I'm Your Huckleberry - A Timeline Of Texas (and the 49 lesser states)

[Steve Brinson]

PROLOGUE
February 25, 2006

Michael DuBois staggered as a gust hit him, blowing cold air into his face. It wasn't the coldest day he had walked through since he had come to Houston, but it felt close. His coat - about two sizes too big, acquired from the Salvation Army, and with all of its buttons missing - flapped in the wind, and Michael briefly stuck a stack of leaflets under one armpit to grab it. Eventually getting hold of a lapel, he wrapped the jacket around himself and stuffed the leaflets into a pocket.

The primary, and his first vote, was next Tuesday. He'd been old enough half a decade ago, but back then he'd been concerned with more pressing issues. But this election was different. He'd never felt much attachment to Bush or Kerry, let alone those candidates in Louisiana who he knew had existed but couldn't remember anything about. Just a face in an ad that he'd forgotten when the Tigers came back on.

This time was different, though. He remembered leaving New Orleans - the collapsing bridges, the crowded Superdome with the holes in the roof, the bus to Houston, the nights in the Astrodome. He remembered seeing the officials on the stadium floor, directing aid workers and refugees around. The queen bees of a hive of activity. It looked to Michael like sheer, unadulterated, competence, and it had saved lives.

The candidate he was supporting had been doing the same thing at the George R. Brown Convention Center, managing the shelter of 7,000 people. One of his friends had been evacuated there, and according to him they'd had the situation in order from the moment the busses got there to the day the last person left, from beds to schools to housing. And he had taken up the role only a week after returning from fighting in Afghanistan.

Michael checked the street sign against his list of addresses. Walking to the nearest house on the list, he pulled out a leaflet and knocked twice on the door. A muffled voice sounded from the other side.

He could stand to look more alive, Michael thought, looking at the picture. It's not like people don't think he's serious.

The door opened.

"Mary-Anne Jennings?"

The person on the other side of the door nodded.

"Hi, I'm Mike DuBois, with the Rick Noriega campaign for the Democratic nomination for Governor. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time..."​

I'm Your Huckleberry
What if Rick Noriega ran for Governor of Texas in 2006?
by Stephen Brinson​

​

October 10, 2005
HOUSTON - State Representative Rick Noriega officially kicked off his campaign for Governor yesterday, giving a speech to a cheering crowd at Milby High School. Standing behind a podium in Milby's basketball court, Noriega addressed a crowd of about 150 activists, students, and supporters, declaring that "Rick Perry is not the right choice for Texas. His tenure as Governor so far has proven that much."

Noriega has spent four terms as a member of the Texas Legislature, notably authoring the Texas Dream Act in 2001, which provided in-state tuition and financial assistance to immigrant children. But he is better known for his activities outside the legislature - a Lieutenant Colonel in the Texas National Guard who missed this year's legislative session to serve in Afghanistan, he also ran the refugee center at Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center after Hurricane Katrina, which at its peak sheltered more than 7,000 people.

He is the third candidate to announce his candidacy in the Democratic primary, following former U.S. Representative Chris Bell, also of Houston, and Felix Alvarado, an assistant principal from Fort Worth, both of whom announced in July. A spokesman for Bell's campaign stated that he "looked forward to campaigning against [his] colleague Rep. Noriega, a distinguished military man and a principled public servant."

Luis Saenz, director of the Perry campaign, also praised Noriega's "character" and "service to his state and his country", but expressed concern about the "negative" tone of Noriega's remarks. "I don't think he's all talk and no action," said Saenz, "but he talked like someone who is. That's unfortunate."

Meanwhile, insiders within the Perry campaign describe it as "thrown into turmoil". The Perry campaign had already been caught flatfooted, observers say, by the entries of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn into the race last month.

Rally attendees, some of whom came from as far as San Antonio and Dallas, stood in a clump in the midcourt or sat in bleachers as Noriega decried Perry's education policy. "Rick Perry doesn't believe that we should invest enough in our public schools to educate our students right," Noriega said. "I do."

Janet Morgan, one supporter, drove from College Station to hear Noriega speak. "As a teacher, I just don't think Rick Perry's right for our students." Another attendee, Houstonian David Villar, said, "I served in Iraq, and I think if we elect someone with military experience we won't regret it."

Many attendees were heartened by a recent poll released by the Noriega campaign. The poll of 1,000 voters showed that 30% of Texas likely voters supported Noriega, compared to only 32% for Perry. Another 18% supported independent candidate and country singer "Kinky" Friedman, while the remainder were undecided.

