Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

AUSTIN – As Republicans nationwide look to repair their party's fortunes, a rift has developed in Texas over whether the political problem is Washington or extends to the state GOP.

And it's at the center of an increasingly bitter Lone Star battle– Rick Perry vs. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

In signaling a possible challenge to Mr. Perry in the primary for governor, Ms. Hutchison, Texas' senior U.S. senator, says the state's Republican leadership is polarizing and unresponsive. She warns it must retool or risk losing political dominance.

Mr. Perry says there's nothing wrong with the Texas GOP. Washington Republicans, he argues, have steered the party in the wrong direction.

The clash not only has dominated the early maneuvering but it also threatens to tear apart some longtime loyalties.

In a measure of growing tensions within the party, Mr. Perry is skipping a conference next week on improving the Texas GOP organized by Rep. Joe Barton of Arlington and his Washington-based political action committee.

The closed-door session in Grapevine will examine why Republicans have begun losing down-ballot races and whether the state party needs to make changes to avoid the fate Republicans suffered in this year's White House and congressional races.

In the invitation to Republican officeholders and activists, Mr. Barton noted Texas Republicans have lost 12 seats in the Texas House, at least one in the state Senate and local elections in Dallas and Harris counties.

"We as elected Republican leaders can cross our fingers and hope things get better," Mr. Barton wrote. "Maybe they will, maybe they won't."

The conference provoked a sharp response from Perry ally Tom Pauken, a former state GOP chairman, who said Texas Republicans don't need instructions from the Beltway.

"They've made a mess of things in Washington in the last eight years," he said. "Now they're going to come home to Texas and tell us how to fix the Republican Party in our state?"

Touting GOP credentials

Mr. Perry, who this month becomes Texas' longest-serving governor, is taking his case to campaign donors.

In a new online fundraising appeal, he wrote: "Washington Republicans blew it with twelve years of exploding earmarks and spending sprees."

Without naming Ms. Hutchison, he warned of "some within our midst who want to chart a course that is Democrat Lite; Republican in name, Democrat in priorities."

Hutchison spokesman Todd Olsen said the senator is a longtime Republican who was backing Ronald Reagan in 1984 when Mr. Perry was a Democrat trying to elect Walter Mondale as president.

"The Democrats rejected Rick Perry. He switched parties. Now, he's having trouble winning elections as a Republican. Governor Perry got 39 percent in the last election. It's a reason Texans want a change," he said. "KBH is a Republican of conviction, and Rick Perry is a Republican of convenience."

Mr. Barton's invitation to the Texas GOP Leadership Conference says Mr. Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Ms. Hutchison "have all personally committed to me that they will be in attendance."

But aides to the governor and lieutenant governor say neither will attend. Ms. Hutchison has accepted.

Craig Murphy, a Barton political consultant, expressed surprise when told the governor would skip it. He said the conference is about party-building, not a critique of the state's GOP leadership.

"Everybody wants to strengthen the party; Governor Perry does as well," Mr. Murphy said. "Most people who are going to be there are local Texas folks, so they can talk about whatever they want to talk about. It's informational, a knowledge-building thing."

Licking their wounds

The conference comes as Republicans in Texas and elsewhere discuss what went wrong for the party so quickly.

Four years ago, when President George W. Bush won a second term and the party won solid majorities in Congress, White House political consultant Karl Rove predicted an enduring Republican majority.

Now, Democrats will control all of Washington, and they're gaining ground in Mr. Bush's home state, although the GOP still holds every statewide office and the Legislature.

Some Republicans blame the Bush administration for the party's losses in the last two elections, saying it mishandled the Iraq war, allowed federal spending to balloon, botched the response to Hurricane Katrina and presided over an economic collapse.

In Texas, a recent survey by a Republican pollster warns that voters have perceptions of Republicans as arrogant, angry and unwelcoming – and would consider voting for a Democrat for governor next time.

Pointing out parallels

The early outlines of a potential Hutchison-Perry matchup reflect the Washington vs. Texas divide, with the Perry camp noting that the senator's allies include Mr. Rove and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, both associated with Washington.

"We can have a conservative majority again," Mr. Pauken said. "It's been squandered by the kind of politics pursued by Karl Rove and a lot of our Republicans in Washington who lost touch with their own constituency."

Mr. Rove, who was Mr. Bush's political guru, is an informal adviser to Ms. Hutchison and will help raise money for her campaign. He did not return a request for comment.

Mr. Pauken, a Perry appointee as chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission, said the governor and conservatives in the Legislature have a good record, citing a budget surplus at a time most states face shortfalls. He said national Republicans should learn from Texas and pursue an agenda of low taxes and limited government.

Ms. Hutchison has said a fundamental problem of the state GOP leadership is "too little trust, too little consensus and too much infighting. And the tone comes from the top."

In the 2006 contests, Ms. Hutchison chose not to challenge Mr. Perry, despite concerns that party leaders were spending too much time in contentious political fights and not enough improving education and health care.

"I deferred to the governor, hoping that he would be able to do good things for Texas," she said. "But now, I think, is the time for a transition."