After Texas Loss, Hutchison Is Down -- but Maybe Not Out in Senate

Republican colleagues in Washington apparently want Kay Bailey Hutchison to swallow her pride after losing the Texas governor's race and remain in the United States Senate, reversing her earlier plan to resign, win or lose in the Lone Star State.

"I want her to serve out her term," Politico quoted Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) as saying. "She's a good person and a good senator."

Hutchison was clobbered Tuesday night in the GOP primary by incumbent Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who ran an anti-Washington campaign depicting her as a creature of the capital's insular culture. In conceding defeat, she made no mention of her political future.

Her third term in the Senate runs through 2012, but she said in a broadcast last month she would leave Congress before the November election this year.

Some of her friends, however, want her to reconsider. Sen. Judd Gregg ( R-N.H.) said Hutchison is "one of our best" and should stay in her Senate seat. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas' junior senator and chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Tuesday, "I'm not sure there will be a special election. . . . She could well decide to serve out the remainder of her term."