Daily News Roundup, 10/16/07: Hutchison Takes Step One

The big news today is a Texas Monthly interview with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in which she confirms she will not seek another Senate term. She also once said, long ago, that she would only take two terms in the Senate, but that was then, and this is now.

Now she is likely to run for Governor in 2010. She says in the interview that she may bail out of the Senate as early as 2009, although she says right now is just a tad "too early to be gearing up." She also says that the fight for 2006 would have been too divisive, etc, and then follows up with this zinger:

But now, "there's not anyone who could really make a case to me that this would be divisive for the Republican Party in a way that would make me step back," she said.

If you had any doubt that she was going to run for Governor and intends to crush any Republican opponents, that statement should erase it. She is now clearly saying that she's the only one that has any business running, and she won't take it easy on any primary challengers. Ostensibly even if that primary challenger is an incumbent governor.

Even if she isn't ready to jump in to the race for 2010 yet, she should probably start raising money. If the likely totals for 2008's presidential race are any indicator, she can't start fundraising soon enough. The projections for ad spending are now, in technical terms, at $ridiculous.

The cost to try to influence the 2008 election could exceed $3 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, CNN's consultant on political television advertising.

I have a hard time conceiving of numbers like that. So do Mitt and Rudy, apparently. They've been spending more than they've been raising. I don't have to tell you that a tactic like that doesn't make much fiscal sense, but I guess those guys are rich to begin with, so maybe they can cover it. Romney has spent more than Giuliani so far, but that may not be true for long.

Chris Cillizza proposed an interesting idea the other day, and I missed it at first but bring it to you now: who will Gore endorse? It is very unlikely he will run for President. I don't think he'll do it. If he doesn't, the new status he has acquired since 2004 makes him an extremely valuable endorsement in the Democratic primary. Cillizza says it will be Obama or Edwards, and that it is leaning Edwards at the moment.

The Gore endorsement would be a big deal for Edwards, as were the 10 endorsements he picked up from various state chapters of SEIU. Those chapters can all operate outside their home states, so that will bring Edwards some targeted help.

Finally, in a mixed up crazy world in which business PACs are giving more to Democrats than Republicans, and McCain comes back from the brink of disaster, and Thompson never goes to anything and still does really well in the polls, is it actually possible that Ron Paul could win New Hampshire?

Probably not. But things keep getting weirder on the GOP side of things, and it seems like anything could happen.