In an interview with Dallas/Fort Worth's WFAA, Kay Bailey Hutchison makes it clear she won't cede ideological ground to Texas Gov. Rick Perry in their primary battle.
"I'm going to win the primary, because I am a true conservative. I'm the one who has actually walked the conservative line.... I'm the one with the record of conservatism. Governor Perry talks the conservative game, but he's raised taxes on business. Our property taxes have gone through the roof.
[Later]
Governor Perry talks like a conservative, but he governs like a liberal. He's the one who increased taxes; not me. I have fought tax increases and been productive on it. He's the one that mandated the HPV vaccine for 12 year old girls with an executive order, for heaven's sakes."
Pretty risky strategy for Hutchison. It's true that Perry's record is less conservative than he maintains, but she's not going to be able to out-right him.
Given the current climate in the GOP, she has to hit him on perceived political excesses that have plagued him to make the argument it's time for him to go. Not time for his ideology to go, but time for him -- as a governor, as Rick Perry.
