McCain's Veepstakes: Kay Bailey Hutchison

Human Events, Jun 16, 2008 by Gizzi, John

Tenth in a Series

(This is the tenth Veepstakes article. Already profiled have been Alaska Gov. Sarah Polin, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Ohio Rep.RobPortman, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, fanner Maryland Gov. Michael Steele, Indiana Gov. Much Daniels, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Mississippi Gov. Holey Barbour.)

What does Kay Bailey Hutchison have in common with Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, and Joe lieberman, aside from the fact the Texas Republican senator is now being speculated on for a role in national politics?

Like the certain Democratic nominee for President in '08, the '04 Democratic nominee, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, and the last two Presidents, UK 64-yearold Texan known throughout the Lone Star State as "KBH" lost a race for the U.S. House of Representatives. In losing the Republican nomination for the Dallas Fort Worth-area district in 1982, Hutchison was defeated in large part because she was perceived as a "moderate" dunning against a stalwart conservative, the eventual winner, Steve Bartlett. That image of being less than conservative was primarily due to her close association with more "Establishment" Republican figures in Texas such as Anne L. Armstrong (national co-chairman of the Republican National Committee . and President Ford's ambassador to the Court of St. James) and second husband Ray Hutchison, who was the state party chairman bitterly opposed by backers of Ronald Reagan in the 1976 presidential primary against Ford.

A former television reporter and Ford Administration official (she was No.2 at the National Transportation Safety Board), Kay Bailey Hutchison-then as now-has not been pro-life. As the Almanac of American Politics noted in its 2008 edition, "She is opposed to outlawing abortion and favors embryonic stem-cell research."

Undaunted after her defeat at the hands of Bartlett, Hutchison was general counsel to the Republic Bank Corp., owned a candy company, and was elected state treasurer of Texas in 1990 at the same time voters were electing Democrat Ann Richards as governor. In 1993, after veteran Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen resigned to become secretary of the Treasury, Hutchison entered the free-for-all special election to succeed him. Democrat Robert Krueger, whom Gov. Richards appointed to succeed Bentsen in the Senate, topped the" field with an anemic 29% of the vote. He wasfollowed closely by Hutchison with 27% (two. Republican House members, both considered more conservative than Hutchison got 14% of the vote each). In the run-off, conservatives set aside any problems with Hutchison's abortion position and her moderate pedigree to help her. Running largely against the fledgling Clinton Administration, Hutchison was elected her state's third Republican senator since Reconstruction by rolling up a stunning 67% of the vote against Krueger. In three subsequent trips to the polls, she has been re-elected with more than 60% of the vote.

Elected chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee in 2006, Hutchison is No. 4 in the Senate GOP hierarchy. Now, at 64, "KBH" is widely mentioned as a possible running mate with Sen. John McCain. When I asked her during a recent interview if she was interested in running with McCain, the Texas senator replied: "I really am not, I don't want to be Vice President. I'm really not going in that direction."

Solid On Energy

Much of the conservative distrust for her from past years has been wiped out by her overall conservative voting record in the Senate (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 90%). Although still opposed to outlawing abortion, Hutchison won over many pro-lifers with her votes against federal funding Of abortions and in favor of banning partial-birth abortions and her cosponsorship of the Child Custody Protection Act. Senate Appropriations Committee member Hutchison also backed all of the Bush tax cuts and was in the forefront of the movement in the Senate to repeal the marriage penalty. (After 32 years, nearly all the alumni of the Reagan primary effort in Texas have forgiven Hutchison for '76 and express admiration for her record.)

This year, Hutchison has emerged as a major Senate player on the issue voters nationwide increasingly name as their top concern: energy. She was a strong proponent of an amendment in the Republican energy package that included drilling in Alaska's Arctic Natural Wildlife Reserve (ANWR). The measure failed, but nearly every Republican senator present voted for it-underscoring one of the key differences between GOP, senators and their presidential nominee. (McCain was not present for the vote and opposes ANWR drilling.)

Hutchison is passionate in her support for ANWR and energy independence, and, just last week, she was featured on national news shows with her strong remarks following passage of the energy bill favored by Senate Democrats. As she told me, "It's when more a necessity that we prioritize supply, or we will never become energy self-sufficient so we control our own destiny until we increase ethanol and bring down the mandate and look at the subsidies and the tariffs. That would bring down the costs some. [But] the real answer to bringing down the costs is to reduce dependence on foreign oil."