Perry is his biggest client, and he's been on board since Perry ran for lieutenant governor in 1998. Rick Perry's re-election campaign - and to his campaigns in 1998, 20 - lives in New Hampshire and commutes and telecommutes to the Texas governor's headquarters (and to other political contests around the country). Its a big party, and we need everybody who is on our side." No, He Doesnt Want to Be Your Presidentĭave Carney, the general consultant to Gov. Haley Barbour, Saturdays keynote speaker, urged the crowd: "We cannot forget unity because some people will let purity be the enemy of unity. Birdwell, a Christian motivational speaker who was injured in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, plays well with the Tea-sipping crowd - and his supporters were out in throngs at the convention.īut Republicans will surely do their best to ensure these internal machinations stay just that - internal - and dont become an issue in November. Sibley, who earned 45 percent of the vote to Birdwells 37 percent in the primary election, used to represent the district and has been lobbying in Austin ever since. The first indication of what the army of Republicans that descended on Dallas took away with them may be the outcome of Tuesday nights special election runoff between David Sibley and Brian Birdwell in SD-22. (A resolution that was drafted calling for his removal as speaker and accompanied by a letter from David Barton, a former party vice chairman and current WallBuilders activist, also cited his appearances at fundraisers for Democrats.)Īll this could reflect an absorption into mainstream Republicanism of the Tea-fueled anti-incumbency rancor that claimed Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, and Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, in GOP primaries in March. Antagonism at the convention toward Speaker of the House Joe Straus, who grapples with accusations of RINO-ism from far-right elements of the party, concentrated on his perceived weak stance on life issues. The 2010 platform includes a plank that calls for the adoption of an Arizona-style law that would require local police to check legal residency when making arrests, even as Perry has said such a law would not be right for Texas. Immigration continues to be a flashpoint, and the far right wing of the party won that war in the platform committee. If there is a tide change underway, its not one completely dominated by an increased focus on fiscal issues. They were also youthful, a telling characteristic when Adams has had to deal with the perception that she wasnt receptive to the concerns of young Republicans. His supporters were visible and vocal at the convention, swarming the place in their STEVE shirts and up early Saturday morning distributing campaign swag. Still, Munisteris victory was as much about organization as it was ideology. Debra Medina, the self-appointed flag-bearer of grassroots conservatism who has a history of scrapes with state party leadership, is claiming Adams defeat as part of her legacy. Adams, a former leader of the Eagle Forum and Perry favorite who came of age politically prior to the Tea Partys insurgency, is known for her ferocious social conservatism, not her fiscal know-how. Munisteri campaigned on his business bona fides and the contemptible state of the partys finances.
Its easy to read the ascendancy of Steve Munisteri as party chairman as a token of this movement.
Does all this rhetoric mean the Tea Partys growing influence within the state GOP has initiated a shift in focus from social to fiscal issues? And Attorney General Greg Abbotts constant assurances during his speech that he was defending the states rights against the overreach of the federal government was characteristic of all the statewide officials nods toward the Constitution and states rights. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Friday nights keynote speaker, praised a limited government that acts within its jurisdictional boundaries, and excoriated the unlimited credit card people that make up the cabal of the nations Democratic leadership. Rick Perry railed against the shameful excesses of Washington in his opening address.
Not coincidentally, that was the overwhelming theme of the Republican Party of Texas convention last weekend. If the rainbow flavors of the Tea Party feature a common taste, its that of fiscally restrained government - and the anti-Washington and pro-state fervor that comes along with it.