It doesn't seem to be going well
J.R. Labbe
The Clinton campaign sent out a news release on Tuesday touting a litany of "former Texas lawmakers" who are endorsing the New York senator as the Democratic nominee for president.
"Former," as in the fact that one of them completed his time in the Legislature in 1953.
It would be a safe wager that most would-be voters in Tuesday's Texas primary have never heard of the majority of these men: Former U.S. Reps. Jack Hightower and Bill Patman and former state Sens. Chet Brooks, Bob Glasgow, Ted Lyon, George Nokes, Tati Santiesteban, Pete Snelson, Carlos Truan, Jim Wallace and Murray Watson.
Shoot, I'd be surprised if the candidate herself ever heard of guys whose public service requires a history book to document.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm thinkin' that garnering endorsements from Geezers for the Gal isn't going to ignite voters who are interested in change.
That release was quickly followed by another: "Democratic Party icon B.A. Bentsen" is backing Clinton.
Who, you ask? Bentsen is the wife of the late Treasury secretary/U.S. senator, Lloyd Bentsen, and the aunt of former U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen.
Mrs. Bentsen undoubtedly is a fine lady, but let's be honest: The Clinton campaign is reaching deep into the back bench to come up with supporters of note. Does an endorsement from someone who has been out of even a peripheral spotlight for decades mean anything to potential voters statewide?
It's just one more indication of how badly prepared the Clinton campaign was for a Texas primary upon which her future literally rests.
Clinton's handlers scheduled an outdoor rally in the Fort Worth Stockyards -- insert cattle joke of your choice here -- on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
What else happens every Saturday at that time in the Stockyards? The Fort Worth Herd strolls through the area's bricked streets. The city's official cattle drive leaves behind more than just a glimpse at the Old West. (Insert manure joke of your choice here.)
The Stockyards decision followed a get-out-the-vote rally that put former President Bill Clinton in a city park in a very conservative North Texas suburb at 9:30 a.m. ... on a Sunday.
As a colleague of mine offered, in these parts we call that "Sunday School hour, and ain't nothin' happening then but kids gluing cotton ball clouds on pictures of Heaven while their folks examine what Paul really meant in his letters."
It makes you wonder: As a politician, there are few better than the brilliant if personally flawed Bill Clinton. Congregations far and wide love to have that man standing in the pulpit on a Sunday morning.
But his wife's campaign organizers couldn't locate a pastor anywhere in the Metroplex who would step aside for 10 minutes while Bill addressed the flock?
Today, he who wants to be first fellow come January 2009 is back in Texas. A Thursday afternoon news release from Hillary's campaign announced that he'll make Sunday stops in Houston, Beaumont, Marshall, Wichita Falls, Abilene and College Station. Details about exactly where he would be in each city weren't available by the time this column went to press.
Let us review: Bill Clinton in Wichita Falls, a city in which one TV station ran a news report in late January questioning whether John McCain was too liberal for local voters.
Bill Clinton in College Station, home of Texas A&M University and its Corps of Cadets. In the 2006 Princeton Review, Aggieland ranked as among the nation's schools at which students were "most nostalgic for Ronald Reagan."
And Bill Clinton in Abilene. The city on the "Friendly Frontier" ranked third most conservative out of 237 U.S. cities with a population of more than 100,000 in a 2005 nationwide study released by the nonpartisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research.
Makes you scratch your head, don't it?
But Friday morning's news release was proof that Hillary's camp has circled the wagons so tightly that not even fresh air is getting in.
"Senator Obama has campaigned hard in [Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont]," the release said. "He has spent time meeting editorial boards, courting endorsers, holding rallies, and -- of course -- making speeches.
"If he cannot win all of these states with all this effort, there's a problem. Should Senator Obama fail to score decisive victories with all of the resources and effort he is bringing to bear, the message will be clear."
Pardon the mixed metaphor, but talk about trying to spin the monkey onto your foe's back: If he doesn't win all four states decisively, we all know what that means! (Insert ominous musical chords here.)
And what would it mean? That she's only going to lose by a little, rather than the old-fashioned Texas butt-whuppin' that everyone is anticipating.
Jill "J.R." Labbe is deputy editorial page editor of the Star-Telegram . 817-390-7599
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