A Tale of Two Governors

What the fates of Charlie Crist and Rick Perry say about the public mood.

So much for the argument that voters are simply in an anti-incumbent mood. Tuesday’s election results from the Lone Star State blew apart this media trope and threatened further electoral damage to politicians who ignore the warnings.

Governor Rick Perry is the longest-serving governor in Texas history—in office since 2000. Yet he cruised to victory in the GOP primary, winning 51% in a three-way race. Mr. Perry dispatched both Tea Partier Debra Medina and the popular U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison because the Texas economy is in better shape than the rest of the country and he ran against Washington, …