Texas Gov Fight May Head to Round Two
Texas GOP voters will probably have to head to the polls twice to nominate their candidate for governor, at least if Rasmussen's latest numbers hold up. Rasmussen's last poll showed current Governor Rick Perry leading U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison by a margin of 48% to 27%. The Tea Party 9/11 conspiracy theorist, Debra Medina, earned 16% of the vote while 9% had not made up their minds.
Perry needs to secure 50% of the vote in order to force a runoff with Hutchison. Either way, Perry is probably going to win, but going to a runoff is at least significant in the sense that it means Perry will have to spend more campaign funds trying to secure the nomination.
This won't please him, since Rasmussen shows that the Democratic frontrunner and former Houston mayor Bill White gaining ground on his Republican opponents. A telephone survey puts Perry's lead over White at 6 points (47-41) with 7% still undecided, which is down from the nine point lead Rasmussen found at the beginning of the the month when Perry led White 48-39.
Interestingly, Hutchison is polling better against the opposition than Perry (she posted a 47%-38%) lead over the former mayor.
The bottom line: a runoff probably only hurts Republicans.