In what is likely an indicator of how next year’s Texas gubernatorial race will be waged, Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson are taking Bush versus Kerry-esque shots at each other involving a battle to prove who once associated with a liberal:

Last week, Perry’s campaign circulated a video that showed the conservative senator speaking kindly of Clinton, and now a 1993 letter has emerged in which Perry called Clinton’s health care reform efforts “commendable.”

It seems that instead of going after each other on the issues, we can expect to Perry and Hutchinson to engage in a slap-fight involving much use of the “L” word.

Worse yet, we’re seeing even more bipartisanship:

The videotape, made by two men working for Perry’s campaign, showed Clinton with Hutchison at a recent event at a museum devoted to women’s history in Washington. It played up a brief hug and air kiss between the women and featured Clinton saying she is “delighted that Kay is my partner on so many fronts.”

Before Hutchinson has the ability to run on a platform claiming something along the lines of “uniter, not divider” (shudder), her campaign is being portrayed as a lib-happy democratic masquerading as a Republican. Read more from the Statesman, here and here.