Perry skips the ed board

Gov. Rick Perry has decided that he isn’t coming to Amarillo to seek the Globe-News’ editorial endorsement. He might come for an airport rally, or to rouse support among his allies.

 

We aren’t taking it personally. The governor won’t visit with any editorial boards this year as he campaigns for re-election to his third full term. His campaign press secretary, Mark Miner, says Perry can spend his time more wisely than sitting in a conference room for two hours being grilled by crusty newspaper editors. I presume he means doing things like shaking hands at plant gates and grange halls, or filming TV political commercials.

 

Hmmm.

 

There’s a certain genius to this strategy. Perry is trying to stick it in the eye of the “mainstream media,” which has become the favorite target of those on the right end of the spectrum, the folks who believe the “liberal media” deserve their scorn.

 

It’s not yet clear whether Perry’s main Republican primary rival, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, will come a-callin’ prior to the March 2 primary. But it is worth noting that Hutchison has stopped by several times during the past 15 years I’ve been associated with this newspaper; the same is true for her Senate colleague, fellow Republican John Cornyn. Perry has been here twice since becoming governor, once in 2002 and again in 2006, when he was running for re-election.

 

But it might be that editorial boards don’t need a face-to-face visit with the hopefuls. The public record is chock full of statements, policy positions and recorded votes from these GOP candidates upon which to make a recommendation.

 

That’s assuming, of course, that they choose to recommend anyone at all.