Many Democratic insiders, skeptical of Bell's and Alvarado's chances, were heartened by Noriega's entry into the race. "He's the best candidate the Democrats have," said lobbyist and influential former lieutenant governor Ben Barnes, "and probably the only one who can beat Perry, even in this election."
Noriega criticized the Perry administration's cuts to children's insurance, calling them "misguided". "As Governor," he said to cheers, "I will do everything I can to ensure that the fifth of our children who are uninsured receive the care they deserve."

Campaign manager Mark Bell said that Noriega will make another speech to IBEW Local 716 today before hosting a fundraiser in Austin tomorrow.

"I think we're in a much different situation now than we were four years ago," Noriega told reporters. "Rick Perry was a lot more popular then, for example."

"I know that some people aren't going to vote for me because of my name, or because I'm a Democrat, or because I'm bald. But the Governor of Texas ought to be subject to a job performance review every four years. This year, people have to decide whether to rehire a Governor who cut education funding, who cut children's health insurance, who's put many, many, Texas families in situations that are simply untenable. I don't mean to insult Governor Perry. But has he done a good job?"

"If you think he has," said Noriega, "then he's your huckleberry."

 

[historybuff]

So, what do we have here exactly?

 

[Steve Brinson]

So, what do we have here exactly?

Hopefully that'll be a bit more clear, but there are a few divergences visible in the update:

• Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison runs in the Republican primary for Governor in 2006, as she was rumored to be planning.
• Rick Noriega decides to run in the 2006 gubernatorial race rather than the 2008 Senate race against Cornyn.
• Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn stays in the Republican primary rather than running as an independent. (This isn't really a divergence, as she was doing that OTL at this point, but she won't be leaving the party here.)

 

[Yes]

HE AIN'T RICKY HE'S MAH GUVNAH

I wholeheartedly approve. Please continue

 

[Yes]

I may send installments of this to a dear friend of mine who's a musician and painter but makes his living (God save him) working for what passes for Texas' state government. He's heavy in the remnants of Dem party structure (his best drinking buddy is actually on the DNC, and he ran himself in a State Lege swing district -- I was his speechwriter believe it or not -- in '06 in a three-way primary, where he finished third by a couple points but made the second-finisher more or less adopt his program and she then beat the Blue Dog who led barely and went on to win the seat with my bud helping manage her campaign.) I believe he may read this after the manner of romantic fiction, shall we say. You have picked a real missed opportunity.

 

[ThatStrategyGuy]

I'm intrigued

 

[Steve Brinson]

HE AIN'T RICKY HE'S MAH GUVNAH

I wholeheartedly approve. Please continue

I may send installments of this to a dear friend of mine who's a musician and painter but makes his living (God save him) working for what passes for Texas' state government. He's heavy in the remnants of Dem party structure (his best drinking buddy is actually on the DNC, and he ran himself in a State Lege swing district -- I was his speechwriter believe it or not -- in '06 in a three-way primary, where he finished third by a couple points but made the second-finisher more or less adopt his program and she then beat the Blue Dog who led barely and went on to win the seat with my bud helping manage her campaign.) I believe he may read this after the manner of romantic fiction, shall we say. You have picked a real missed opportunity.

I'm intrigued

Thanks! Aiming to have the next update up by Wednesday - definitely by next weekend.

 

[Steve Brinson]

Rick Noriega entered the gubernatorial primary on October 9, 2005, with little warning. Given that Noriega had spent a good chunk of the previous month setting up a refugee center, and before that had spent about eight months setting up training camps in Afghanistan, he had a good reason - he hadn't had much time to. Chris Bell had announced in July, and had been building up his campaign since March, at least. The first anyone had heard of Noriega running was late September.

That was somewhat ameliorated by the fact that there was already a mass of support and party machinery for Noriega to take over. The Democratic party machinery had never really thought that Chris Bell could win, and in something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, they had never really given him the support expected of a Democratic primary prohibitive favorite. Instead, many of the party faithful had thrown their weight behind undeclared candidates John Sharp, who had run for and lost the Lieutenant Governor race in 1998 and 2002, and Bob Gammage, another former Congressman who was best known for working toward reform in the 1970s, after the Sharpstown scandal. But John Sharp's appointment to a blue-ribbon panel on school finance - one on which he was, for several weeks, the only appointed member - effectively took him out of the running, and Bob Gammage was one of Noriega's first endorsers.

