White Hits Perry In Dem Debate
Ex-Houston Mayor Bill White (D) and hair care mogul Farouk Shami (D) sparred Monday over education, transportation, energy, border security and the death penalty during their first and only televised debate ahead of the Mar. 2 primary.
White spent the majority of the debate presenting and attempting to defend his record as mayor of Houston, rather than engaging with Shami at every turn. "I knew how to bring people together to get things done," said White, of his time as mayor.
He also mixed in an offensive against Gov. Rick Perry (R), in which he sought to cast Perry as a partisan politician, and one whose leadership style is analogous to the gridlock in DC.
Both candidates stressed education as a top priority. Shami said he supported limits on abortion rights, while White voiced support for current laws.
Shami's performance came with some colorful answers. He promised 100K new jobs in his first 2 years, and if he falls short, he will give the state $10M. Shami also said he supports a moratorium on the death penalty, while White disagreed.
But White is clearly more focused on Perry, who faces a primary of his own against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R). The general election is going to be less about personality and more about the future of TX, White predicted.
"We need a governor who will work for the future of all people of our sate and not just for his own political future," said White. "Look at this debate, compare it to the Republican debate and ask yourself this basic question: Which candidate can you trust is not exaggerating?"
Meanwhile the Perry camp used the debate as an opportunity to go after Hutchison's conservative credentials, casting her as pro-choice alongside the 2 Dems.
While the race on the Dem side is much less competitive than it is over on the GOP side, Shami has shown that he is determined to stay in the race as long as he can, even if it means dipping in to his personal finances. A long shot candidate running a largely self-financed campaign, Shami's plan of attack has been to cast White and the other candidates in the race as career politicians, while portraying himself as a different choice, whose experience as CEO prepares him for the job.
White, meanwhile, has build a foundation with his early cash advantage. He outraised both Perry and Hutchison in the first part of Jan. and, perhaps more importantly, he has spent far less money. The 2 GOP frontrunners have waged very expensive primary campaigns, spending heavily on TV advertising, and canvassing the state with appearances, meetings and rallies.
White will still have to introduce himself to much of the state. Both Perry and Hutchison are household names in TX, and while White is well known in and around the the Houston metropolitan area, he will ultimately have to go up against the celebrity factor in a run against either Perry or Hutchison.
And White is not simply standing pat; he has been meeting with newspaper ed boards, recently launched 2 TV ads, and continues to campaign around the state. He has also been able to fine tune a lot of his attacks on Perry and the GOP, while Hutchison and Perry are busy going after each other. Despite his efforts, however, White still runs behind Perry and Hutchison in recent polling.
Once a nominee emerges on the GOP side (and given the possibility of a runoff, the race may extend into Apr.), White would probably begin the general election as the underdog. How and where he uses the money and resources he has stockpiled moving forward and the GOP lines of attack that eventually emerge will determine a great deal about the course of the race heading into Nov.
Nice article depicting a big local race that people should be watching for this November. Nuanced unentangling of three contests at the same time- the debate at hand, against incumbent, and the GOP primary.
Hey darling, great blog! I genuinely appreciate this article.. I was wondering about this for a long time now. This cleared a lot up for me! Do you have a rss feed that I can add?