2010 Texas Gubernatorial Prediction: ‘Perry Wins’
As crazy as it may sound, I predict that Gov. Rick “Git-on Down the Road” Perry will be re-elected. Primarily, the reason is that the majority of Texans “don’t know no better” and they want to keep the governor who has kept his wealthy special interest campaign contributors happy “as a pig in crap.”
As crazy as it may sound, I predict that Gov. Rick “Git-on Down the Road” Perry will be re-elected.
Primarily, the reason is that the majority of Texans “don’t know no better” and they want to keep the governor who has kept his wealthy special interest campaign contributors happy “as a pig in crap.”
In addition, Perry presents himself as a home-grown farm boy and is viewed as a real Texas success story. Regardless, it is interesting that the Texas Farmers Union has clashed with the governor regarding his push for the Trans-Texas Corridor that would cut through the heart of Texas and divide many farms from Mexico up through Oklahoma.
While Perry paints a solid view of his performance as governor, the truth is that he has done a great deal for wealthy special interests while doing little for the average majority. There is a growing movement against Perry, but it is doubtful that it will be sufficient to stop him from attaining a 4th term as governor.
Perry has done many things to impede his own re-election, e.g., promoting the Texas Corridor, pushing the financing of public education onto local government, demanding that girls receive mandatory HPV inoculations, increasing business taxes, pushing for further deregulation of various industries, etc. Perry’s priorities are questionable and have been proven as failing the community good.
Despite his political transgressions and often tyrannical attempts at control there seems to be no other candidate for government that can stop Perry from being re-elected.
In reviewing the GOP Primary, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison carries with her the stigma of national government control. Perry waves the Texas flag over the national flag during this campaign and it will be a successful tactic. Washington, D.C. has failed all Americans and Perry points that out to all Texans. Do they want failed politics to run Texas? The answer is no.
Debra Medina is trying to represent average Texans but appears to be a more “liberal” Republican Conservative who has virtually no experience in government. She has no political history and legislative experience and can not beat Perry in the GOP Primary.
Looking at the opposing party alternatives, the Democratic Party no longer has strong roots in Texas. Those roots were eliminated when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While Johnson knew it was the right thing to do, he also acknowledged that signing the document would ensure a Republican stronghold throughout the South for an infinite period of time. He was right.
Former Houston Mayor Bill White has a platform that simply does not “hold water” for the majority of Republican Texas and let’s face it that the GOP maintains a strong base throughout the state.
The other top Democratic contender is Farouk Shami, who appears to be delusional in believing that Texans would vote for him. First off, Shami arrived in the U.S. from the Middle East in 1965. For the most part, native Texas do not like newcomers moving into their state. They want Texas to remain the same as it has for centuries. The fact that Shami is from the Mid-East does not bode well for him in Texas.
Finally, Rick Perry was re-elected in 2006 with only 39 percent of the total votes. Basically, there were too many lesser-quality opponents that divided the people from eliminating Perry as Governor. This year it looks like more of the same. Seems like Texans will be forced to endure another 4 years of deadwood special interest incumbent Perry politics.
(Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Driftwood, Texas.)