The first poll taken after Noriega joined the race showed Noriega well in the lead. 25% of the vote went to Noriega, while only 19% went to Bell. Another 6% went to Fort Worth assistant principal Felix Alvarado (whose campaign ended when his check for filing to run bounced), 4% went to John Sharp, and 10% went to minor candidates. 36% of voters were undecided.

In its own way, the primary helped both candidates. As blogger Charles Kuffner had said in early September, "I’m almost ready for Sharp to get off the pot just so that the media would have something to talk about besides the Rick, Kay, 'n' Carole Show," and while Sharp had failed to deliver, Noriega ended up filling his role. The race between Bell and Noriega ensured that Texans remembered the existence of Texas Democrats, and that raised their prospects some. While the poll released on the eve of Noriega's kickoff was widely derided in Texan political circles - Luis Saenz brought the house down when he remarked that he had been "hoping Rick Noriega would show up, but I guess he got directions from his pollster" - more sober calculations showed that both Bell and Noriega were improving their voteshares steadily.

But one was doing it better than the other. The early trend in the polls continued to draw towards a two-horse race with Noriega in the lead. The dispute was not over policy - both candidates had essentially identical platforms - but over electability. And voters and donors alike thought Noriega was more electable.

By late November, the race had more or less solidified, and Chris Bell had a choice to make. Despite the advice of some of his campaign staff to go on the offensive, he decided that the interests of the party would be best served by dropping out. There was sound logic - by now Bell was as much as thirty points down in many polls, and any attack on Noriega was either going to glance off or, possibly worse, stick through the general. Plus which, it wasn't as if the fracas going on on the other side of the aisle was helping them.

On December 5, 2005, Chris Bell announced that he would be dropping out of the race for the Governorship and endorsed Rick Noriega. It seemed like the Democratic primary on March 7 would be a blowout for Noriega, and he would be able to begin the general election campaign in earnest.

Enter Frank Madla. A 33-year veteran of the Texas Legislature, Madla was one of a dying breed of conservative Democrats. He probably knew that his career was coming to an end soon - State Representative Carlos Uresti had announced that he would be running in the primary for his Senate seat, and with Madla's vote to remove almost 200,000 children from CHIP, Uresti was likely to win. The true motives of Madla's run may never be known - ideology? Attention? Or maybe he just wanted to end his distinguished career without the indignity of a loss in a primary. Nevertheless, on New Year's Day 2006, one day before the filing deadline, Frank Madla filed to run for Governor.

While Madla's entry created an initial bump of positive press, that was arguably the campaign's high point. Noriega's endorsement by several notable conservative Democrats hurt Madla's cause, and Madla's age and "establishment" nature were major road-blocks. Still, he retained a base of staunch supporters - one usually hovering around 10%, but a base nonetheless.

The situation on the Republican side was less peaceful. The same poll that first showed Noriega in the lead showed only 40% of Republicans supporting Perry. 33% supported Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, while 11% supported Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn.

Perry was an unpopular governor, even in his own party. He campaigned with promises of property tax relief and school funding reform, and he failed to deliver on either. Worse, he frequently didn't even seem to try. Instead, he had come into the middle of controversies like the 2003 redistricting controversy and the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. Many party higher-ups thought that he was unpopular enough to possibly lose.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was up for re-election in 2006, but rumor had it that she was planning to take a different path. That idea was popular amongst Texan Republicans because of her qualifications: having almost precisely the same views as Rick Perry while not actually being Rick Perry. In addition, Hutchison was popular for steering appropriations money to Texas. On the other hand, many members of the party did not want to see intraparty battles become more common.

Hutchison eventually announced her run in early August, but she was beaten to the punch by a month and a half by Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn. A former Mayor of Austin, Strayhorn had been running for Governor since about 2003, notably feuding with Perry about school funding. Her platform was unusual for a Republican - two years of state-funded college for high school graduates, legalized video lottery with proceeds going to teacher pay raises, and increased cigarette taxes were all major planks - but that made her a more attractive candidate for moderates and Republicans with an independent streak. But she also had some electoral bona fides - more statewide votes than any other candidate in 2002.

The battle between the three was polarizing. Perry emerged as the candidate of the Religious Right, Hutchison as the candidate of Country-Club Republicans, and Strayhorn of moderate reformists. Due to the makeup of the Republican coalition, that meant that the main battle was between Perry and Hutchison, but Strayhorn managed to get her share of coverage.

