Stop Messin' with Texas

Governor Rick Perry graciously thanked his opponent Kay Baily-Hutchison first off in his victory speech delivered from a Texas-style BBQ & Cookoff in Driftwood late last night. But he failed to mention his Democrat rival, former Houston Mayor Bill White. Instead he made it clear, his main opponent is Obama, along with Washington liberals who want to tell Texans how to run their state.

From the Dallas Morning News:

"It is clear that the Obama administration and its allies already have Texas in their cross hairs," Perry said. People in the crowd shouted, "Bring it on!"

The governor continued, "I can probably assure you that we're going to get all kinds of special attention in the future. But until Washington gets its priorities into order, and it retreats to the proper boundaries that are detailed in the 10th Amendment, we're going to move forward in this state to sustain the economy here in Texas."

"Texas voters, they said no to Washington bureaucrats making decisions that state leaders and citizens should be making themselves," he said. "They said no to a culture of reckless spending policies that endanger our children's future." And he castigated federal legislation on carbon emissions and health care as job killers in Texas.

"Stop messing with Texas," he said. "That message resonates. It resonates across our state."

The final vote: Rick Perry 51%, Kay B. Hutchison 28.8%.