Texas Politics

The late Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen famously called Texas politics a contact sport.  Texas' senior Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has long considered running for governor.  Today, she took a step in that direction.

Gardner Selby of the Austin American-Statesman files, "Hutchison launches gubernatorial committee," for its Postcards from the Lege blog.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison today launched a committee to explore a run for governor in 2010.

Hutchison’s paperwork, filed at the Texas Ethics Commission, names Allan “Bud” Shivers Jr. of Austin as her campaign treasurer. Fetch the one-pager here.

Although the paperwork doesn’t mean Hutchison has officially declared she’s running, it allows her to raise money in anticipation of challenging Gov. Rick Perry, a fellow Republican.

And:

The statement closes with her saying she’s humbled to field requests that she run for governor and she’s honored to represent Texas in the Senate. It does not say if, as speculated, she will resign early if she decides to run for governor.

That wouldn’t be required, but it would signal to sideline skeptics that she’s 100-percent serious about trying for governor. Hutchison bowed out of possible runs for governor in 2006 and 2002.

Many political observers believe that gubernatorial politics will overshadow the 2009 Texas Legislature's 140 day session.  One sage observer to watch will be Texas Monthly's Paul Burka, through his Burkablog.