[Distutils] Unexpected error <python setup.py install_data --root /tmp>

[Kent Tenney]

In a docutils svn checkout.

[docutils/trunk/docutils]$ python setup.py install --root /tmp
OK

[docutils/trunk/docutils]$ python setup.py install_data --root /tmp

distutils.errors.DistutilsFileError:
could not delete
'/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/docutils/parsers/rst/include/README.txt':
Permission denied

What am I missing here?

Thanks,
Kent