Perry came into the fight with one huge disadvantage - the controversies of his tenure as Governor - but a number of less evident advantages. He was able to use his connections better, or maybe he just had more of them, but the vast majority of endorsements by Representatives, state legislators, and other influencers went to Perry. In addition, his ability to paint himself as the candidate of religious conservatives helped him immensely among the rank-and-file, who supported the candidate who spoke more to their concerns, especially when his opponent was pro-choice. Lastly, Hutchison and Strayhorn split the opposition, allowing Perry to stay ahead.

But the latter was not to last. In mid-December, the story broke of an unusual call that one of Strayhorn's top aides, spokesman Mark Sanders, made to Rick Noriega. In it, he asked him to drop out of the gubernatorial race and run for Comptroller. Sanders promised financial support to a Noriega run for Comptroller, but Noriega nevertheless refused. Soon after, the Austin American-Statesman found out about the call.

At first blush, it seemed like a clumsy attempt to remove a Democratic contender in advance of an independent run. But there was another goal, as shown when the Bexar County Commissioner came forth with the information that, six weeks prior, he had also been contacted by Sanders.

Nobody really knows the full story. Strayhorn herself has vigorously denied that she had anything to do with the call, professing that Sanders was acting on his own initiative. One possible explanation involves Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, who announced her candidacy for the Comptrollership in June, claiming Strayhorn's backing. Strayhorn wanted the option to run for Comptroller if Perry or Hutchison looked unassailable, but she knew that if she did so now Combs would win more likely as not.

As the revelations of "Comptrollergate" continued, Strayhorn slipped in the polls. By December 31, Strayhorn had slipped to 5%. Most of her erstwhile supporters came to support Hutchison, but many of them defected to the Democrats or the Friedman campaign, and many others decided not to vote at all. Though Strayhorn stayed in the race until the primary, she never rose again past the level of minor candidate.

With January came stability in the race - the stability of the trenches, but stability nonetheless. Perry maintained a narrow lead over Hutchison, but it was usually near or below the margin of error. The Perry campaign, nasty at the best of times (even before Hutchison was officially running, Perry's campaign had distributed a video of Hillary Clinton and Hutchison being courteous to each other at a joint appearance), got deeper into the mud. Dredging up past controversies over the Hutchison campaign allegedly threatening a State Senator with a primary challenge if he endorsed Perry, as well as one about a campaign spokesman who talked Hutchison up on a radio station under an assumed name, Perry clawed forward to a definite lead - one which could avoid a runoff - at the cost of hundreds of newspaper headlines decrying his negative campaigning.

Outside the gubernatorial race, the primaries were largely dull affairs. Lieutenant Governor and Perry ally David Dewhurst ran against State Senator and Hutchison ally Florence Shapiro for Hutchison's Senate seat, but Dewhurst's superior name recognition and funding made that race effectively a foregone conclusion. Attorney Barbara Ann Radnofsky was even more certain of her nomination. The Lieutenant Governor's race was sewn up by another attorney, Tony Buzbee, on the Democratic side, while Representative Wayne Christian was the favorite to become the Republican nominee.

The primaries were, in a word, anticlimactic.

GOVERNOR
DEMOCRATIC
*Rick Noriega 74% 395,927
Frank Madla 23% 124,320

REPUBLICAN
*Rick Perry 53% 340,528
Kay Bailey Hutchison 41% 261,252
Carole Keeton Strayhorn 5% 31,985

Rick Noriega arrives at a campaign stop in Victoria

Rick Perry speaks to soldier at Baghdad military base​

 

[Steve Brinson]

The campaign began with something of a bang. Carole Keeton Strayhorn, previously a Republican candidate, endorsed Rick Noriega for the Governorship.

The move was, if surprising, at least not totally out of left field. Strayhorn had been a Democrat until 20 years ago, and, unlike Rick Perry, had switched more out of opportunism than ideology. Strayhorn was more moderate than any other Republican running, even running to the left of Frank Madla. Lastly, she was embroiled in a long-running feud with Perry over his lack of support for funding initiatives like TexasNextStep, which would have allocated funding to community colleges.
Strayhorn's endorsement, in and of itself, didn't have much of an effect. Only very few Republicans still supported her after Comptrollergate, after all. Still, the narrative of Perry hemorrhaging support from within his own party became more and more salient.

