It's not that often that you'll see a newspaper publicly regret its endorsements, but the Houston Chronicle published an editorial essay about how much the paper misses Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, the senator who retired and paved the way forTed Cruz last year.

When we endorsed Ted Cruz in last November's general election, we did so with many reservations and at least one specific recommendation - that he follow Hutchison's example in his conduct as a senator.

Obviously, he has not done so. Cruz has been part of the problem in specific situations where Hutchison would have been part of the solution.

We feel certain she would have worked shoulder to shoulder with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in crafting a workable solution that likely would have avoided the government shutdown altogether.

But we'll never know.

Good for them for admitting that they're wrong. That couldn't have been easy.

UPDATE 11:56 AM: This post has been updated to reflect that Hutchison retired and was not knocked out by Cruz. Thanks to Slog tipper Michael for the correction.