Texas GOP Primary Seen As Test of Party

Some political experts see next year's Texas GOP primary in which Sen. Kay Hutchison will challenge Gov. Rick Perry as a test of whether big-tent conservatives or the Republican Party's social-conservative wing will shape the group's future.
 
Recent GOP primaries have averaged around 650,000 voters, and the March primary could attract as many as 1 million.
 
Hutchison is saying the "core principles" that will help the party grow are not social, but economic. They're smaller government, lower taxes and free enterprise.
 
Hutchison supports embryonic stem cell research and abortion rights.
 
But Perry is appealing to a GOP base that sees social issues such as abortion as a litmus test of party purity.
 
He has recently stepped up his appeal to social conservatives, promoting anti-abortion bills in the Legislature and cultivating politically active pastors.
 
The Dallas Morning News reports the Republican Party is discussing whether it needs to change after losses in two successive election cycles.