June 25, 2004

Commerce Secretary Don Evans Might
Have Eye on Future Governor's Race

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Commerce Secretary Don Evans might be interested in the job his best friend used to have. Texas governor.

The Texas oilman and former University of Texas regents chairman has reportedly made calls about a possible gubernatorial bid to Midland, where he ran an oil and gas company before joining President George W. Bush's cabinet three years ago.

It's not clear whether Evans might be looking at a potential race for governor in 2006 or 2010. He's expected to keep his current job in the Bush Administration if the president wins a second term this fall. Under that scenario he wouldn't be free to embark on a statewide race for another four and a half years. If Bush loses, Evans could hit the ground running for governor early next year.

A Houston native who moved to Midland after getting out of college in the mid-1970s, the 58-year-old Texan would likely be promoted as a modern-day version of former Governor Bill Clements, the state's first Republican governor who first won the job in 1978. Like Clements, Evans is a successful businessman who has high-level Washington experience but has never run for office himself. He would probably be more popular with chamber-of-commerce Republicans than social conservatives. Both Evans and Clements got their starts in the oil business by working on rigs - and both went on to chair the boards of major university systems after making it rich on oil and gas.

Evans was chief executive officer at Tom Brown Inc., an independent oil company based in Denver, for almost 20 years before taking the call of the White House after Bush became president in early 2001. Evans got his first taste of politics helping Bush in his 1978 race for Congress against then-Democrat Kent Hance. He was instrumental in both of Bush's races for governor and served as national finance chairman of the campaign for the presidency in 2000. With Evans raising more than $100 million for the White House race, Bush shattered every fundraising record on the books at that time.

As secretary of commerce, Evans is in charge of the regulation of American exports, the Census and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which controls the nation's coastline.

In the event of a Bush loss this year, a bid for governor by Evans might not deter either U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison or State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn from challenging Governor Rick Perry in the GOP primary in 2006. But it would have a definite effect on their ability to mobilize the Republican Party's more moderate wing to challenge an incumbent who has been aligned more with conservatives. Hutchison and Strayhorn have already positioned themselves to the left of Perry for a possible primary contest that could end up being decided on which candidate does best with so-called George Bush Republicans. Hutchison would be expected to fare relatively well with that wing of the GOP in Texas - and Strayhorn has at least two strong connections with her sons, Scott McClellan, who is Bush's press secretary, and Mark McClellan, the chief Medicaid and Medicare administrator under the president from Texas.

A Perry re-election victory in two years would presumably clear the Republican side of the ballot for a wide-open primary battle for governor in 2010. Evans could find himself going up against an incumbent, however, if either Hutchison or Strayhorn prevailed in the GOP primary and general election in 2006.