The Schieffer candidacy
It never really got off the ground. Tom had just been out of the game for too long. The conservative Democrats who had been his political allies during the seventies, when he served in the Legislature, had ceased to exist as a political force. I had the opportunity to meet with Tom on a couple of occasions. He is a good man and he is sincere about wanting to do public service, but he wasn’t going to put his own money into the race, and he couldn’t raise any money from Democratic sources. The trials saw him as a business guy, not to mention a Bushie, and they never trusted him. If you compare Schieffer to White, Schieffer has Bush connections, White doesn’t; the trials don’t like Schieffer, White has been a trial lawyer; White is on the cutting edge of the environmental issue, Schieffer isn’t. Tom comes from a time when the business community was aligned with the conservative Democrats, but Perry is the real deal, pro-business all the way, tort reform, friendly regulation, whatever they want. Schieffer never had a chance.
Tagged: bill white, governor, Tom Schieffer.
Fiftycal says:
Now the REAL CANDIDATE can dominate the scene! KINKY/KATZ! That’s the winning ticket! Cuban cigars and Reuben sandwiches in every pot! And FREE POT! Now that Kay Baby has given up, it will be Gov. Rick vs the BLACK HAT! A cage match fight to the DEATH! Or at least one liners for the next 11 months.
BRING IT ON!
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Anonymous Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Already tipping the Southern Comfort tonight, eh Fiftycal?
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Pat says:
Southern Comfort? He’s been drinking homemade moonshine. Keepin’ the guv’mint outta his booze!
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WUSRPH says:
Tom Schieffer just could not make the cut in the Governor’s race for three reasons, in descending order of importance:
1.) He’s just not a dynamic guy who can attract supporters easily. He is too solid for today’s TV dominated campaigns…which he never had to run back in the 70s. He would make a good administrator, but not that strong of a candidate.
2. He’s been gone out of Texas and out of contact with Texas politics for too long.
3. He had too long of a personal and political connection with George W. for too many of us Democrats.
He will face the same problem in any other race he might enter.
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Anonymous says:
I think Kay should resign and run for Branch’s state rep seat (he’ll then run for AG), give $67,000 each to 148 House members and declare her candidacy for House Speaker (sorry Joe), then serve as Speaker two terms with Governor White and Lt Gov Schieffer, gearing up her campaign for Gov in 2014.
Seriously, Bill White just gave Kay her message, which her consultants/advisors failed to come up with: if you want a Republican governor in 2011, vote for me in the Primary. If you want a Democrat governor in 2011, vote for Perry in the Primary. That’s it.
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your nuts says:
Ah the fools gold of electability! It took the LBH staffers awhile to think up that cunard. If one can’t win the primary one will never win the general. Bill White is flawed as the great hope for the democrats. His record and his lack of TV presense and his non stop talking will doom his statewide effort. 2010 is not the year to run as a democrat sorry.
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paulburka says:
Cunard is a cruise ship line. Canard is deliberately misleading statement.
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Anonymous Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 10:20 am
And who is LBH?
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Nate Reply:
November 25th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
If I remember correctly, Cunard was the line that ran the Lusitania and White Star was the line that ran the Titanic.
Thank you Trivial Pursuit!
LBH? Uhhhh Lusitania… Belfast… uh, Hamptons! Thank you Wheel of Fortune!
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MonkeyMan says:
Your analysis is correct, he’s a victim of party reallignment. Schieffer’s core group of insiders came from the old John Connally group, and they long bolted from the democratic party when its conservative wing melded with the Rs.
I met him at a DNC reception a few months ago and he lacked a spark, just didn’t connect. He and his wife seem like very nice folks. He’d made a good state senator from Ft. Worth (Harris’ seat), if he could clear a primary.
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Briscoe Democrat says:
Schieffer couldn’t excite Democratic base voters early on this year and didn’t Bush connections DOOM Tony Sanchez back in 2002 when many staunch Democrats stayed home in his gubernatorial campaign against Perry ?
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