Dewhurst's dilemma

DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Opinion Columnists: "If this Legislature has shown us anything, it's that David Dewhurst must choose.

If the lieutenant governor wants to run for governor or senator someday as the heir to George W. Bush's compassionate conservatism, which everyone believes he does, he'll have to fight his party's right wing or persuade it in his direction. Mr. Dewhurst tried that this session on several fronts, like the budget, but without more allies, he'll keep living in a lonely world.

David Dewhurst is the only one of the state's top three Republicans looking where Texas is headed, not where it has been. He often points to how poor Hispanic families are becoming the norm and how his party needs to anticipate the shift. That doesn't mean speaking Spanish at rallies; it means finding policies that address the educational and social needs of the emerging Texas.

Gov. Rick Perry and House Speaker Tom Craddick, on the other hand, appear wed to a Texas dominated by the myth of the buccaneering entrepreneur. Strip taxes and services to the bone, and everything's going to be fine."