Voters favor Hutchison, poll finds

Voters favor Hutchison, poll finds
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 06/28/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

AUSTIN -- Republican voters in Texas seem to like the idea of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison coming home to take the state's top job, according to poll results released Friday.

More than two years before the 2010 gubernatorial race, The Texas Lyceum, a nonpartisan Texas think tank, asked respondents earlier this month to participate in a "fantasy" election.

The poll asked 1,000 people across the state to choose among five Republican politicians -- Hutchison, Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, state Sen. Florence Shapiro and Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams.

None garnered a majority, but 35 percent said they were likely to support Hutchison, compared with 22 percent who chose Perry.

"That's a powerful statement about people's satisfaction or dissatisfaction with how he's carried out the last two years of his office," said Kathleen Staudt, a political science professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Perry won re-election in 2006 with 39 percent of the vote in a crowded field of candidates. He is set to become the longest-serving Texas governor in history later this year and has said he plans to run again in 2010.

Perry spokesman Robert Black said a poll wasn't worth much.

"Two years is two or three eternities in politics," Black said. "Gov. Perry doesn't pay much attention to polls anyway."

Hutchison has not announced her candidacy, but is considering a run for the governor's mansion. Matt Mackowiak, Hutchison's spokesman, declined to comment on the poll results.

The poll also asked about five Democratic politicians who might have gubernatorial aspirations: former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, Houston Mayor Bill White, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, former Comptroller John Sharp and former comptroller candidate Paul Hobby.

More than 40 percent said they didn't know whom they would support, and about 17 percent said they wouldn't choose any of the Democrats listed.

"Those results don't speak very well for the Democratic Party and its ability to generate high-profile names that appeal to the entire state," Staudt said.

She agreed with Perry's spokesman that it was too soon to make predictions about the 2010 gubernatorial race.

"It's much too early," she said. "Everybody's all caught up in the presidential election right now."

The poll also asked Texans which issues were the most important facing the state.

Gas and oil prices topped the list, followed closely by immigration and the economy.

The price of gas was the first thing Lower Valley resident Gloria Duran mentioned, too, when asked about important issues facing Texans.

But health care and education were the mother of four's biggest concerns.

"Can they do without the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) test?" she said. "It's throwing off a lot of kids."

Tanny Berg, an El Paso investor, listed the state's new business tax as one of his biggest worries.

"It's really, really onerous on small businesses," he said.

And, he said, Texas should make it a priority to improve relations with Mexico.

"The economic well-being of both countries is interdependent," Berg said, "and Texas needs to take a role in making that better."

Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com;512-479-6606.