Obviously Florence Shapiro’s U.S. Senate announcement yesterday was meant to get a jump-start against other possible contenders for Kay Bailey’s seat, if the Senator goes after Rick Perry in 2010. But it may have served another purpose as well. Many Republicans, including me, wanted the Senator to take on Perry in the 2006 GOP primary. For more than a year, she jabbed and feinted, and like now, the early polls showed she would win. But to the deep disappointment of her fans (including me), she backed out. Now she’s making all the same noises, “hinting” that she’ll decide by next year. Big-time Republicans are murmuring that they’ve seen this movie before. Maybe Shapiro decided it was time for someone to rap sharply on the projection room door.Â
Shapiro says not. She says Hutchison was “excited” to hear about her plans. I think we all know how excited a politician gets when another politician announces she’s going after her seat.
