FORT WORTH, Texas -- Only Kay Bailey Hutchison knows whether she'll seek another six-year term in the U.S. Senate.
But Texas' senior senator -- once the most popular Republican in the state in terms of voter support -- has a target on her back if she does run, put there by the increasingly influential and conservative Tea Party grassroots movement.
"She personifies everything that the Tea Party is fighting," said Konni Burton, a member of the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party steering committee. "She is a Republican, but when you check her votes on many issues, they are not ones that conservatives are happy with."
Hutchison hasn't said whether she'll retire or seek re-election in 2012, but several prominent Texans -- including Republicans such as former Secretary of State Roger Williams and Railroad Commissioners Michael Williams and Elizabeth Ames Jones, along with Democratic former Comptroller John Sharp -- have long said they plan to run.
And now there's talk of perhaps a half-dozen or more Tea Party-affiliated candidates joining the race if Hutchison seeks re-election.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/12/04/2680066/tea-party-candidates-vow-to-take.html#ixzz17GVbVK53