Dallas mayor considers Senate bid

Add Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert to the list of potential GOP Senate candidates.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said Friday that he would consider running in a special election for Senate.

"If the opportunity comes up, and as was mentioned in your intro, we don't know that that would be the case, then I'll go ahead and look at it," Leppert said during a recording of WFAA (Channel 8) Inside Texas Politics. "People have been very supportive of what I've done and I feel real good about what we've accomplished."

It was Leppert's first public acknowledgment that he's pondering leaving the mayor's office to run for Senate.

As he pointed out Friday, he would have the chance to run if Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison resigned her seat to focus solely on running for governor. Hutchison is in a tough primary campaign against incumbent Rick Perry. She was expected to resign by year's end, but the debate over health insurance reform and other factors have kept her in Washington.

But Leppert, a Republican, recognizes that there could be an opening.

During the interview, I told him Senate seat don't often come open.

"Opportunities and obstacles come up," he said. "When they come up, you deal with them."

If the seat comes open and Leppert does run, he would have to resign as Dallas mayor. He's in the middle of his first term.

Leppert would be an underdog in a special election for Senate. He's had a late start and needs to build name recognition.