Team Perry 2010

So. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has said she's thinking about running for governor, and everyone expects Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to file the paperwork. Now there's someone missing … Oh, yes, Gov Rick Perry. The man in the mansion isn't ready to leave yet (not with all that nice rebuilding going on). This morning, he announced the top staff for his 2010 campaign.

It's a lot of familiar faces. David Carney has been a Perry consultant since his 1997 lieutenant governor run, but he gained national notoriety back in 2005 when he was accused of collecting Republican signatures to get Ralph Nader on the New Hampshire ballot.

He's joined by Michael Baselice, CEO of Baselice and Associates Inc. (the firm that did the less mean-spirited polling for Donna Keel in her race against Rep. Valinda Bolton, D-Austin), and he's done all Perry's campaign surveys since 1998.

Filling out the card, David Weeks has been around even longer, going back to Perry's 1986 House campaign, and has a power house reputation (although not a flawless track record) as a media expert.

Texans for Rick Perry said in a press release, "These individuals, working with a variety of candidates, helped bring about the dominance of the Republican Party in Texas beginning in the late eighties and early nineties." Which seems like faint praise really.