AUSTIN—U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison met with some 300 supporters at a private strategy session Saturday for her 2010 run for Texas governor against incumbent Rick Perry, a fellow Republican who courted anti-abortion activists a few blocks away.

Hutchison said her meeting was the first for her statewide campaign organization. It included members of Congress, local politicians and big-name business people and political donors. At a downtown Austin hotel she introduced the group’s leaders as “people who are going to help me in my quest to be governor of Texas.”

Among her supporters and organizers are prominent attorney Pat Oxford and former Perry supporter and businessman John Nau, both of Houston; former Education Secretary Rod Paige, who served in President George W. Bush’s administration; and retired baseball star Nolan Ryan and football star Roger Staubach.

Perry, meanwhile, planned to rally his social conservative base Saturday with an appearance at an anti-abortion demonstration at the Texas Capitol. Perry will be seeking his third full term as governor in 2010. Hutchison has been in the U.S. Senate since 1993.

The race between Perry, a former Texas A&M University yell leader, and Hutchison, a former University of Texas cheerleader, will likely be expensive and intense. Hutchison suggested to news reporters that she is preparing for Perry to run a hard-hitting campaign.

“I think that we have seen negative campaigns run by Gov. Perry in the past. Am I concerned? It’s not going to dissuade me,” she said. “I think that’s why we need new leadership. I think people are looking for positive, happy warriors. And I’m a positive, happy warrior.”

Perry’s camp has criticized Hutchison’s vote for federal bailout money for the financial industry. Perry’s spokesman, Mark Miner, has called her “Kay Bailout.”

Hutchison said Saturday she made her decision on the bailout based on the belief that the nation’s financial markets could crash without action.

“I think it’s beneath any of us in public office to call names,” Hutchison said. “I certainly don’t intend to do that or be disrespectful.”

Miner said he is just telling the truth about Hutchison.

“We’re going to tell the truth—there’s only one conservative in this race,” he said Saturday. “She’s not going to be able to hide behind her policies, whether it’s bailouts, abortion or out-of-control spending.”

Hutchison said she wants to improve Texas’ public and higher education and access to health care. She also wants to ensure that toll roads are built only with local approval, or as new lanes if they are constructed along existing highways. She said Texas is fortunate not to have a personal income tax but that this is not a low-tax state when property taxes are taken into account.

Texas is faring better economically than some parts of the country, Hutchison acknowledged. Perry boasts about the number of jobs created in Texas under his watch in part because of his efforts to lure businesses to the state using the Texas Enterprise Fund.