Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott came to Texas last week to campaign for Attorney General John Cornyn. Lott made it clear that Republicans consider the Cornyn – Kirk race the most important Senate race in the country.

Ron Kirk has run a good campaign and has raised more money than Cornyn: $1.8 million to Cornyn’s $1.7 million. Ron has the support of all the right people, ranging from conservative members of the business community to organized labor to Bill Clinton. He has been seen in all the right places, such as the national NAACP convention in Houston. Ron is charming and articulate, smart and focused. He is hard to campaign against because of his likeable personality and because the Republicans don’t have a lot of negative material to use against him. About the worst thing the Cornyn camp has had to say is that Kirk won’t be a team player on Team Bush.

Baloney, said Kirk. He added that he has a history of working across party lines and political differences. After all, isn’t that how he got elected mayor of Dallas?   So, the Republicans expect to put a lot of energy and money in their effort to get Cornyn elected and to maintain their razor-thin margin in the U.S. Senate. Expect George W. Bush to make some appearances for Cornyn, as well as other high-profile Republicans.

And what is Cornyn doing in the meantime? Well, he has refused to release information on the allegedly overbilling of the state’s Medicaid system by NHIC, a Ross Perot founded corporation. That doesn’t make him look like a statesman. In the meantime, Ron Kirk, is raising money and making friends and gaining in the polls.

(Martin is a freelance political columnist living in Austin.)