If you look at the beginning rumblings of Strayhorn running as an indy, it started at the time Gammage began making noises about running on the Dem ticket.
CKMRS (Carole Keeton McClelland Rylander Strayhorn) intended to try to entice Dems to go vote in the Republican Primary for her. With Gammage in the race, she and her money backers knew that wasn't going to happen. So it was kinda like musical chairs with Carole left without a seat when the music stopped.
She's still a right wing shill. She's still the same sold-out political hack she always was. She just got left behind.
This is good news for the Dems -- if they're strong enough to take advantage of it.
Gammage has smacked both Perry and Strayhorn effectively in the last two days....
My favorite:
Party-Switching Perry Wants It Both Ways
Perry's attack of Strayhorn on party switch is typically two-faced
http://www.gammageforgovernor.com/(Austin) Bob Gammage today released the following statement regarding Rick Perry's attack of Carole Keeton Strayhorn's rumored defection from the Texas Republican Party.
Perry campaign spokesman Robert Black said: "If Carole Strayhorn does run as an independent, it would simply prove what everyone has always known. Strayhorn is for doing what is best for Carole Strayhorn. She would have abandoned two political parties, two sets of principles and two sets of values all in the name of furthering her own career. The ironic thing is that you can't claim to be independent when you have sold your political soul to campaign contributors in exchange for a half billion dollars in tax favors.";
Being a party-switcher himself, Perry apparently believes it's o.k. to abandon your principles and values once, but it's bad if you do it twice.
Perry certainly knows something about selling one's political soul for campaign contributions; he's built his entire career on it. The most recent example was aboard his luxury yacht in the Bahamas, when he sold out Texas school children and teachers by letting his right-wing ideological guru Grover Norquist, his tax-favored beer distributor supporter John Nau, and his voucher-promoting benefactor James Leininger write his outrageous public school finance proposal.
What's really encouraging is that the Republican's S.S. Perry is beginning to get scuttled by some of its own.
The truth is Strayhorn is not the only Republican leaving the party because the Texas GOP has abandoned traditional Texas values. More and more Republicans are fed up with the corrupt extremism of the Texas Republican Party and are looking for a change. Strayhorn is the first of many and Rick Perry is fooling himself if he thinks otherwise.