In May, the winds were briefly against Noriega after a notable gaffe. During an interview with the Houston Chronicle, he said, “...I like to ask the question frequently of the mainstream media: ‘Can you tell me the name of the last Texan that’s been killed?’ I think we owe it to their family to know who they are. Forgive me for that." However, when pressed, he could not give the name of the most recent Texan killed in the Afghanistan or Iraq Wars, and incorrectly stated the name of the last one he remembered.

But the decline in Noriega's poll numbers that began then was reversed fairly quickly. This occurred due to two factors. One was campaign cash - both from donors within Texas, mainly trial lawyers and lobbyists, and from national Democrats. The other factor was the growing scandals surrounding Representative Tom DeLay, the embattled former House Majority Leader who had come into disrepute due to his association with lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff and his team had used a number of different strategies to bilk their clients - Indian casino interests - of millions of dollars. Two of DeLay's aides were implicated, and questions remained about how much DeLay had known.

And news was coming out every day. Abramoff's role in convincing DeLay to block labor regulations in the Northern Marianas, including one which barred sweatshops from coercing abortion. Abramoff's illegal paying of DeLay's travel expenses.

DeLay had won his primary already - by only 62% despite outspending his closest opponent 20-1, but nevertheless a victory. Under Texan election law, after the primary, if DeLay dropped out then no Republican could enter the race*. That was something DeLay felt he could not risk. But DeLay going down fighting kept his scandals in the public eye, and tainted his party by association.

LULAC v. Perry was one of the most significant decisions of the modern Supreme Court, and it massively changed the face of the election. A bare 5-4 majority declared partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause, a decision which would have massive repercussions, and ordered the redrawing of Texas's congressional districts. This led to quite a bit of discontent over "activist judges" - radio host and former Houston City Councilman Michael Berry was fined by the FCC for profanity while discussing the decision, and several Republican state legislators openly discussed "quorum-busting" the state legislature's session to redraw the map. Given that they had vilified the Democrats, including Noriega, for doing the same thing back in 2003, this was a not uncommon target of derision. On the other hand, it meant that Tom DeLay was perfectly capable of not running in the election, and leaving his seat to David Wallace, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, or Steve Stockman.

In the end, the Texas Legislature's district map was approved. Its gerrymandering was, while still present, far more subtle. It was more focused on fiddling around the edges of the districts than radically reshaping them, although many districts in and around major cities were made nearly unrecognizable. The full repercussions of LULAC v. Perry would not be seen for another two years. In the meantime, the results of the primaries for congressional districts were invalidated and ballots for special elections were drawn up.

The battle over redistricting was a mixed bag for Noriega. While some saw Noriega more positively for standing up to the redistricting and Perry more negatively for helping to push through the plan which turned out to be unconstitutional, others saw the court's "meddling" in Texan districts as proof positive of unfair attacks on Perry. While the latter were probably more populous, that was counterbalanced by a flow of voters from Perry to Kinky Friedman and from Friedman to Noriega. After all, if there was one image that Perry took on during the scandal, it was "establishment", in opposition to which the Friedman campaign had defined itself. But Friedman was having his own problems - he was being ignored, as Noriega's success had created the image of a two-horse race.

On July 28, 2006, the day after the Texas Legislature released its proposed map of Texan districts, the polls had Rick Perry winning 42% of likely voters. Rick Noriega was winning 39% of them. 14% were still undecided.

The race was still heating up.

Noriega attends the special redistricting session

Perry makes a speech at Texas Tech​

*Technically, there would have had to be two elections, both on the same day - a special election, in which anyone could run, and the general, in which there could be no non-write-in Republican. Whoever won the former would serve for about two months before the latter winner was sworn in with the rest of Congress.​

 

[historybuff]

Great updates, even if I'm not familiar with Texas politics.

 

[Unknown]

As a Texan, I'm loving this...

 

[Workable Goblin]

Ah, so no Nick Lampson, then. And no trying to get Sekula-Gibbs elected as a write-in (you can see why that didn't go anywhere).

Yes, I was in that district back then, why do you ask...?

 

[Steve Brinson]

Ah, so no Nick Lampson, then.

We'll see...

Great updates, even if I'm not familiar with Texas politics.

As a Texan, I'm loving this...

Thanks! Next update by Saturday.

 

[Octosteel]

Double space when on a new paragraph, please.

 

[Steve Brinson]

Double space when on a new paragraph, please.

Like this?

