As Kay Bailey Hutchison's primary campaign against Rick Perry has gotten off to a floundering start, there'd been rumors afoot that extremely popular and term-limited Houston mayor Bill White would switch to the Governor's race. The Houston Chronicle is now saying that he will be running for Governor, and Tom Schieffer will be withdrawing from the race, leaving the field basically clear. (Country singer Kinky Friedman remains a declared candidate, but is realistically not competitive in this primary.) But, as the Chronicle points out, there's a twist--more after the flip.
The timing of a TX-Sen election depends on when Hutchison makes good on her promise to leave the Senate--right now, she's said that'll be after the health care votes, as she wants to use them to build credibility with the GOP base in Texas. What's interesting is that White can, at least theoretically, run in both--declaring for Governor, which has a filing deadline in the immediate future (where he'd be a clear favorite in a Democratic primary, likely in the lead in a Perry-White head to head, and probably as competitive as anyone else against KBH, though I haven't seen any public polling on the matter), and running for Senate when the election comes. As the Chronicle notes:
He can run for governor, and even if he gets the nomination, he could still run in a Senate special election. If he won the Senate seat, then the State Democratic Executive Committee could name his replacement in the governor's race.
Interesting--very interesting. To be fair, whatever race White chooses not to run in will be an uphill battle for the Democrats, but White gives the Democrats their best shot at a major statewide office in Texas since the heyday of Ann Richards, who lost to George W. Bush in 1994.
And want to know why Bill White is awesome? This article from Texas Monthly does an incredible job of showing why. White gives a damn, not just about policy, but about people, and that's in too short supply these days.