When Did It Become News That Dewhurst Was Interested In A Senate Seat?

Since when has it really been news that David Dewhurst’s political ambitions were for the U.S. Senate and not any of the offices he’s held while in Austin?

I was amused to read that Paul Burka wrote the following line in that regard:

Speculation is rampant that the Dew has set his sights on the U.S. Senate rather than run for reelection. Since Kay Bailey Hutchison’s seat will not be vacant until she resigns, probably in June, Dewhurst must hope that Perry appoints him to fill the vacancy.

Paul, Paul, Paul. I’ve been saying that David Dewhurst was going to go for a Senate seat in after 2006 since 2004. Almost every time I mentioned lines of GOP succession in Texas over the last couple of years, I’ve noted this. From last November:

Of course, conventional wisdom and most Texas pundits say Dewhurst will run for Governor–most likely against Kay Bailey Hutchison. Of course, that’s where conventional wisdom is wrong. Back in 2002, everyone knew Dewhurst wanted to run for Gramm’s senate seat, but had to take a back-seat to Cornyn at the command of his party’s masters. So, his 2010 race will be for that post, not for governor.

How does everyone not remember this? For fun, I even checked the archives of the “mainstream media,” and found this from the September 27, 2001 Austin American-Statesman just to prove that I’m not crazy and remembered the last six years correctly (sorry, no link):

Texas Land Commissioner David Dewhurst wanted to run for the U.S. Senate so bad he could taste it. He is one of few Texans who can spend millions of his own money to run.

But the insecure indecision of the richest state officeholder left running room for Attorney General John Cornyn to announce for the Senate first. Even though he could easily outspend Cornyn, a dithering Dewhurst might have boxed himself in to sticking with his earlier plan to run for lieutenant governor.

So, will everyone please stop acting like they are surprised that Dewhurst wants to run for Senate? We’ve known all along that was his ultimate goal, even if some people forgot about it (and by “some people” we mean the ones doing that “rampant speculation” Burka blogged about.

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