Is There One Moderately Sane Republican?

Kay Bailey Hutchison wants to be Governor of Texas. She was favored to win the Governor's race in 2010 over the current Governor Rick Perry, although Perry has moved ahead in the last few months. Resigning from the Senate to campaign full-time would doubtlessly raise her profile and give her a chance to regain the lead. So she announced that she would do just that, sometime in October or November. Texas has a special election requirement for Senate vacancies (though the Governor can appoint a temporary replacement), so there would be a May 2010 TX-Sen race.

And a day later, she turned that announcement into a threat??

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's message Wednesday was as simple as it was confusing: If Gov. Rick Perry does not quit his re-election race to give her a free run at the Republican gubernatorial nomination, she will quit the Senate to run against him.

In a bizarre series of interviews, Hutchison — who has been in the Senate for 16 years — said Perry is wearing out his welcome by wanting to win re-election so he can have 15 years as governor. And if he does not get out of her way, she will quit her job to take him out.

Wednesday morning Hutchison told a Dallas radio station that she planned to quit her Senate seat in October or November to challenge Perry.

Several hours later, however, she told reporters in Washington that her statements had been misunderstood and what she really wanted was for Perry to get out of the race.

“Nobody expected (Perry) to run for 15 years, and I think there's a chance that he wouldn't run because he would see how divisive it is and that he's trying to stay too long and that he can really help in many ways if he doesn't run, in which case I could then be able to stay in the Senate all the way to the end,” Hutchison said, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Who the hell does that? Perry is LEADING right now. Why would he want to accommodate her by leaving the race so she doesn't have to quit the Senate? Does she realize that Perry would get to name her temporary replacement? Does she realize that most politicians kind of like that kind of power? Does she realize that politicians don't usually quit campaigns to make it easier for their opponents?

Can ANYONE here play this game?