TEXAS: GETTING RIPE FOR CHANGE?

Texas was conservative before conservatism started pretending to be cool. At first it elected oil-industry-owned rightist Dems, but for years it has gone reliably Repub.

Now the voters may be getting restless. And it doesn't help the GOP's chances that its state leadership was taken over some years ago by professional Jesus freaks whose mindset is more punitive than anything.

Long-time governor Rick Perry is a square-jawed pretty-boy type, thick of hair and eyebrows and head. He once supported Al Gore but then flipped and got to be Dubya's lieutenant governor. Perry looked vulnerable at first in this year's primary. U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison challenged him and polls had her ahead. But then Perry began sounding teabag and neo-Confederate themes, hinting at secession and appealing to people's worst instincts. Repubs began salivating at this red meat and repudiated Hutchison for her (falsely) perceived moderation.

In the general election, Perry has to juggle his unresponsive record and his extremist positioning from the primary while trying to discredit Dem nominee Bill White, an ex-Houston mayor who was also deputy U.S. energy secretary. Moderate conservatives, for whom soundness and experience mean something, may find the competent and not-very-liberal White preferable to the all-show-and-no-go Perry. (But if Perry can win again, look for him to run for president in '12 or '16.)

I blogged a couple of days ago about Repub Senator John Cornyn. He won't go before the voters for a while, but they have no special reason to retain him when he does. He is a typical slash-spending-but-bring-home-the-pork-anyway conservative with no redeeming qualities.

Hutchison is retiring from the Senate and many Repubs are competing for the nomination to succeed her. It is too soon to say whether that situation will vitiate the usual GOP advantage, given a good run by the lone Dem in the race. He is an old hand at politics: John Sharp, at one time the state comptroller. A moderate, he has the kind of populist edge and *sharp* wits that the Lone Star electorate has shown it sometimes appreciates.

While Texans may not cotton to liberalism, they may no longer be willing to put up with shoddy goods, either. Because sooner or later practicality becomes what matters. So keep Texas in view.