Clinton's Lone Star State Ties Run Deep

Washington Post: Democrat's 35-Year History With Texas Voters Could Help In March 4 Primary

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Dan Balz.

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Sen. Barack Obama left a phone message for J.D. Salinas, the county judge in South Texas's Hidalgo County, last weekend. Former senator Thomas A. Daschle called on the candidate's behalf last Wednesday. "He asked me to be part of the campaign," Salinas said. "I told him it was too late."

Salinas originally backed New Mexico's Bill Richardson for the Democratic nomination, believing that a governor from a state along the Mexican border with a lengthy foreign policy résumé had the credentials he was looking for. When Richardson quit the race, Salinas's decision to support Obama's rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, was easy. "She's the only candidate who's ever visited South Texas," he said.

Sixteen years ago, as a young volunteer, Salinas helped look after Clinton when she came to McAllen for a big South Texas rally the day before her husband was elected president. He hasn't forgotten that day. "There's no learning curve for Senator Clinton," he said. "She's been coming here for 30 years."

When the Texas primary campaign begins in earnest after Tuesday's vote in Wisconsin, Obama will find stories such as this all over the Lone Star State. From her incidental connections such as the one Salinas described from the 1992 campaign, to deep friendships formed working in Texas during the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern, to acquaintances gained from multiple visits over the past decades, Clinton is rooted in Texas as she is in few other states.

Texas is one of two populous states -- the other is Ohio -- with March 4 primaries, where the Clinton campaign sees the opportunity to arrest Obama's momentum. Both set up well for the senator from New York, at least in initial assessments. Ohio's economic woes make it potentially receptive to Clinton's focus on bread-and-butter issues. Texas, because of its large Hispanic community, provides a base of support that has been critical to Clinton in other states.

In Texas, Obama cannot replicate Clinton's affinity overnight. His advisers believe they can overcome many of her built-in advantages, enough at least to emerge with a close split in delegates under the state's convoluted primary-caucus system, by tapping into a new generation of Texans who have no connections to the Clintons and by arguing that the senator from Illinois would be the stronger general-election candidate. But as was the case in the run-up to Super Tuesday, his advisers say he will be in a race against the clock.

"My guess is, in Texas [Clinton's] base in the Democratic Party is broader than in any other state that I can think of," said Henry G. Cisneros, who accompanied Clinton on that trip to McAllen in 1992 and later served as housing secretary in her husband's administration. Referring to a former Texas governor, he said: "They have good ties to the Ann Richards liberals. They have good ties to labor in Houston. Good ties to some of the Democratic money in Dallas. Good ties traditionally to the African American community -- though it won't be as helpful -- and good ties to the Latino community."

The Young Turks who helped Clinton register voters and organize Texas for McGovern in a hopeless battle against Richard M. Nixon -- Garry Mauro and Roy Spence -- are at the center of her campaign in the state. Others, like Cisneros, who became friends later or joined the Clinton administration during the 1990s, are fanning out as surrogates in what has become a campaign to save her candidacy.

Mauro argues that Clinton has a 36-year head start on Obama in Texas. "She cut her teeth on doing community organizing in Texas," Mauro said. "So she has real roots here. . . . And she has come back continuously since then."

Juan Garcia, a Harvard Law School classmate of Obama's and now a first-term legislator in Texas, does not underestimate Clinton's advantages in the state. But he argues that Texas has changed dramatically since the Clintons got to know it and that a new generation of voters will be more receptive to Obama.

"Without a doubt they have a history here from the early '70s in the McGovern campaign," he said. "But the demographics of Texas and South Texas are interesting. The average Hispanic voter in the state is under 40. The average Hispanic is age 26. So those memories and those links and those ties, to a lot of young people who have been voting for only a few years, have been lost on them."

Daschle, in an e-mail message, said even veteran Democrats are moving to Obama. "While she has a longer history with Democrats in Texas, I don't sense a deep loyalty," he wrote.

Another Texas Democrat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly assess the two campaigns, said Clinton's supporters overstate the breadth of her network. "There is no network outside of South Texas, and that is built on relationships with Bill" Clinton, the strategist said. Across the state, "she does not have bonds outside of older Latino women and other women."

Hillary Rodham was a Yale law student when she and Bill Clinton arrived in Texas in August 1972. He had been assigned as one of the state coordinators for the McGovern campaign. She was named to head a voter registration drive and spent much of her time working in the Hispanic community.

"Hispanics in South Texas were, understandably, wary of a blond girl from Chicago who didn't speak a word of Spanish," she wrote in her book "Living History." She allied herself with labor and legal-aid activists in the Rio Grande Valley and doggedly tried to make the most of a losing battle. In the final month of the campaign, she parked herself in San Antonio, and when she returned there last Wednesday, she reminisced with reporters. "It's where I became addicted to Mexican food and mango ice cream," she said.

