Hoffman (l) and Perry: Is Governor Good Hair really claiming that the GOP isn't right-wing enough?

It’s been little secret that the seams of the Republican Party‘s “big tent” have been getting a little threadbare. Now the endorsement fight between Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is tearing the fabric in New York.

First Hutchison picks up Vice-President Dick “Dick” Cheney. Then Perry fires back when he got Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour‘s seal of approval. Now that’s arguably pretty cool if you follow the nuances of the internal politics of the Republican Governors Association (Barbour’s the chair), but may not be a big seller for the average voter.

So how to get some headlines? Endorse someone outside of your own party!

Perry has decided to endorse Doug Hoffman of the Conservative Party. It gets better: Not only is Hoffman not in Perry’s party, he’s not even in a Texas race. Hoffman is running in next Tuesday’s special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District against Democrat Bill Owens and Republican State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (The election was triggered when incumbent GOPer John M. McHugh resigned to become United States Secretary of the Army). Now Scozzafava is getting pummeled for being too liberal for upstate New York.

What makes this truly interesting is that Perry isn’t the only Republican governor who is backing Hoffman: Ex-New York governor George Pataki, as is Sarah “You can see Russia from my house” Palin and the far right media machine is also on-board. Scozzafava has the national party’s backing and a boatload of cash from the National Republican Congressional Committee.

So the fight now seems less about a congressional seat and far more about about a new conservative orthodoxy, with the New York Times calling it a fight for the direction of the Republican party. As Newt Gingrich plays Cassandra, warning the GOP about the perils of sliding further to the right, it now all seems about whether the diehards of the South (and Alaska, which votes like an honorary Confederate state some times) win in dragging the contemporary party back into its reactionary roots.

This article appears in swine flu.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.