Many Democrats and Republicans doubt she will take the risk. Perry, whose differences with Davis over the abortion bill became personal, is among them. “She is a very, very capable, smart individual,” he said in an interview as the abortion debate was raging last week, “and I think her very smart, capable mind will tell her that 2014 is a political hill that is very hard for a Democrat to climb. Not her or anybody else.”…

The Texas Tribune recently highlighted the gap between Democrats and Republicans in the state by running the numbers from recent elections. The Tribune noted that the closest the Democrats have come to winning any major races in the past decade were 11 percentage points in the 2008 presidential contest, 12 points in the 2002 and 2008 Senate races and nine points in the 2006 governor’s race.

“That’s how Democrats have done on a good day,” the Tribune noted. Bad days have been significantly worse, with Republicans rolling up margins of 18, 21, 27 and 30 percentage points in statewide races.

In the face of all this, veterans of President Obama’s 2012 campaign have formed the group Battleground Texas in an effort to accelerate what they see as the inevitable shift back toward the Democrats. Their expectations are in check, if the hype around the group sometimes hasn’t been.