A few weeks ago, we noted that several right-wing leaders in Texas were targeting Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison as she prepares for her primary challenge against current Republican governor Rick Perry, calling Perry a stalwart champion of the pro-life movement while comparing Hutchison to Barack Obama and blasting her for transferring funds from her Senate campaign to her gubernatorial campaign.
The attacks on Hutchison have been rather low-level to this point, coming mostly from second-stringers like David Barton and Rick Scarborough. But that will probably change once this starts to get around:
Gov. Rick Perry appears to be wearing out his welcome in Texas, and starts out as the underdog against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), according to a new poll.
The Public Policy Polling poll shows Hutchison leading Perry, 56 to 31 percent, in the Republican primary. Hutchison has sky-high approval ratings, with 76 percent of Texans approving of her, with only 15 percent disapproving.
Perry’s approval ratings are also solid, with 60 percent approving and 27 percent disapproving.
But among voters who approve of both Perry and Hutchison, Hutchison leads by 16 points, 49 to 33 percent.
“Rick Perry is in grave danger of losing in the primary,” said PPP pollster Dean Debnam. “It’s partly because he’s worn out his welcome with a certain segment of the Republican electorate, but the even bigger reason is that Kay Bailey Hutchison is just a lot more popular than him.”
It is probably safe to assume that the Right’s “stop Hutchison” effort will start to ramp up now that it looks like she might actually have a chance to knock off one of their leading allies.
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