Sen. Hutchison: Conservative enough?

AUSTIN (AP) - Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison often talks up her "pro-life" voting record in Washington. But she faces a steep climb with many conservatives who think her views on abortion and embryonic stem cell research make her a bad fit for the Texas governor's office.

Hutchison has repeatedly expressed support for individual abortion rights, even as she's racked up a mostly anti-abortion voting record in Congress. That's contributed to her image as the more moderate choice in her bid to unseat Gov. Rick Perry, a conservative Republican who has doggedly courted the right wing in his bid for an unprecedented third four-year term in office.

It's not hard to grasp the key role bedrock conservative voters will play in the upcoming March GOP primary, where the Hutchison-Perry showdown is shaping up as a clash of titans.

A UT Texas poll conducted this summer found that 83 percent of likely Republican voters identify themselves as right-of-center, and 61 percent call themselves "very" or "extremely" conservative.

Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, said the question isn't whether Hutchison is a conservative: her voting record clearly makes her one. But she's in a pitched battle with someone who is viewed as even more conservative -- and on social issues, conservatives tend to give no quarter.