Two Texans Splittin' the Tea

Excerpted, column, Bud Kennedy, Perry, "Paul compete for Tea Party vote" Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Aug. 23:

Paul, a Lake Jackson obstetrician, former Libertarian candidate and favorite of some Tea Party groups, has already joked to crowds that Perry's early Texas tough talk "makes me sound like a moderate."

[2010 Perry GOP primary opponent Debra Medina]... "when [Perry] talks about smaller government and stabilizing the economy -- that's what Ron Paul has talked about all along."

Paul's supporters organized the first Tea ("Taxed Enough Already") Party rallies here in 2009, before Perry campaigners and Republican organizers co-opted the name at Tax Day rallies. Their books even have echoing titles: Fed Up! (Perry) and End the Fed (Paul).

Jerry Polinard, a political science professor at the University of Texas-Pan American, said Paul is "very attractive" to a party shifting rightward.

"Right now, they see Paul as a pure conservative, but they think Perry might be both ideologically pure and electable," he said. "Perry can't be the most right-wing candidate in the race. That's Ron Paul. But all Perry has to say is that he's the most right-wing candidate who can beat Obama."

The two will meet -- for the first time, Paul has said -- at a campaign forum Sept. 5 in South Carolina.

They might split the Tea.