This columnist thought affirmative action might have been the issue the Republicans used as a club against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez. Particularly, since their boy Dan Morales tried to use it against Sanchez in the primary. Instead, a Rick Perry ad is attempting to make Tony Sanchez look like someone who launders drug money for the likes of a Manuel Noriega. Perry held a press conference that featured a bunch of official looking suits, including some who were said to be federal prosecutors, talking about legal proceedings involving a former Sanchez bank, Tesora Savings and Loan. The ad was dark and ugly and achieved its goal of making Sanchez look like a thug. Problem is: the ad was untrue. At least according to the federal judge who presided over the case featured in the ad. And according to legal experts who have reviewed the facts and said not only did Sanchez act within the law, he took the only course of action he could have taken. Sanchez was not indicted. The case ended. But that was not the impression left at the end of the television ad.

Of course, the Perry campaign is saying the scurrilous ad is true and that it isn't racist. They are standing by their ad and said it will continue to run. And, to add to the political intrigue, on the same day, the wife of one of the attorneys who appeared with Perry in a press conference to back the ad had a meeting with the Perry administration to interview for an upcoming vacancy for a chief justice on the 1st District Court of Appeals, where she is now a judge.

Some political pundits are saying the issues featured in the ad are too nebulous for the average voter to understand but there is a concern that because the ad was so ugly it will make it hard for Sanchez, who has the facts on his side, to dispel the image created by the Perry campaign.
The issues contained in the ad may be nebulous but racism is not. Most black and brown voters know it when they see it and many will base their voting decisions on this issue in November.
The ad and the tenor of the campaign Perry has now set is a disgrace. It suggests that because he lacked substantive issues and a good record on which to run he took the low road.
If Texas voters take the high road, Perry will be house-hunting in November.