weighs in now due to uncertainty over Texas primary date and spurns Congressman Ron Paul and Governor Rick Perry.

January 21, 2013

The Kay Place

Kay Bailey Hutchison, the state’s senior senator and the first woman from Texas to hold that office, opens up about the changes in her party, why she decided to retire, and the governor’s race that got away.

By Brian D. Sweany

January 21, 2013

Commercial Appeal

It's no accident that Rick Perry has a 10-0 election record. Watch the campaign ads that helped convince voters he was the man for the job.

January 21, 2013

The Great Campaigner

After eleven contested elections dating back three decades, Rick Perry remains undefeated. Is he brilliant? Lucky? Ruthless? We asked the people who know best—his vanquished opponents.

By Jake Silverstein

January 20, 2013

Right Place, Right Time

A year ago Rick Perry’s political future seemed to be in peril. Now he’s looking past the 2010 elections—and all the way to the White House. Think I’m kidding? How about a cup of tea?

January 20, 2013

The Gentleman From Texas

Only a few years after arriving in Washington, John Cornyn has become the capital’s most powerful Texan. Can he lead the Republicans back to power in the Senate?

By Jake Silverstein

January 20, 2013

The Thrilla in Vanilla

The looming clash between Republican gubernatorial candidates Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison may not be as fearsome as the storied Ali-Frazier bout, but it’s the heavyweight showdown every Texas political junkie has been waiting for.

News & Politics|

October 25, 2012

Texas Politicians Hit a Different Kind of Trail

From Bush to Hutchison, Texas proves politicians are no slouches when it comes to exercise.

By Chuck Matula

September 17, 2012

Will Ted Cruz Become a Washington Insider?

Mitch McConnell hosted a fundraiser for the Tea Party darling last Thursday, and U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn attended.

The Culture|

March 1, 2012

Happy Texas Independence Day!

Today marks the 176th anniversary of Texas' independence from Mexico.

By Alexandra Scoptur

August 13, 2011

The Great Campaigner

We interrupt your regular blogger to bring you a special message from the editor: So it’s official. As of today, at 1:30 pm EST, Governor Perry is finally a formal candidate for president (though we’ve been convinced he had eyes on the job as far back as

By Jake Silverstein

June 27, 2010

Public Policy Polling: Kay’s not O.K.

From the PPP Web site: Approval/Disapproval (Republicans) Approve 47% Disapprove 37% Unsure 18% Job Performance Approve 37% Disapprove 43% Unsure 20% Should Run for Reelection in 2012 (Republicans) Yes 43% No 41% Not sure 17% Vote for KBH in 2012 (Republicans) Yes 43% No 41% Not sure 17%

April 6, 2010

Tuition break for illegals is key issue in Jones-Perry runoff

The fight is over a bill Jones supported in 2001 providing for undocumented high school students to be able to pay in-state tuition rates at Texas colleges and universities — the same rates that legal residents pay. According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the entire Lubbock delegation voted for

March 31, 2010

Hutchison decides to stay in the Senate

This is not exactly shocking news. Most people who follow Texas politics closely have been predicting that she would serve our her term since her campaign began to collapse in January, or was it last September? It is her best option, and perhaps her only option. Hutchison has been a

March 4, 2010

Last words about the GOP governor’s race

Perry’s decisive victory over a sitting United States Senator is going to propel him into national prominence. Republican power brokers will have to take notice of him as a potential presidential candidate, if they haven’t already done so. Who on the Republican side would make a better candidate? Mitt Romney

March 3, 2010

Bad day for conservatives: the anger that wasn’t there

This was supposed to be an unpredictable election due to the tea parties and the Medina candidacy. It was supposed to be an election in which angry conservatives rose up and smote incumbents. Nothing remotely like that occurred. Republican congressional candidates, who might have been tainted by Washingtonitis, won with

February 24, 2010

Rasmussen: 48-27-16 (9% undecided)

Perry creeps ever closer to the magic 50% that would enable him to win without a runoff—which the Perry camp expects him to do. Hutchison’s position appears to be hopeless, not that this is anything new, but it does raise the question of whether, if Perry comes in with just

February 23, 2010

Found in the Democratic party’s dumpster

Sifting through the dumpster behind the Democratic party headquarters, I came across discarded copies of this memo. From: Your Democratic leaders To: All Democratic voters Re: Election strategy To all Democrats in Texas: We have determined that the best strategy for Democrats in this election is to vote in the

February 23, 2010

New Public Policy Polling survey: 40/30/20 model

Perry 40% (39%) Hutchison 31% (28%) Medina 20% (24%) (numbers in parentheses = PPP 2/9 poll) N = 400 likely Republican primary voters MOE = +/- 4.9% These numbers seem intuitively correct. They suggest that Perry and Hutchison have beaten each other up enough that both are more or less

February 14, 2010

KBH’s robocall

I received this e-mail from a lobbyist whom I have known for many years: Just got a robocall from “Texans for Kay” (was “Private Caller” on caller ID) with a clip from the Glenn Beck show about Perry is someone who says and does good things during an election but

February 13, 2010

Research 2000: Perry +4 over White

Research 2000 is a reputable national polling firm. That said, the result is definitely an outlier. The latest UT/Tribune poll, for example, has Perry and Hutchison leading White by identical nine-point margins, 44-35 in Perry’s case and 43-34 in Hutchison’s. This margin is a little higher than the presumed R

February 12, 2010

Perry far ahead in UT/Tribune poll

The numbers: Perry 45% Hutchison 21% Medina 19% Undecided 16% The poll surveyed 366 Republican primary voters and has a margin of error of +/- 5.12%. The Hutchison campaign will go down in Texas history as accomplishing the least with the most assets, personal and financial. (The closest contender: Claytie

February 10, 2010

Perry leads in Collin County poll

I don’t know the details of this poll, but here are the results. The sample was 300 Republican primary voters who said they would “definitely” vote or “likely” to vote: Perry 43.3 Medina 22.7 Hutchison 22.0 This is in Hutchison’s back yard of the Metroplex. I don’t see how she

February 9, 2010

WATCH OUT FOR MEDINA!

