Not sure, but isn’t Kay Bailey riding off in to the sunset pretty soon?
Yes, her run for the governorship was a miserable failure in 2010. Also, she had originally given strong hints that she would resign her senate seat in 2009 to give full attention to the governor's race. I think she was persuaded not to run due to the need to not give the DemocRATS a party line cloture vote. Her hints of giving up her seat encouraged lots of Republicans to explore running for her seat and others to run for the positions that would be vacated by those candidates. Ted Cruz had originally intended to run for Attorney General in 2010, because Attorney General Greg Abbott was going to run for the senate seat. When KBH decided to not resign, everyone else had to change plans. KBH decided to retire at the end of this term rather than face a really strong primary field 2012. Once the appetites were whetted, and potential candidates formed committees, there wasn't going to be any turning back on running for her seat.