Staples Will Seek Second Term As Ag Commissioner
Vince Leibowitz | Jul 07, 2009 | Comments 1
Todd Staples (R-Palestine) announced this week that he will seek a second term as Texas Agriculture Commission.
The decision was unsurprising given that Staples, who has long desired upward mobility in state government, is trapped where he is.
He is unqualified to run for an open Attorney General spot, not able to compete dollar-for-dollar with Lt. Governor David Dewhurst in a potential U.S. Senate race, and smart enough not to make the mistake of running against popular Comptroller Susan Combs or Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson in a contested primary, and too inexperienced to compete with AG Greg Abbott for the Lieutenant Governor’s spot. Thus, the re-election announcement.
The re-election announcement did come with a couple of surprises: with no opponents formally announced yet (although Hank Gilbert is probably a sure thing on the Democratic side) Farm Bureau and the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association are already endorsing Staples.
Among other things, this proves that Farm Bureau AgFund is essentially irrelevant as a political organization.
Interestingly enough, Staples announcement may be designed more to hold off challenges from within his own party than for anything else. Rumors of two potential GOP challengers for Staples–regardless of whether he remained in the race–have been rampant for the last two weeks.
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Filed Under: 2010 Texas Elections • Featured
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[...] sprang from the young daughter of the deceased. (And who the hell wears "shiny white" to a funeral?)Staples will seek second term as Ag Commissioner [Vince Leibowitz, Capitol Annex] – Truth: "He is unqualified to run for an open Attorney General spot, not able to compete [...]
