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Gone Negative [Politics]
On Wednesday, Perry campaign consultant Dave Carney sent out another letter to supporters that accomplished two tasks. First, it made the obligatory -- albeit brief -- request for party unity after the GOP’s divisive primary. And second, it served as a sort of blueprint for how the Perry camp plans on attacking Bill White’s record and Democratic credentials. “Our hapless opponent is a failed liberal frustrated politician who spent the last year office shopping,” Carney writes. “In few interviews he has morphed into a combination of Jimmy Carter, Mike Dukakis, Al Gore and John Kerry rolled in to one.” Carney goes on to rail against White’s career as a trial lawyer, his role in turning Houston into a sanctuary city, and his opposition to guns: three red-meat issues sure to both stir up the conservative base, and draw some objection from White himself.
What remains to be seen is how successfully White can frame his own attacks and withstand Perry’s jabs over the course of this general election. There’s certainly no shortage of material for White to work with, but does he risk alienating the coveted cross-over vote if he hits back too hard? WIll he be playing too much to Perry's strength? Negative campaigning is a delicate art form, and in a race of this magnitude against an incumbent with a shaky political record, a necessary evil. White is faced with the formidable task of both expanding the Democratic voting base and dethroning King Rick in the reddest of the red states during a time when the Democratic Party on the national level is facing some fierce opposition.
It won’t be easy, but the Republican Party may be just fractured enough for White to make some noise. Governor Perry has been considered politically vulnerable for quite some time, yet no candidate in the past decade - Republican or Democrat -- has been able to successfully translate that vulnerability into a competitive challenge.
National insiders are starting to pay attention, and right now at least, it’s anybody’s ballgame. And while many questions remained unanswered, one thing’s for sure: there may be multiple routes to the Governor’s office, but the high road isn’t one of them.
Bill White on taxes:
Bill White on taxes from texastribune on Vimeo.
