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Godspeed, Rick Perry

As Rita nears, the conventional wisdom seems to be that Katrina's lessons have already been learned. I guess we'll find out soon enough if that's ...

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As Rita nears, the conventional wisdom seems to be that Katrina's lessons have already been learned. I guess we'll find out soon enough if that's correct.

Today's Wall Street Journal notes (subscription required) that Homeland Security has appointed a "principal federal officer" to handle the Rita response. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has already activated 5,000 national guardsmen, deployed 1,000 state police officers and asked President Bush for 10,000 troops. In Houston, there's apparently no "shelter of last resort" like the Superdome. "Our goal is to not leave anyone behind and right now we're achieving that," Texas' emergency management director tells the Journal.

In the realm of political lessons learned, The New York Times also notes that Bush is hitting the ground in Texas today before the storm hits. They say he'll ultimately ride out the storm with the Northern Command in Colorado. But after all the post-Katrina criticism, I wouldn't be surprised to see him wearing a blue slicker on a beach in Galveston, holding onto a palm tree for dear life with Weather Channel correspondent Jim Cantore.

Good luck, everybody.

Christopher Swope was GOVERNING's executive editor.
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