Monday, November?, 1988
The Battalion
Page 11
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Democrats urge
to give Bentsen
AUSTIN (AP) — Texans cast bal
lots Tuesday in a race that has a
Texan on each presidential ticket and
Democrats urging people to vote
twice — legally — for Sen. Lloyd
Bentsen.
Vice President George Bush, who
moved to Texas in 1948 and still calls
Houston home, led in every opinion
poll taken since mid-summer despite
Bentsen’s position as Democratic
running mate to Massachusetts Gov.
Michael Dukakis.
Dukakis campaigners insisted in
the final days that they vvere narrow
ing the gap. And polls showed Bent
sen well ahead in his second race, for
re-election to a fourth Senate term,
which is allowed under a 1959 law
passed so Lyndon Johnson could seek
re-election to the Senate and run for
the White House.
Down the ballot, heated campaigns
are being waged for the unprece
dented six openings on the Texas Su
preme Court, and Texans also will be
choosing 150 members of the state
House and half the state Senate.
With 29 electoral votes, Texas is
the nation’s third-largest Election
Day prize and serves as a power base
for Bush. His campaign has been
pushed by every leading Texas Re
publican, including Gov. Bill Clem
ents, U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and for
mer Sen. John Tower.
Dukakis tried to revive the 1960
“Boston-Austin axis,’’ when John F.
Kennedy chose Johnson as his run
ning mate, by selecting Bentsen to
run with him. But several Democratic
politicians said Dukakis’ choice of
Bentsen instead gave voters a chance
to vote for both Bush and Bentsen
and block straight-ticket Republican
voting.
“I think Bentsen is having a very
obvious effect on the coattails. If any
Democrat survives a close race, it
will be because of Lloyd Bentsen,”
said Democratic state Rep. Stan
Schlueter.
In that Senate race, Amarillo Con
gressman Beau Boulter campaigned
hard but was outspent by Bentsen.
According to Sept. 30 campaign fi
nance reports, Bentsen had raised
about $8.5 million to the Republican
challenger’s $1.5 million.
Boulter began his campaign by
criticizing Bentsen for ‘‘riding two
horses at once” with his dual candi
dacy.
nfil
“If any Democrat sur
vives a close race, it
will be because of
Lloyd Bentsen”
Democratic state Rep.
Stan Schlueter
As the campaign drew to a close,
Boulter also accused Bentsen of turn
ing his back on Dukakis and concen
trating on his re-election bid. “He
has no commitment to any philoso
phy under the sun as far as I can see.
He is the most elitist, special-interest,
backroom powerbroker politician this
country has ever seen in its history,”
Boulter charged.
Throughout the campaign, Bentsen
pointed to the state law that wouldn’t
allow him to withdraw from the Sen
ate race without giving the office to
the Republicans. And besides, he ar
gued, Texans enjoy having him as
chairman of the powerful Senate Fi
nance Committee.
Jack Devore, a spokesman for
Bentsen’s Senate campaign, said
Boulter’s last-minute criticism was a
desperation move. “He seems to be
coming apart at the seams,” Devore
said.
U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright of
Fort Worth faced no opposition, and
Democratic officials said they hoped
their candidates would pick up one or
two seats in congressional races to
expand their 17-10 lead.
Some of the closest race’s looked to
be those in Boulter’s Panhandle dis
trict, where Democratic state Sen.
Bill Sarpalius faced Republican Larry
Milner, and in the south-central dis
trict of Republican Rep. Mac Swee
ney, who was challenged by Demo
crat Greg Laughlin.
Due in part to negative national
publicity given the Texas Supreme
Court after its refusal last year to even
hear the $11 billion judgment against
Texaco Inc. in its battle with Pen-
nzoil, this year’s court races have
been unusually heated.
Resignations by Democrats al
lowed Republican Gov. Bill Clem
ents to appoint three GOP justices
this year, including Chief Justice
Tom Phillips. The remainder of those
terms, plus three other regular open
ings, are up for election.
The chief justice candidates —
Texans
2 votes
Phillips and Democratic Justice Ted
Z. Robertson — each raised more
than $1.8 million for their races and
both flooded the airwaves with tele
vision commercials.
The big-money aspects of the Su
preme Court races also were illus
trated by a political committee orga
nized by plaintiffs’ lawyers. Fund for
a Democratic Texas, to give $1 mil
lion to help Democratic court candi
dates.
Republicans also are matched
against Democratic incumbents in
two of the three races for the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals, and a
Libertarian faces a Democratic in
cumbent in the other race.
In other races being decided Tues
day:
— Two seats on the Railroad Com
mission are at stake.
Kent Hance, first Republican to
serve on the 100-year-old commis
sion, was appointed last year by
Clements to fill a seat vacated when
Democrat Mack Wallace resigned.
The two remaining years of the term
are at stake in the upcoming election,
in which Hance faces Democratic
challenger Clint Hackney, a state rep
resentative.
— All 15 seats on the State Board
of Education are up for grabs. The
old elected board was abolished in
1984, after passage of House Bill 72
and its school reforms. However, the
legislation called for the board to re
vert to an elected panel in four years.
— Three proposed amendments to
the Texas Constitution also must be
decided.
Propostion 1 would require that all
the money Texas gets from the fed
eral government as reimbursement
for highway projects be used to pay
for those projects.
Proposition 2 would establish a so-
called “Rainy Day Fund” where
state revenue would be set aside and
saved for appropriation in years when
tax revenues fall short of meeting ex
penses.
Proposition 3 would set up a
“Growth Fund” and allow trustees of
the state’s two education funds and
two state-employee pension funds
more investment flexibility, includ
ing investment in the growth fund.
BUSH
VICTORY '88
RALLY
Join the Winning Team
7:00 p.m. TONIGHT
701 Rudder Tower
Please Join
GEORGE BUSH, JR.
AND
SEN. PHIL GRAMM
at the
TEXAS A&M HANGAR
at EASTERWOOD AIRPORT
TODAY 3:30 p.m.
Paid for by TAMU Victory ’88
The MSC MBA/Law Committee
presents
The MBA/Law Symposium
"Destined for Success"
Nov. 9, Wednesday
Representatives from:
Harvard and Chicago Business &
Law Schools
Georgetown, Notre Dame & Cornell
Law Schools
Wharton Business School
Business & Law schools in Texas
10am-4pm, 1st floor hallway, MSC
Nov. 12, Saturday
Business and Law professionals
speak on career development issues
9:30am-5:30pm, 211 MSC
M
COMM
Register in MSC Hallway, Blocker ad Student Programs Office
10am 3pm October 3l-Hovember 11
$5 in advance/$8 at the door
Call 845-1515 for more information
T T E E