Where's Carole?

Hey, wasn't there supposed to be a contested GOP primary for Governor going on? Whatever happened to Carole Keeton Strayhorn?

Strayhorn has a lot of money in her campaign war chest, but lately, many political observers have noted that her momentum seems to be dwindling, just as Governor Perry is picking up steam.

On a sweltering summer day five months ago, the state's republican comptroller turned months of speculation into reality and ran full speed ahead at incumbent republican Rick Perry.

But aside from some radio ads, Strayhorn's campaign has barely made a peep since then. Perry has compiled an impressive list of endorsements, including the State Association of Firefighters, the Texas Public Employees Association and the Teamsters.

Strayhorn has scored no big endorsements.

[...]

Strayhorn is standing her ground, appearing as a keynote speaker at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Capitol. She says her campaign is going well, but did not want to answer questions about it on the holiday.

"I'll be delighted to talk about that any time any place anywhere I'll be delighted to talk about the issues, where we are going in this state but today, today is the day to remember to respect and to pray for our men and women who are still in harm's way," Strayhorn said.

Link via PerryVsWorld. It's too bad that she's been such a dud so far, since whatever one may think of her she does have something to say. On an admittedly more self-interested note, I've long believed that some of the issues she's championed - toll road opposition and the importance of CHIP, to name two - would eventually dovetail nicely into some Democratic themes for the general election. If she's going to be more than a footnote, she'd better get her act together.

She's got her work cut out for her. Rick Perry is a terrible Governor on many levels, but he's a heck of a politician, and he's done a great job setting the agenda lately. Long as he can resist the urge to call any more special sessions, he ought to be able to continue doing that. Too bad for the rest of us, but those are the perks of winning elections.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 15, 2005 to Election 2006 | TrackBack