NBC: Mom of WH Press Secretary runs for governor

I am sure JH must be jumping for joy with this announcement ...



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11012387/


Mom of WH Press Secretary runs for governor
Carole Keeton Strayhorn abandons party to run as Independent candidate for
Texas governor
MSNBC
Updated: 12:08 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2006

After 20 years as a Republican, Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn
has abandoned the party to run for governor of Texas as an Independent,
challenging Republican Governor Rick Perry. The race is not only
interesting because of her defection, but because one of her sons, Scott
McClellan, is President Bush's press secretary.

Chris Matthews was joined by Carole Keeton Strayhorn to discuss the upcoming
race.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST 'HARDBALL': Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Carole Strayhorn
thank you very much, state comptroller for joining us tonight.

You have put your son in the hot seat. Well, it's great to have you. And
great to be down in Houston. Let me ask you, is your son on the hot seat?
Is he the cat on the hot tin roof because of his job and his mother?

CAROLE KEETON STRAYHORN, (I) TX CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR: Listen. All four
of my sons grew up in the hot seat. So they've gone from literally diapers
to shaving while I've been in the public arena. So they're used to that,
and I'm pleased and proud to be running as a Texas independent for governor
in 2006. I'm going to be a governor for all Texans, Chris.

MATTHEWS: Well, you know, in the big cities like I grew up, if you ran for
office against the wrong person, you lost your job. Your family lost all
their jobs. Is President Bush that clean a politician that he's willing to
let his press secretary's mother run against his governor?

STRAYHORN: Listen. All of my sons are great in their own right. I've got
four grown sons, five young granddaughters. The good Lord has a sense of
humor. I have got a sixth on the way. That may be another girl too. But
they all are doing a great job, and I'm proud of all of my sons, Chris.

MATTHEWS: Well, Carole, I thought my dinner table was tough. You must have
a tough training table in the way you raise your boys.

STRAYHORN: Let me tell you what, Chris, my focus is right here in Texas.
And we have a governor whose administration has been mean spirited and for a
special few. He's had nine sessions of the legislature to fix our public
schools and hasn't done that.

We've got to cut property taxes. We've got to fix our public schools, and
we need to get something done. And Rick Perry has so politically fractured
this state that's why I'm running as an independent. We have got to set
partisan politician aside, and I'm setting partisan politics aside not only
for this race, Chris, I'm setting partisan politics aside during the
Strayhorn administration.

MATTHEWS: Are you a conservative?

STRAYHORN: Absolutely. I am a common sense fiscal conservative. You know,
I would rather pay $98 a month and insure a kid with prescription drugs and
get that 72 percent match from the feds, rather than pay $6,700 for one
hospital stay picked up by the property taxes going right through the roof.
I am a common sense conservative. I would rather educate our kids than
incarcerate our kids.

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about the Republican Party. Do you have a problem
with the Republican Party today? That's why you're leaving it or are you
leaving it because you don't like Rick Perry?

STRAYHORN: Chris, I have set aside partisan politics, as I said, because
this governor, Rick Perry, has so politically fractured this state, that we
can't get anything done. This governor has absolutely forgotten our
children. He has ignored education. The taxes have gone up.

You know, the budget under Rick Perry has gone up $40 billion and 41 percent
in just five years. Skyrocketing pocket costs, everything from utility
bills to homeowners insurance rates, and then he has absolutely abandoned
our border.

MATTHEWS: Well, I was just checking the history books or rather one of my
producers did, and they said the last independent to be elected governor of
the lone star state was Sam Houston.

STRAYHORN: That's right. And I love Sam Houston.

MATTHEWS: Can you do what Sam Houston did?

STRAYHORN: By the way, that was 1859. Absolutely. Every speech I give by
the way for decades, I've been quoting Sam Houston, and over the last couple
years, I've always quoted Sam Houston right before the battle of San Jesana
(ph). He said we're nerved for the contest, and we must conquer or we will
perish.

Well, Chris, I too am nerved for the contest. And together with people from
all walks of life across this state, Republicans, Democrats, Independents
and those who I have no idea what their political affiliation is, we're
going to change this state, change the leadership at the top.

Under Rick Perry, we have had misplaced priorities and failed leadership.
And it's time to get something done. Texans want to fix our schools. Our
most precious resource are our kids. And let me tell you, as a mama and a
grandma, you know, Rick Perry wants his legacy to be that he sat in the
governor's chair for more years than anyone else.

Well, I don't sit, I do. And, Chris, I want Carole Keeton Strayhorn's
legacy to be that with every breath of air in her lungs, she fought
passionately for education, passionately for paychecks and jobs for all
Texans and passionately for our most precious resource, our kids.

MATTHEWS: OK. Carole, you're a record vote getter in Texas, as a candidate
for comptroller. You've won it a couple of times.

But let me ask you about the big issues. Do you think the Republican Party
has departed from its fiscally conservative roots? They're running- the
U.S. Congress right now, the United States government is running almost a
$400 billion deficit, we're heading toward. Do you think that represents a
waywardness from fiscal orthodoxy?

STRAYHORN: Chris, on January 2nd when I announced as an Independent and
that's a Texas Independent for governor, I said I'm putting aside partisan
politics. I have put aside partisan politics. I'm not going to sit here
and discuss partisan politics with you. I am going to discuss what we're
going to do in the state of Texas.

MATTHEWS: Well, what are you going to do about illegal immigration?

STRAYHORN: Oh, yes, let's talk about that. Yes, let's talk about that.

MATTHEWS: Let me take an issue that coincides nationally and in terms of
the state of Texas.

STRAYHORN: Right.

MATTHEWS: Not so much Texas, but other southwestern states. Illegal
immigration. Everybody talks about it. Pat Buchanan talks about a big
fence, and all the liberals talk about different things. Nobody talks about
getting rid of illegal hiring. Would you do that? Would you stop a company
or a business or a hotel or golf course from hiring somebody in the country
illegally? Would you actually do that?

STRAYHORN: Chris, I am adamantly opposed to illegal immigration, and let me
tell you the difference in myself and our current government.

MATTHEWS: Well, everybody is. Everybody says they are.


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