Mar
31st
Wed
31st
Hutchison Won’t Resign, Will Serve Out Full Term
Check out this post: http://capitolannex.com/2010/03/31/hutchison-wont-resign-will-serve-out-full-term/) Coming as no surprise to anyone, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced this morning that she would serve out the remainder of her current term in the United States Senate and not resign—as she promised throughout her failed campaign for Texas governor. As she has claimed previously, Hutchison notes her decision to remain in the Senate stems from her desire to fight President Obama’s healthcare plan:
“My experience will be better used fighting this effort by the president and the Congress to do so much to take away the essence of America,” she said in an appearance with her Texas Republican colleague, Sen. John Cornyn, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.Hutchison’s resignation began to look more and more doubtful following her loss to Texas Governor Rick Perry in the March GOP Primary. Immediately after her loss, Perry and Congressional Republicans began giving Hutchison significant cover to help make a decision to stay in the Senate look less self-serving and politically motivated. As Capitol Annex noted last week, national Republicans were also pressuring Hutchison to stay in Washington in order to avoid a costly special election battle this year. The Morning News touches on that:
For Cornyn, who runs the GOP’s Senate campaign committee, and McConnell, the decision removes a possible complication in their bid to win as many seats as possible. Though a Republican would have been heavily favored to keep the seat, the GOP might have had to spend money to defend it that it can now use elsewhere. With Hutchison, Republicans have 41 Senate seats, to 59 for Democrats.Hutchison’s decision caps off a nearly three-year wait-and-see, cat-and-mouse game Hutchison has played over her resignation. In 2007, when a challenge to Perry seemed likely in the GOP primary, Hutchison told the Associated Press she would likely resign early because it was the best thing for Texas. Throughout 2009, Hutchison kept pushing back a self-set timetable for her resignation—first claiming she would resign in late summer, and pushing it back to fall until she finally claimed she wanted to remain in the Senate until she was done fighting healthcare reform. Hutchison, who will complete her third term in 2012, originally claimed she would run only for two terms in the U.S. Senate—and even sponsored term-limit legislation for members of Congress. In 2006, during a televised debate with then-Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Senate Barbara Ann Radnofsky, Hutchison admitted she went back on that promise because she thought it was what was “best for Texas.”
