Texas After the Perry Flame-Out

Mark Yzaguirre predicts the future politics of his state:

Rick Perry has had an air of invulnerability to him for almost a decade and he has largely been able to get his way when it came to Austin politics. Members of the Texas Legislature (including many Republicans) did not want to cross the Governor's Office because of Perry's perceived strength. Such legislators did not want to pick a fight with a person who might be the next Republican Presidential nominee, if not the next President of the United States.

It appears that Rick Perry isn't going to be the next Republican Presidential nominee or the next President and very few people anticipate him becoming either those things in the future. The bloom is off the proverbial rose here and Texas state legislators who had doubts about his various programs and initiatives (and a lot of Republican legislators would quietly fall into that camp) now are likely to feel emboldened. They won't roll over and do what the Governor wants just because he asks them to do so and they want to stay in his good graces. Also, there is a new set of Texas politicians who want to move up the political food chain and they aren't as likely to wait in the wings to see what Rick Perry says or wants before making their moves.