Public Policy Polling has the governor’s race as a 15-point spread from top to bottom: Perry 39% (sound familiar?) Hutchison 28% Medina 24% Undecided 10% Rasmussen’s most recent poll: Perry 44% Hutchison 29% Medina 16% Anything can happen now. Medina’s support has grown by 50% since the Rasmussen poll even

February 2, 2010

Rasmussen: Perry 44, Hutchison 29, Medina 16

Perry gained 1 point since the previous poll. Hutchison lost 4 points. Medina gained 4 points. Hutchison now is lower in the polls (29) than Perry was (30) when she first announced that she would run for governor. Key stat: If voters maintain their current attitudes, Hutchison needs 50% of

February 2, 2010

What is Medina up to?

A couple of weeks ago I questioned in this space whether Medina might enter the Senate race if Hutchison resigns her seat after the primary or the runoff? Apparently someone else was thinking the same thing. The analysis that follows was sent to me by someone who is well known

January 30, 2010

If someone were paying me $30,000 a month…

Here is what I would do if I had been running the Hutchison campaign. I would not just sit back and let Perry punch us with the bailout day after day, week after week, month after month. I would follow the old rule: “Hang a lantern on your problem.” I

January 29, 2010

Reporting the Belo Debate … Perry wins

On the air Perry looks more comfortable so far. First question, the corridor. Was it a mistake? Perry says, wasn't a mistake to have a vision. Blames governors who didn't do anything before him. We had to come up with a way to move people. He had a big smile,

January 28, 2010

Two more house district polls show Perry widening his lead

I received this information about polls that were taken in two House districts, HD 3 (Homer) and HD 47 (Bolton). The first poll is from HD 3. The pollster was Chris Wilson. Fair warning: Both polls were sent to me by a source close to the Perry campaign: Perry 47

January 28, 2010

Teflon

Have you noticed that no criticism of Rick Perry seems to stick? It is very clear now that nothing Hutchison has done has moved numbers, except maybe to reduce her own. He nails her on the bailout and it sticks like flypaper. (Does flypaper still exist?) She tries to nail

January 26, 2010

More on the governor’s race today

PERRY The Perry campaign issued a release attacking the veracity of Hutchison's ad on securing the border. The Perry release follows: Latest False Hutchison Ad Perfect “Match” For Dishonest Senator Media Already Labeling Ad A “Distortion” That “Clouds Some Of Her Record” And “Deviates From Facts” Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

January 26, 2010

The governor’s race today

Hutchison The daily blast from the Hutchison campaign includes this discussion: Texas had the 4th highest teen pregnancy rate in the country in 2005, according to a new study. That’s up one notch from 5th highest in 2000, according to new data from the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights

January 23, 2010

Another poll shows Perry +11

I was told about this poll by a lobbyist who was familiar with the poll. It covered just District 127 (Crabb’s seat), which is primarily Kingwood and other parts of east and northeast Harris County. It’s my understanding that the governor’s race question was added to the poll. This is

January 21, 2010

Today in the governor’s race: Why Hutchison can’t resign

HUTCHISON George H.W. Bush will endorse Hutchison, following Cheney and Baker. The Cheney endorsement was worse than useless; it was self-defeating, because it didn’t help her with conservatives who hate all things Washington, and it hurt her with moderate R’s who saw him as a sinister figure who undermined the

January 20, 2010

A call from the Hutchison campaign

The call had to do with my post yesterday ("Was the Hutchison poll phony?") in which I expressed my concern about whether their poll, which the campaign has said showed them two points down, was on the level. Obviously, the campaign was none too happy about what I wrote, and

January 18, 2010

Rasmussen: Perry 43, Hutchison 33, Medina 12; some indications that Medina may be in the Belo debate

The poll surveyed 798 likely Republican primary voters. These results tracked a poll I wrote about last night: the leaders lost ground, Medina gained ground. The main difference is that the “undecideds” did not gain as much ground as they did in the unnamed poll that I reported on. The

January 17, 2010

Early post-debate polling: leaders lose ground

This report comes from a polling firm that did a post-debate survey of Republican primary voters. I am authorized to publish these numbers. I have no further information to provide other than what I am publishing here. –Perry and Hutchison lost support as a result of the debate. Perry fell

January 17, 2010

Perry must be worried…

…or else he would not have pulled the plug on the Governor’s Mansion addition. Perry has gotten himself out on a limb with all the bragging about Texas, and it may come back to haunt. Add up the boasts about how he balanced the budget (no mention of those stimulus

January 17, 2010

Perry, Hutchison battle over transportation

Transportation is going to be a major battleground in the governor’s race. The two camps exchanged fire after the debate. Perry spokesman Mark Miner put out a statement that accused Hutchison of making misleading statements on her TV ad about transportation policy. What the Perry camp says (from spokesman Mark

January 15, 2010

And the winner is …

Maybe the question is: Was there a winner? Well, the format was a winner. The questions from viewers, from members of the audience, and from one panelist to another, made for a lively if not necessarily enlightening debate. Perry did a good job of repeating his major themes. He must