In 1992, the Clintons desperately wanted to win Texas, despite its growing red-state leanings. With H. Ross Perot cutting into then-President George H.W. Bush's support, the Clintons staged a bus trip through the state in the early fall and came back on the eve of the election for several big rallies. "Governor Clinton hated the idea of losing Texas," said Paul Begala, a Texan and Clinton adviser in that campaign and later in the White House.

But Clinton's war-room leaders, particularly James Carville, refused to put serious money into the state. Spence said he and others hunkered down, peppering campaign headquarters with faxes that were forwarded to Clinton on his campaign plane.

"We were the Alamo team," Spence said, with messages patterned on William Barret Travis's famous 1836 letters from the Alamo. "We will hold on as long as we can," one fax read, according to Spence. "I can see the guns in the distance," another read. The Clintons, he said, "loved it." Still, no money arrived, and Bush won the state.

Once in the White House, Bill Clinton populated his administration with Texans. Then-Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was tapped to run the Treasury. Cisneros took over HUD. Bob Armstrong, who was part of the 1972 McGovern brigade, went to Interior. Bill White, now the mayor of Houston, went to Energy. Richards, Texas's governor from 1991 to 1995, became an influential outside adviser. Jose Villarreal, a former chairman of the National Council of La Raza, went to the White House. Swanee Hunt of Dallas and Lyndon Olson of Waco became ambassadors.

Hillary Clinton traveled to Texas as first lady, and when she decided to run for the Senate in 2000, Mauro, Spence and others helped raise money for her. They did the same in 2006, when she ran for reelection, and in the early stages of her presidential campaign, when she was considered the favorite for the nomination.

The stakes now are significantly higher. Clinton can ill afford to lose Texas in two weeks, and her campaign has responded accordingly. She spent two days rallying Hispanic support in El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio. On Friday, her husband plied East Texas, where his Arkansas roots may help win over conservative white voters. She returns to South Texas next week just before Thursday's debate with Obama in Austin.

One early poll released last week showed Clinton with a single-digit lead over Obama in Texas. Her advisers are confident that she can win, but the state is only one test that day. "I personally believe she'll win the Texas primary," Cisneros said. "The dilemma here is by how much [of a margin] to rack up the delegates she needs, and how do we deal with this conundrum of the caucuses?"

Texas's primary will award about two-thirds of the state's pledged delegates. The remaining share will be awarded that night at caucuses, which are open only to voters who participated in the primary. There will be an estimated 8,000 caucus sites around the state, an organizational challenge for Clinton and Obama.

Clinton's built-in advantages here could be foiled by the rules governing the distribution of delegates, even in the primary portion of the contest. Some of the most delegate-rich districts are in areas where Obama may have his greatest strength, particularly those with sizable black populations. The 10 most heavily Hispanic districts will award far fewer delegates. By one analysis, Clinton could win those Hispanic districts 60 to 40 percent and still emerge with just a two-delegate advantage among one of her strongest constituencies in the state.

The Clinton and Obama campaigns already are arguing over rules, delegate counts and expectations in Texas. But the real question is whether the state that helped teach Clinton the highs and lows of political organizing will repay her for the affection and attention that she and her husband have given it over the past three decades, or whether Obama convinces Texans that it is time to embrace a candidate from a different generation.

[kailo6]

I don''t really understand why some are saying Obama has not put forth details or policy or concrete plans for solving specific problems. This information is everywhere. You can check YouTube for his exhaustively detailed economic plan which he explained in a long talk at GM at Janesville. Or you can listen to his talk presented at Google, in which he outlines many of his proposed policies and solutions. You can also go to his website and use the "Issues" pull-down menu to see what solutions he proposes.

I think you may be hearing Clinton''s campaign rhetoric without listening and learning for yourself. His policy proposals are deep and thoughtful and practical.

[alburbooks]

This is a beautiful history about old politicians...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/politics/21mccain.html?pagewanted=4&hp

[starleo146]

What is Obama saying about the deficit, the economy, the war only he didn''t vote for it and giving inspirational speeches. Let me hear what he is saying except I have a dream and Just words which wasn''t his words after all, and his wife, Michelle saying For the first time in her adult life she has hope in her country. I don''t know what Hillary or John Mc Cain is saying because the media is off the wall with preacher Obama we never hear the other side and last night to come and give your speech before Hillary was finished was rude and blatenly mean, and finally to be able to hear what she says the media cuts her off, and the messiah is on and on and on .

