Will Success Spoil the Texas GOP?
Rick Perry's decade as governor has seen Republicans take solid hold of statewide offices and both houses of the legislature.. Photo by Ben Philpott for KUT NewsAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Texas Democrats have not been a force to be reckoned with during Rick Perry’s ten years serving as governor. In fact, the Democrats have failed to win a statewide election since before the turn of the century. According to an op-ed in the November issue of Texas Monthly, that may be bad news for Perry’s presidential hopes.
Perry had been so easily routing his opposition back home that he was out of practice. As King of Texas, he’d been able to avoid or ignore hostile audiences, nosy newspaper editorial boards, and anyone else who didn’t think he was such hot stuff, including the entire Texas Democratic party. He’d debated John Sharp exactly once when competing against him for lieutenant governor in 1998, and Bill White not at all in 2010, with a lot of pretty mediocre performances in between.
Texas Monthly editor Jake Silverstein talks with KUT’s Emily Donahue about the potential effect of Republican dominance of Texas Democrats on the governor’s drive for the White House.
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