VILSACK'S GOP PROBLEM
The real reason why Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack bowed out of the competition to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was threats from Republicans in his state legislature that they would make life miserable for him in Des Moines if he took the party position.
According to sources close to Vilsack, he would have taken the pledge not to seek the presidential nomination if he ran for the DNC chairmanship. Vilsack would have been favored to be the party leader.
A footnote: Jim Blanchard, former governor of Michigan and former U.S. ambassador to Canada, is being pushed for national chairman by some of the same Democrats who were advocating Vilsack.
KAY FOR GOVERNOR?
Texas political sources believe that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison definitely has decided to run in 2006 for governor, a job she long has coveted. That means challenging Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican primary.
Polls indicate that Perry is vulnerable in heavily Republican Texas, while Hutchison is currently the state's most popular political figure. If she runs for governor, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is interested in succeeding her in the Senate.
According to Texas sources, Hutchison's running mate as lieutenant governor may be State Comptroller Carole Strayhorn. The former Democratic mayor of Austin, Strayhorn has been called the brains of the Texas Republican Party. She is the mother of two important Bush administration officials: White House press secretary Scott McClellan and Medicare chief Mark McClellan.