Rick Perry Endorsed By Former Rival

DALLAS (AP) – U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is publicly patching things up with her former rival, calling Gov. Rick Perry the “personification of Texas” and urging voters to re-elect him for another four years.

The two duked it out in a bruising GOP primary that ended with a resounding Perry victory in March. At the state party convention in Dallas Friday, Hutchison used a bit of humor in an endorsement of her former foe.

“I had hoped that you would be introducing me,” she told Perry at a Republican women’s event. “But I can count.” She also said she had hoped to be governor “in the worst way” but instead wound up waging the “worst” campaign.

Perry accepted the embrace and thanked Hutchison for “fighting the good fight” in Washington.

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