Perry trolling for support

Did I mention that the 2006 elections have already begun? Governor Perry certainly seems to think so.

Gov. Rick Perry reportedly has been seeking support from other top elected Republican officials for his 2006 re-election race, apparently trying to defuse potential opposition in his party's primary. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn are considering running against Perry for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Luis Saenz, director of Perry's political committee, would neither confirm nor deny the endorsement roundup, reported to the Houston Chronicle by a Republican source with no direct connections to either Hutchison or Strayhorn.

"We're renewing old supporters and gathering new supporters," Saenz said Friday.

"The governor's committed to running for re-election in 2006, and he will be prepared. Governor Perry's getting great support at all levels," he added.

The story is pretty thin, but it makes sense to me. Strayhorn and Hutchison have both been saying and doing things for some time now that can clearly be seen as positioning for the primary. In the event that one or both of them run, the race will be expensive and high profile. Perry would be dumb to ignore opportunities to take advantage of his incumbency and ensure he has the support he'll need.

I'm sure there will be plenty more of this as we go along. Meanwhile, the Rick Perry Versus The World blog has two posts of interest.

UPDATE: Greg is not impressed.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 18, 2004 to Election 2006 | TrackBack