Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Kay Bailey Hutchison

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas isn't expected in Austin much during the legislative session that starts Tuesday.

But by saying she might quit her seat to run for governor next year, she set the scene for shows of political ambition at the Texas Capitol. Elbows-out jockeying could entwine a vast cast topped by GOP Gov. Rick Perry, who has said he'll seek a third term in 2010.

Already, Hutchison and Perry are sniping, with their camps tangling over issues ranging from leadership skills — neither is impressed with the other's — to hot-button topics. For instance, Perry's campaign doubts Hutchison's anti-abortion bona fides, and Hutchison has disparaged Perry's vision of toll roads crisscrossing Texas. Both issues are likely to be in play this session.

And as in any session, there's a risk that hot-button topics — such as requiring voters to present photo identification, which divided the 2007 Legislature — could take time from traditional focuses such as budget priorities.

At the least, political considerations could generate lively sideshows.

Among leaders to watch, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has said he would enjoy being governor or senator. It's not known whether his unsettled campaign plans might affect which measures he favors and which ones he slows down — or which senators he helps and which ones he diverts. One reason: No lieutenant governor has hunted a higher office since Ben Barnes presided over the Senate in 1971 and went for governor the next year, though supporters of Bill Hobby explored the possibility of him running for governor in the late 1980s.

Among pivotal players, Attorney General Greg Abbott and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson have eyed the lieutenant governor post. State Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, has mulled a run for attorney general, and state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, is a party prospect for governor or lieutenant governor. Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, who heads the Senate's Democratic Caucus, has lately reported being encouraged to run for the U.S. Senate.

One legislator has already hinted at a post-session campaign swing. Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler — who said in September he'll declare for governor if the Republican-led Legislature fails to target illegal immigrants — said last week: "I will spend six months traveling the state, speaking to Republican groups (and telling them) the leaders of the state won't take their heads out of the sand and do anything about them."

Nearly alone among statewide officeholders, state Comptroller Susan Combs and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples haven't signaled desires to upgrade their positions in 2010, though Staples' spokesman, Bryan Black, said Staples might have an update after the session ends.

Musical chairs?

Hutchison, a former Texas House member and state treasurer, all but guaranteed ambition would ripple the session when she said Dec. 3 that she might give up her seat late this year to run for governor. After she launched a committee dedicated to warming up a gubernatorial bid, three Republicans and two Democrats formed federal committees for Senate bids, joining state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, who started exploring the idea last summer.

After Hutchison started her committee, two Texas Railroad Commission members — Chairman Michael Williams and Elizabeth Ames Jones — started Senate committees along with Roger Williams, Perry's former appointed Texas secretary of state. The Democratic Senate candidates are Houston Mayor Bill White and John Sharp, a former state comptroller.

Watson, who ran for attorney general in 2002, said he'll focus on being a good senator during the session.

"I don't think any of us can do our best this legislative session if worrying about 2010 is playing a factor," Watson said. But "on a more universal basis, I'm not naive. ... Let's face it, we're all up here as a result of politics. Everyone up here is a political animal. I don't mean that negatively."

Sherri Greenberg, a lecturer at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, noted that ambitions often affect sessions.

Gov. George W. Bush's plans to run for president loomed over the 1999 session when he won a big property-tax cut. And the collision course set by state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Perry in the 2003 and 2005 sessions foreshadowed their 2006 battle for governor. Strayhorn jabbed at Perry's spending priorities during both sessions, even holding up final adoption of the 2006-07 budget, and Perry didn't object to lawmakers yanking her office's authority to conduct performance reviews of state agencies and school districts.

Dueling donor letters

Lately, Hutchison and Perry — already primed to disagree about how to boost Texas universities and whether to emphasize toll roads to relieve traffic congestion — have traded shots at a distance.

Perry didn't name Hutchison in a December letter drumming up campaign donations. But his camp didn't dispute that he was referring to her in this portion: "We're not just battling the Democrats' liberal vision for America, but some within our midst who want to chart a course that is Democrat Lite — Republican in name, Democrat in priorities."

Hutchison, in a Jan. 2 fundraising pitch for her gubernatorial committee, bored in on Perry without dropping his name: "Ten years of one man in the Governor's office has left challenges unanswered, too little truth and consensus, and too much infighting. This tone comes from the top and we can do something about it."

Her letter lists concerns that could arise in the session and prove to be campaign fodder: That the state budget has doubled in a decade; that state government wants to "cover our state" with toll roads; that the Texas Youth Commission and state schools serving people with mental retardation face scrutiny; and that death row inmates made many cell phone calls from a smuggled phone.

"Texans want leaders who look ahead to meet the challenges that are coming," Hutchison writes. "Unfortunately, that's not happening now."

Mark Miner, Perry's spokesman, wasn't impressed with the letter:

"Gov. Perry and the Legislature get things done. Unlike Washington gridlock, Gov. Perry and the Legislature balanced the (2004-05) budget with a $10 billion (revenue) shortfall. Currently, the economy in Texas is one of the best in the nation. She's in this Washington-based mentality that can only attack and not come up with any solutions."

Todd Olsen, speaking for Hutchison's exploratory committee, noted that the letter, which lists her work on legislation related to taxes, the economy, education, health care and other topics, also stresses her desire for more top-rate state universities.

"She is pretty focused on what she can do for Texas," Olsen said.

Get ready for drama

The LBJ School's Greenberg, a former House member, said an upside of political ambitions firing during a session is that individuals compete to make meaningful changes in law that benefit the state. A downside, she said, is that work on vital tasks (such as the state budget) can be sidetracked by issues that mainly generate political theater.

Noting that the Department of Public Safety's desire to check driver's licenses at highway checkpoints divides lawmakers, Greenberg suggested that in this year's session, debate about checkpoints could ricochet on Abbott if the state's top lawyer is newly asked his opinion on the checkpoints — not necessarily a boon to his political fortunes.

Lobbyist Ike Harris, a former state senator, suggested that issues dear to social conservatives — such as abortion restrictions and a desire to block the expansion of legalized gambling — could bubble up in the session because Republican officeholders know GOP primary voters care about such issues; in 2010, voters could be reminded which politicians led on the issues.

Funny thing, Harris noted, is that if Hutchison doesn't run for governor — she stopped short in 2002 and 2006 — many ambitions will be smushed.

"If she'll really make the decision to run, that's the big thing," Harris said. "If she doesn't, that backs up the other stuff, like a commode."