The stars at night are big and bright

Deep in the heart of Texas

 

[Octosteel]

Like this?

Yeah. Usually, tabbing would work fine but since that option isn't available, double spacing like that is the best way to make it easy to read. Otherwise, it can be hard on the eyes.

 

[Steve Brinson]

Yeah. Usually, tabbing would work fine but since that option isn't available, double spacing like that is the best way to make it easy to read. Otherwise, it can be hard on the eyes.

Thanks. I'll change it once I get done with homework.

 

[Steve Brinson]

From OffTheKuff

Perry refuses to debate, again
August 23, 2006 by Charles Kuffner.

Sigh.

Sources within the Perry campaign stated yesterday that Governor Rick Perry would not be participating in the gubernatorial debate scheduled for September 14th.

Campaign director Luis Saenz stated that the Governor would be meeting with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson regarding border security. "He can't campaign all the time," Saenz said. "He has a job to do."

That comment is believed to be a thinly veiled jab at Rick Noriega, who skipped most of the special session of the Texas Legislature that was called a month ago to campaign alongside recently-elected Laredo mayor John Clifford Galo. Noriega fired back when asked by reporters about the announcement, saying that "Being responsive to the public is an important part of being in elected office. If Rick Perry can't do that he should find a different job."

Noriega also said that he would still be attending the debate, located at Southwestern University. If Perry does not attend, then Noriega's only opposition at the debate will be comedian Richard "Kinky" Friedman, who has also criticized Perry for canceling.

"First he was offered six debates," Friedman said, "then he was offered one. Now he's ducking out of that one. There's a word for that, and it isn't Governor."

I suppose it's not surprising that Perry's the most recent incumbent to dodge debates, but it still rankles. In his defense, given his most recent polling, he's right to be worried:

Bell          39%
Perry         34%
Friedman      6%
Werner        1%
Undecided     20%

Caveat: this is a Zogby interactive poll, and their telephone polls show Perry ahead by a few points. Still, even if this is unusual, it's potentially huge.

From the Dallas Morning News, September 1, 2006

Presidential visit sparks discontent

President Bush and Governor Perry at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

Governor Rick Perry is in a pickle, electorally - in a state which went for him by a margin of 18% four years ago, he's now in a dead heat with his opponent, Democratic Representative Rick Morales. So he was probably pleased when President Bush agreed to campaign for him.

"I worked with Rick for five years," the President told an audience of around 2,000 people at the South Side Ballroom, "when he was in the Legislature and then Lieutenant Governor. I think he's a fine person, I think he's done a fine job as Governor, and I think you should re-elect him."

The audience cheered. Outside, however, the tone was quite different. A crowd of protesters, carrying signs like "George Bush Kills Children" and "Rick N Served, George B Dodged", swarmed Lamar Street, chanting slogans.

"I don't think that George Bush or Rick Perry is a leader, certainly not a good one," said Bill Cortes. A 70-year-old retired electrician, Cortes voted for both candidates in 1998, but now says that "America and Texas are worse in almost every way since they got into office."

As they walked to their limousine, Perry and Bush walked side-by-side. But sources say the legendary rift between them, dating from Perry's 1998 run for Lieutenant Governor, is wider than ever before. The 2006 primary - where Bush and his clique stayed neutral, favoring Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison - had already exacerbated the division, but Perry's poor performance in polls has hardened it. A source close to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove says that Rove spent most of a half-hour meeting berating Governor Perry for perceived missteps in his campaign. That source also stated that the RNC's number-one concern in 2006 is the Texas gubernatorial race, saying that "Every dollar that goes into keeping Perry in office is one which isn't going to Maryland, or Wisconsin, or any number of competitive races across the country. And it costs a lot more in Texas than most other states, because you have to reach more people in a greater area."

Both the Perry campaign and the White House declined to comment.

 

[Steve Brinson]

October 19, 2006

David Dewhurst was in high spirits on October 19th, much higher than his current boss's. He had seen the way the wind was blowing a while back, and while he liked Rick Perry, he knew that there was only so much he could do for him. Besides, Wayne Christian was beating Tony Buzbee by a solid margin in the Lite Guv's race, and he knew better than anyone that that was what really mattered on the state level. As for his polling, he had a twenty-point lead over the lawyer no-one had heard of, as was de rigueur for statewide Republicans.

His phone rang, and he checked the caller ID. Speak of the devil, he thought, picking up the handset. "Rick!"

