I haven’t gotten much political mail this year, which is a shame, but surprisingly, the bulk of what I have gotten has been from Republican Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. Furthermore, every campaign and get-out-the-vote call left on my machine has been from the Dewhurst campaign.
Most of the fliers are nice, glossy, full-color brochures explaining all of the things Dewhurst will do to help and protect Texas’ children (I wonder if I’m being microtargeted since I’m a teacher or is everyone getting this stuff?) I’ve always thought Dewhurst was one of the few state-level Texas Republicans who really does want to do right by Texas kids, and if I thought Chris Bell would win the governor’s race or the Democrats would get some kind of power in this state, I would consider voting for him.
Unfortunately, he lacks backbone. The Lietenant Governor in Texas, as president of the senate, has the potential to be the most powerful person in the state and yet Dewhurst has balked at exercising this power. If the welfare of kids is truly at the top of his agenda, why hasn’t he used his position to push it through instead of rolling over for Perry and Craddick?
Still, getting all this mail all of a sudden is odd considering that Dewhurst seems to be a shoe-in for reelection and his opponent has very little name recognition. But, could what she lacks in name recognition be off-set by her hispanic name: Mary Luisa Alvarado?
Vince at Capitol Annex theorizes:
Yes, Dewhurst is afraid of something that a lot of political insiders and consultants talk about, but only behind closed doors: that Hispanic surnamed candidates are attractive to Hispanic voters.
Perhaps there’s something to this, but I wonder if it might be something else. I haven’t seen any polls for the Lt. Governor’s race (are there any?) but I can’t help but wonder if the anti-Perry vote (somewhere in the mid-60s) could also be trickling down to affect the Lt. Governor’s race where there are only three candidates instead of five. Could the anti-Perry vote, which despite being massive is so splintered it will keep him in office, actually be moving against Dewhurst?
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
I doubt the Hispanic name means as much as some think. A few years back Congressman Lloyd Doggett found himself facing a GOP candidate named Rebecca Klein. Well, she was Rebecca Klein while she was on the Railroad Commission but when she had to run for Congress in a district that stretched literally all the way to the Rio Grande Valley she rediscovered her Hispanic identity and became Rebecca Armendariz Klein. Doggett strummed her anyway and he doesn’t even speak Spanish. So much for the Hispanic “bloc”.
I suspect you’re right about the Hispanic vote. It didn’t seem to help Tony Sanchez much. But maybe this is the year the so-called sleeping giant of Hispanic voters will awaken. Whatever it is, I still find it odd that I’m getting so much from Dewhurst.