Is it really a red state that could turn blue? That might have happened in 2006, when incumbent GOP governor Rick Perry was vulnerable but the hapless candidacy of cowboy/comedian Kinky Friedman took away enough votes from Dem Chris Bell, a bland but wonky ex-congressman, to assure re-election of Perry. Now we have a bland, boring, uncharismatic U.S. Senator GOP incumbent who should be defeated easily. But not if we "make nice".
In 2002, admittedly a difficult year for Democrats because of the way they responded to the run-up to the Iraq War (something that never had much popular support even in the wake of 9-11 and attempts to link Saddam to the attacks), we had a good candidate. Former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk, a guy who had been widely admired in Dallas as an effective and unifying leader having a lot of charisma. The kind of Democrat who had a lot of rich white suburban and "old money" Dallas supporters. His opponent, John Cornyn, a former Texas Supreme Court Justice, could easily have been attacked for his ties to the insurance companies here, who have taken over the high court in the past several years.
Kirk fell victim to the same kind of consultants Gore had in 2000. Early on, Kirk remarked to the effect that white suburban rich kids would not be fighting the proposed war. He was attacked immediately for that obviously accurate observation. And he backtracked, just the way that Jimmy Carter, John Kerry, and others have in similar situations.
And he never attacked Cornyn for being what he was and is--a stooge of the big insurance companies who have gutted what were once among the nation's strongest consumer protection laws, through influence on the Texas Supreme Court and the legislature. Cornyn had been the author of the leading Texas Supreme Court decision that made it virtually impossible to award punitive damages against insurance companies for denying claims. And Cornyn was running as a Bush buddy. Bush as
governor here had fiercely opposed the "Patients' Bill of Rights" (though he claimed in the 2000 race to have passed it--something Gore's people failed to notice and the "liberal media" overlooked).
I was close to people in the Kirk campaign and I urged them to come up with some ideas. They came up with bland slogans. Bush Lite.
Zogby had Kirk winning. TIME magazine had done a story on Kirk's possibly upsetting Cornyn. It did not happen. If you cannot even stand up for your own previous statements, how can you be trusted to stand up to your opponent or to some other enemy?
Some ideas for Democratic candidates, in Texas or elsewhere:
- The GOP always complains about "Big Labor". What about big insurance companies? And why do big corporations need "immunity" for wrongdoing that has already been noticed?
- What's happened to Nader's proposal for a national sales tax on stocks and bonds transactions? In most states, poor people pay sales tax up to 9% when they buy shoes for their kids. (State candidates in places like Texas and Kansas can add that there's no tax on these kinds of purchases in many states like CT, MA. and NJ.) Stocks and bonds transactions are the most "undertaxed" of all, next to illegal drugs and prostitution.
- What exactly is the government measuring when reporting inflation figures? Most people I know are complaining about rising prices.
- Big corporations view employees like what we used to know as typewriter ribbons. They want you to be loyal until the day you are laid off. And if you've been wronged in the workplace, GOP-appointed judges will throw out your case.
- The Freedom Agenda promoted by only Ron Paul among the GOP candidates--and this could pick up some votes in Texas. Has Cornyn been asked to endorse it?
- Skip the questions about trivial issues that can be sorted out by the states. I could not believe it when Obama's people had not prepared him for a question about drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants. The answer should be something like this: "We have a situation where some jobs are being filled by immigrants and the work needs to be done. The circumstances vary from state to state and I would look to the states to find out the best solution, considering safety and insurance, and other matters, such as employees driving employers' vehicles."