WASHINGTON – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who said in July that she would resign by December, said Tuesday that she's no longer sure when she'll leave the Senate.

She blamed the delay on uncertainty over when Congress will take final action on health care. "Every day in Washington some new bad thing is coming up," she told talk-radio host Mark Davis on WBAP-AM (820).

"What I said was 'October, November – in that time frame,' " Hutchison said. "And I have said all along that I would be looking at that time frame. ... I am going to leave."

But she also left open the possibility that she'll stay in the Senate indefinitely, even as she pursues her bid to oust Gov. Rick Perry in the March Republican primary.

"A lot of people are suggesting that," she said of remaining in the Senate. "That's not what I want to do, it's not what I intend to do.

"Right now I want to just see what comes next. ... I want to stay and fight with every bone in my body against a government takeover of health care."

It could take months before the House and Senate finish working on their separate health care bills, then turn to the task of finalizing a package to send to the president.

Because of this and other "huge issues," Hutchison said, "I haven't been able to set that deadline" for resigning.

The Perry campaign tweaked Hutchison not only for vagueness but also for altering her rationale.

In previous interviews, Hutchison cited not only health care but the Democrat-led "cap-and-trade" approach to controlling carbon emissions as a cause for which she wanted to stay in the Senate. She didn't mention that on Tuesday, however, prompting Perry spokesman Mark Miner to suggest that she is "abandoning her opposition and pledge to lead the fight" on cap-and-trade.

"Today Senator Hutchison continues to waffle on when or if she will resign, demonstrating that she remains more concerned with her own political interests than those of the people of Texas," he said.

For months, politicians in both parties have been raising funds and campaigning in anticipation of a Senate special election. Perry could call for such an election at almost any time.

Her departure from the Senate could trigger a chain reaction, depending in part on Perry's choice of an interim senator. If that person were an elected official, the appointment could create another vacancy on the ballot.

Hutchison's coyness, however, has kept the ambitions of would-be candidates in limbo.

"I do understand that," she told Davis, sympathy in her voice.

Her term doesn't expire until 2012, and she is not legally obliged to resign to run for governor.

As for the choices her rival would face in naming her replacement, Hutchison said she didn't expect Perry to seek her input.

"I will just take every day as it comes. I certainly have no influence," she said.