Perry goes after Hutchison on 60 seats issue

We knew he would, but now Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has made the specter of 60 Democratic Senate seats a part of his primary matchup with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R).

Speaking with the Austin American-Statesman , Perry attributed Hutchison’s primary challenge with not only risking the party’s hold on the governor’s mansion, but also its hold on the ability to filibuster in the Senate.

“I still tell people I don’t understand why we would want to spend $40 million in a primary and give (Republicans) a chance of losing a Senate seat in Washington when it’s on the verge of being filibuster-proof,” Perry said. “So what sense does that make?”

This is important because we will begin to see what kind of public pressure it puts on Hutchison to remain in her seat and avoid a May 2010 nonpartisan free-for-all, which could hand a 60th seat to Democrats six months before the 2010 election.

Hutchison has suggested that she would vacate the seat, sooner or later, to run for governor, but she is receiving plenty of pressure from her colleagues to remain in the seat. And Cornyn last week expressed consternation about where the situation stands.

(h/t: GOP 12)

–Aaron Blake