Why mess with success? After two big election wins, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has begun exporting some members of his campaign team to other Republicans. Trouble is, when you break up a team, sometimes those teammates end up playing against each other down the road.

Former Schwarzenegger aide Walter von Huene, who served as the Governator's chess partner, has signed on as speech coach to Texas Lieutenant Gov. David Dewhurst, the LA Times notes. Dewhurst is widely expected to seek the governor's mansion when Rick Perry leaves office in 2010, and after two terms as the number two guy in the Lone Star State, he's the early front-runner.

But Dewhurst might not have a clear path to the GOP nomination. Schwarzenegger's rise to power was presaged by his involvement in a successful statewide initiative campaign he spearheaded. In Texas, an initiative last year to float cancer research bonds was headed up by 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who delivered an eloquent election-night speech as his initiative won voter approval.

That speech was written by Jeff Danzinger, a former Schwarzenegger speech writer, the Dallas Morning News reports. And another former Schwarzenegger staffer, Katherine McLane, serves now as Armstrong's spokeswoman. Does Armstrong have the political bug? McLane isn't saying, telling the Morning News that Armstrong is focused only on making cancer research a national priority during the 2008 presidential race. "What happens after that, who can say?" she said.

Armstrong has campaigned with members of both parties. His proposition increasing cancer research funding won support from a prominent Texas Democratic state senator and an aide to former Democratic Gov. Ann Richards, who died of cancer last year, as well as former President George H.W. Bush and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. If he were to make a run, he would give Dewhurst a real race, and because of Texas's loose fundraising laws, it could easily be the most expensive race in the country.

Both Dewhurst and Armstrong have poached staffers from Schwarzenegger. When it comes to politics, they've learned, don't fix what ain't broke.