The Governor sounded tired, like he usually did. "Did you see the Houston Chronicle today?"

"Can't say that I have," Dewhurst replied. He turned his computer on and waited for it to load. "It's endorsement season, isn't it?"

There was a pregnant pause.

"Oh." Nestled in the headlines was a small, understated, 'Noriega for governor'. "That's not good."

"No," the governor ground out, "it's not."

"You know what you need to-"

"I've already got about a hundred people telling me what I need to do, Dave," Perry said, "and none of them are saying the same things."

"Besides," he said, in a voice that the lieutenant governor could almost hear a grin behind, "I've got a plan. See you tomorrow. You're going to the fundraiser in Houston?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, then." The phone clicked.

Dewhurst put the conversation out of his mind until that evening at the fundraiser. He wasn't the only candidate there - a smattering of state legislative aspirants from across Houston had turned up to try to talk oil millionaires and trial lawyers into giving them money. He shuffled awkwardly past Talmadge Heflin, hoping he wouldn't have to get into a conversation with him, when he spotted Bob Perry trying to subtly put distance between himself and Martha Wong.

Bob Perry was one of the megadonors that ran Texas politics as much as anyone in elected office. A construction-company magnate, Perry was the kind of donor that liberals described as "shadowy", which made it all the more unusual that he had turned up here. He didn't tend to interact directly with the people he funded - Dewhurst had barely spoken to him since the phone call he'd made back when he was running for Lieutenant Governor. Bob Perry had spent 20 minutes then quizzing him on his political views and then sent him over two hundred thousand dollars. Since then, unlike most of the people who donated hundreds of thousands to his campaign, he had maintained near-complete radio silence, never telling him what to do. While Dewhurst was grateful, he was also a bit nervous about the other shoe.

Dewhurst was especially grateful for Bob Perry this election cycle. Perry had a few core beliefs that he held to above all else, and one of those was a staunch belief in tort reform, gained through a few dozen lawsuits on grounds that could charitably be described as "questionable." That translated to an almost religious opposition to trial lawyers, of whom Tony Buzbee was one of the most notable and (in Perry's eyes) least scrupulous. With his millions going toward the Christian campaign, Dewhurst was confident that his job would be in good hands.

The $180,000 he'd given his Senate campaign didn't hurt, either.

"Howdy, Mr. Perry."

"Hello, David."

They walked toward a corner of the room. Perry visibly relaxed as he got away from the crowd, though he still glanced over at particularly loud talkers.

"Not to be rude, but-"

"I'm here because I don't want Rick Noriega to be President." He paused. "I mean Governor."

Dewhurst paused.

"I mean, I think he's a good guy, I just think the other Rick would be better."

"...you said President?"

Perry waved his arms. "He's going to have won a high office in the home state of the opposing President. If he has any ambitions at even higher office, he's going to have a good shot at it."

"Yeah. You're not wrong."

There was an awkward silence, broken by Perry's cell phone.

"Do you mind if I-"

Dewhurst gestured. "Go ahead."

Perry flipped open his phone. He made affirmative noises for a moment, then nodded. After a moment, he began to smile.

"That's a risky gamble," Perry said.

"What?"

"Listen, it's the Governor."

Perry handed Dewhurst the phone. On the other side, a tinny voice that sounded as if it were being passed through a car radio said, "...will continue to provide for Texas students, even those who are undocumented. After all, our nation and our state needs talent, and hard work, and brainpower, however it gets here. And we need to foster that, to bring forward a bright future for our state."

Governor Perry paused. "But more than that, it's simply the right thing to do. Yes, obviously we would prefer for them to come here legally. But can we, as a state, really look into the eyes of a child whose parents took them across the border for a better life, a child who just wants to learn, and tell them that we won't help them grow because of no fault of their own? I think that'd be inhuman."

Dewhurst handed over the phone. "That was... quite something," he said. Inwardly, he wondered whether Perry was trying to lose the election.

"It's a bold move," Bob Perry said, shrugging. "But I think he can get more votes from Noriega than he'll lose to Friedman from it. Plus which, he made a stand. That's quite something."

Dewhurst was skeptical, but he knew that it was too late to back down. "The die's been cast, I guess."

Bob Perry nodded. There was a smile there, but David Dewhurst couldn't help but notice that it didn't quite seem to reach his eyes.

Bob Perry stands outside a house built by his company​

 

[historybuff]

Not sure who all's who, but, great update.