the tindog coffeehouse

I haven’t exactly hidden my feelings for Senator and gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison. I don’t really have anything against her, but I’m not a big fan either. Still, you’d expect that someone whose political experience dates back to 1972 and whose campaign includes Karl Rove and Karen Hughes would be a very strong challenger to incumbent to Rick Perry. So far, though, that hasn’t been the case, and the Internet hasn’t made it any easier.

The first mistake Hutchison (or “Kay” as her campaign prefers to call her) made was not being decisive about running. Four years ago, there were rumors she was considering a run for governor but backed off when it was obvious she couldn’t beat Perry. This time around, she finally pulled the trigger, but not very convincingly. In mid-July she announced that she would be announcing her candidacy at a later time. Combined with her fence-sitting about if or when she will be retiring from the Senate, this non-announcement created the impression that she wasn’t really committed to the task. And in the political world, that’s like blood in the water; sooner or later, the sharks are bound to appear.

But the mistakes didn’t end there. Even before her campaign officially started, she replaced her campaign manager, a clear sign of trouble. Then it was discovered that her website contained thousands of hidden search keywords, including the phrase “rick perry gay”. That was embarrassing enough, but then Yahoo and Google removed the site from their indexes because of the incredible number of search terms.

Then she fumbled again when it came time to actually announce her candidacy. Instead of holding the announcement in Dallas, Houston, or Austin, she opted for her hometown of La Marque (yeah, I’ve never heard of it either) in a mostly-empty venue that only drew about 60 people. Paul Burka of Texas Monthly called it an “astonishingly inept rollout”, and Matt Lewis of Townhall.com said it was “like watching a train wreck.” And then there’s this description from RedState.com’s Erick Erickson:

About the only campaign that comes close to the disaster that is Creigh Deeds’ campaign in Virginia is the craptacular spectacle of Kay Bailey Hutchison running her Texas gubernatorial primary.

The campaign has thus far been a disaster. Most recently, this morning, KBH showed up an hour late to her own kick off event.

Then, when she got there, she started bashing Rick Perry for being Governor for ten years. She said, “We need results, not politics. And that starts with term limits for Texas governor. For any governor, eight years is enough.”

The befuddling irony is that Kay Bailey Hutchison has been a United States Senator for seventeen years. Pot meet kettle.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s not a good sign when a blogger from your own party refers to your campaign as a “craptacular spectacle”.

So why all the backlash? Well, certainly Senator Hutchison, er, Kay has given political commentators plenty of material to work with, but I think it’s also a reflection of just how popular Rick Perry is at the moment. Perry is still riding the wave of anti-Washington sentiment building in the state. Conservative voters see him as someone they can rally around at tea parties, even if he hasn’t always been their knight in shining armor. (Keep in mind Perry won re-election in 2006 with only 39% of the vote). Hutchison, meanwhile, isn’t nearly as conservative as her opponent, earning her a reputation as a RINO (Republican In Name Only) and a Washington insider, a reputation Perry’s camp is more than happy to perpetuate.

The end result is a weak and vulnerable candidate. And in the age of Google, Facebook, and Twitter, that’s all it takes to doom a campaign.

Previously:
Race for Texas governor officially on …sorta
When will Kay Bailey Hutchison resign?