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| Texans are talking
about that campaign ad conservative columnist George Will did for U.S. Senate candidate
Ron Kirk. Well, it wasn't exactly a campaign ad. But it was close to an endorsement. To
newspapers across the United States Sunday, the columnist said, "Republican hopes of
regaining control of the Senate recently suffered a setback because of the emergence of a
balding, 47-year-old man with a salt-and-pepper mustache, tortoise shell glasses, a mild
demeanor and electoral successes winning two mayoral elections in this entrepreneurial
city." Now that Milquetoast description of Kirk isn't likely to appeal to the average brother or sister on the street, but it tells Will's fans -moderate and conservative White males - that Kirk poses no threat. That may be just enough for some people to hear to make them feel comfortable casting a vote for Kirk. After all, what upper middle-class White male Texan would vote for, say, Jew Don Boney or John Wiley Price for U.S. Senate? Columnist Will went on to say: "So how good can Kirk's chances be? Good enough that he will force Republicans to spend a considerable sum holding this seat in an expensive state with four major media markets (Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio) and 15 others." Clearly, this comes as no surprise to Republicans - they knew a Kirk victory would force them to spend some cash in Texas. But this news coming from George Will should make the Kirk folks feel real good-it says the party considers Kirk a real threat and they are going to spend some money on their fair-haired boy, John Cornyn. The more the Republicans visibly show they consider Kirk a threat, the more credibility the Kirk campaign gains. Whether intentionally or not, the Will column gave a nice boost to the Kirk campaign. (Martin is a freelance political columnist living in Austin.) |
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