Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Schieffer is getting out of the race this afternoon, sources said Monday morning. "He just couldn't put it together," said one.
"I can't comment," said Clay Robison, Schieffer's spokesman. Schieffer didn't immediately return calls. A short time later, they called a press conference for 3 p.m. this afternoon.
Schieffer is the self-styled establishment candidate in a Democratic primary where no one has really gained traction. Kinky Friedman had more support in the University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll earlier this month, but 55 percent of Democratic primary voters said they hadn't yet chosen a candidate.
The Houston Chronicle reports that Bill White is now shifting to the Gov race.
White has been firm as recently as last week that he would not switch from the U.S. Senate race to the governor's race. But when Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced that she would not resign to run for governor, it made the prospects of a race switch more likely for White because no special election was immediately available.
Also, because Hutchison has said she will resign in March, it gives White two bites at the apple. He can run for governor, and even if he gets the nomination, he could still run in a Senate special election. If he won the Senate seat, then the State Democratic Executive Committee could name his replacement in the governor's race.
That scenario delineated in the Chron entry-with White gaming the system to be able to run for Gov AND run for Senate is a bit troubling to me-though I like Bill White's approach in the nascent Senate race.
Because if there's an argument to be made that Democrats are out for the main chance, it's made by a top of the ticket that is just marking time till he gets a chance at the job he really wants.
If Democrats don't act differently from Republicans, why should anyone care which party runs Texas?
So, IOW, in or out. Pick the job you want, and make your case, Bill.
Here is the response from Tom Schieffer's campaign:
Tom Schieffer has been addressing these same issues for months. Improving public education has been his No. 1 priority from the beginning of his campaign. He was talking about attacking high dropout rates and expanding early childhood education when Hank Gilbert was still talking about running for agriculture commissioner.
I have heard some others say that Tom considers Education a signature issue as well.
That however, makes me wonder why all his website has to offer on the subject is this paragraph:
Our children are competing against the best and the brightest in the world. We have to have a new educational paradigm, one that recognizes that we need to begin educating children before they are five years old and long after they graduate from high school and college. We cannot give up on public education. It is still the ladder up and out for millions of young Texans, and we must find a way to make it work.
Talking about it for months, and that's all we get?
When Hank Gilbert announced he was going to run for Governor, I thought it would change the fundamentals of the race. That even if he doesn't prevail in his admittedly uphill battle, that he would make whoever did come out as the Dem nominee a better candidate.
I didn't expect it to play out as Tom Schieffer wholesale lifting the Gilbert platform.
Hank being Hank, the campaign didn't waste any time calling Time Warp Tommy out:
"While Hank is flattered that Tom Schieffer thinks enough of his 'Pledging Allegiance to Texas Public Schools' comprehensive pre-K - 12 education reform plan in order to adopt parts of it as his own, the larger issue remains that Schieffer is copycatting Hank in an effort to breathe oxygen into a moribund campaign.
I'm sure it's not as bad as all that for Schieffer. Somebody in that campaign must have a pulse.
In yesterday's Houston Chronicle readers learned much about Rick Perry's fancy globe trotting extravaganzas, golfing, hunting trips and lavish gifts, much of it donated by the governor's sugar daddy supporters. The Chronicle's R.G. Ratcliffe revealed that thanks to taxpayers and generous supporters, Perry, a modest cotton farmer from West Texas, now leads the life of the rich and famous.
We taxpayers take care of the basic needs: housing, cooks, housekeepers, stewards and gardeners.
The taxpayers shell out $108,000 a year to rent him an estate west of Austin, and spend another $168,000 on chefs, stewards and housekeepers for the Perrys' creature comforts.
The governor's donors and supporters take care of the really fun stuff like overseas travel to wonderful places, concerts, basketball games and hunting trips.
