AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - His campaign once derided her as "Kay Bailout," but Gov. Rick Perry is making nice with his former Republican rival now.
Perry said he "would suspect you've heard the last of that" when asked Thursday about the moniker his strategists gave to U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Perry handily defeated Hutchison in the March 2 primary, and now the senator has decided to stay in Washington through next year even though she had promised to resign once the gubernatorial contest ended.
No worries, Perry says. He applauds Hutchison for staying in the Senate, noting she's on some "very important committees" that can help Texas. Perry, who faces Democrat Bill White in November, also says he anticipates Hutchison's help with his re-election.
In his words, "We're on the team. We just had an intramural scrimmage, and we got that over with."
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