Hutchison sets up run for Texas governor

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on Thursday took the first step
toward her anticipated run for Texas governor, establishing an exploratory
committee that will allow her to raise money for the 2010 campaign.

“I am not yet a candidate, but Texas law requires
this first, important step before an announcement can be made,” Sen.
Hutchison (R-Texas) said in her announcement.

{mosads}Hutchison’s impending run sets up a bruising GOP primary challenge to current Gov. Rick Perry (R),
who has said he intends to seek reelection. Perry has served as Texas’s
governor since 2000, when he took over after then-Gov. George W. Bush left for
the White House.

Hutchison said she is transferring $1 million from her
Senate campaign to launch the committee.

“Texans deserve a governor who, in the context of
sound budgetary policies and low taxes, works for quality schools and
universities, access to healthcare for our families, communities safe from
crime and drugs, protection of private property rights, sensible transportation
and a government that listens and responds to them,” Hutchison said.
“There’s too much bitterness, too much anger, too little trust, too little
consensus and too much infighting. And the tone comes from the top. Texans are
looking for leadership and results.”

Perry won only 39 percent of the vote
during his 2006 election. There are no announced Democratic candidates so far.

A
Perry spokesman scoffed at Hutchison’s news and said the 39 percent of
the vote that Perry won in 2006 was in a race with three other
candidates

“‘Kay Bailout’ has been talking
about running for governor and passing legislation for years, and
nothing has happened,” said Mark Miner. “Today she continues her streak
of indecision. All she really did was pick a treasurer.”

Hutchison, who had been a member of the Senate GOP
leadership team, told The Hill in September that a gubernatorial campaign was
likely — but Thursday’s move adds a note of certainty. The 65-year-old senator
has already stepped down from her post as chairwoman of the Republican Policy
Committee.

Still unknown is whether Hutchison will resign early from
the Senate for the campaign. Her term is up in 2012, but Texas law would allow
her to stay in the Senate while running for governor.

“It won’t be an immediate decision,” said Todd
Olsen, a spokesman for Hutchison’s Austin-based committee. “This was just
a preliminary step in terms of exploring a campaign. The more formal steps are
days, weeks or months away.”

If Hutchison did resign from the Senate early, Olsen said
she would ask Perry to hold a special election to fill the seat.