When Republicans in Texas attack — each other

One of the stranger political fights of the year has to be the growing feud between U.S. Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison (R-Texas) and Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas), both of whom, apparently, plan to be the Republican candidate for governor next year. They’ve been taking pot shots at each other for months, but this week, it started to get ugly.

It started with a video that’s been circulating in Texas GOP circles.

As U.S. Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison was traveling through Central Texas on Tuesday to raise awareness of the oldest trails in the state, a video clip was being circulated via e-mail showing U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton telling a group she’s “delighted that” Hutchison “is my partner on so many important fronts.”

Apparently, in these circles, two senators of different parties cooperating occasionally on a common agenda is heresy, so long as one of them is named “Clinton.”

The governor’s office, at least at first, insisted it had nothing to do with this. Yesterday, however, Perry’s office was more forthcoming.

A day after supporters of Gov. Rick Perry criticized U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for appearing at an event with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Perry campaign acknowledged that it paid a film crew to gather the footage.

The video, shot recently in Washington at an event highlighting historic preservation efforts, became exhibit A on Wednesday in the intense tussle that has broken out between Perry and Hutchison — potential rivals in the 2006 gubernatorial primary.

“Frankly, I think it’s a bit embarrassing for the governor to be stalking the senior senator at official events hoping to catch a picture,” said Terry Sullivan, Hutchison’s campaign manager. “If he worried more about taking care of the school finance problem and a little less about who Senator Hutchison stands on the stage with, Texas would be a lot better off.”

For what it’s worth, Perry’s spokesperson said the governor’s campaign will continue these aggressive efforts. As Luis Saenz, Perry’s campaign director, said, “They ain’t seen nothing yet.”

I guess it’s reassuring to see that Republicans can be almost as vicious with each other as they are with Dems.