[starleo146]

Posted by luvneverend1 at 12:23 AM : Feb 20, 2008


Get a life this is a political forum, are you that desperate, there are dating personals on the internet, too cheap to use them NO RESPECT here.I can see all the millionaires running to your side NOT.

[facts6]

"""FYI, only citizens can vote formrusmcsgt"""
FYI: the patron system is alive and well along the border and they are generational Democrats with lots of clout. If dead people lined up alphabetically to vote for Lyndon, I can assure live illegals can vote in South Texas.

[kstar42]

People look another one just fainted....Oh my gosh I''m the Messiah.... holy cow another one bit the dust... talk about a fake......PUHLEASE.... Oh wait I Know how to spell...PLEASE.. give me a break...

[tt5555]

we want change ,we want the ex first lady to be president unlike Obama we want change and its just read my lips for change, he has to clean the defi cit first before going into new agenda as a president, how can he cahnge the country with the deficit from bush

[tt5555]

I think hilay has meant what she said in her campaign with true tears in her primary to change america whereas obama was too realistic that he said everything can be changed,BUT what about cleaning up the deficit that Bush has left, befre he can go into new agenda as a president....

[hbevis]

I have a short comment to make. And that is this:
DO WE WANT THE CLINTON''S IN THE WHITE HOUSE FOR ANOTHER 8 YEARS. Making a total of 16 years????????

This country saw fit to make the two term rule after President Roosevelt..

ANY QUESTIONS

[likeitis5050]

The ONLY time you hear Hillary cry foul, or cry, is when her a.ss is exposed to the elements and she''s afraid she''ll be counted out. She can''t win on pure skill, because she has little to none to offer. She HAS to deflect attention to someone else''s soft spot long enough to look for another way around the system....she''d make a great predator if she weren''t so petty and small minded. Is that the kind of person who should be calling the shots from the Oval Office? Hillary...call 1-800-WHAA-WHA to cry foul from now on, please.

[realpatriot1]

The Hillary Klan is out in force showing their "solutions orientation" toward the issues most important to the American family.

Speech writing attribution, college transcripts, paying homage to the 90s, Youtube videos, etc.

It''s truly sad to see how devoid of anything positive to say about their candidate they are.

Pathetic.

[formrusmcsgt]

His hesitation in his responses. Bashir from Sudan will walk all over him. He also hasn''''t done much to support Dafar.

Posted by zoe2006 at 09:48 AM : Feb 19, 2008

What a funny thing perception is.....

You see someone who responds to virtually every question posed with the same canned, rehearsed answer (I have 35 years experience and am ready from day one) as being smooth and view a person who actually formulates an answer to the question as being "hesitant"....

[formrusmcsgt]

Again, Hillary didn''''t "plagiarize." If it weren''''t for Oprah & Kennedy helping publicize Obama, he would be behind in the polls. It was obvious, when Obama DIDN''''T WIN Massachusettes.


Posted by zoe2006 at 09:38 AM : Feb 19, 2008

As if Hillary doesn''t lift a phrase here and there...

PUHLEASE....

[formrusmcsgt]

What will poor Hillary do if Obama makes it 10 straight today?

Will she take the hint?

I sincerely doubt it.....

[formrusmcsgt]

Obama having problems writing & developing original speech...can''''t articulate. Own up and tell the "truth;" take that punch for plagiarizing another individual''''s speech.

Posted by zoe2006 at 09:26 AM : Feb 19, 2008

The "truth" is that Hillary is an obvious hypocrite. She condems others for using a tactic that she herself has no problem employing.

[formrusmcsgt]

Hillary began running a negative ad in Wisconsin yesterday attacking Obama''s credibility because he paraphrased some of Gov. Deval Patrick''s lines.

She is the same Hillary who decries the Repub''s use of such smear tactics in political campaigns.

The message? It''s bad for the Repubs to do so but, if it benefits her to do so, it''s all good.....

[jerkeedoodle]

craigh9,Yeah,I hear you.I always loved the ones that "moved" to a state.You know,the ol'' "Since pappy''s senator here,I''ll move there and run for the senate." crowd.Makes ya'' sick.

[jerkeedoodle]

erichsh,Yer a redneck,white trash,christian terrorist.Satisfied?

[jerkeedoodle]

tru_america1,Naw Dude,hadn''t you noticed?She''s been doing the Milli Vanilli thing!.....LOL

[craigh9]

Unfortunately, I''m from NY which is by far the most heavily ''Insider Political Process" state in the US. The only reason Hillary represents NY is because the bosses owed Bill so they took her in to have a name runfor the senate. She wasn''t born here, raised here, educated here, and although see is legally a resident - she lives in Washington. Truly a farce from start to finish.