June 22, 2006

Massachusetts Senate Duo to Help Texan
Raise Money for Fall Fight with Hutchison

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Democrats took back the White House in 1960 with John Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson teaming in what became known as the "Boston-Austin axis" after the Massachusetts senator chose his colleague from Texas to be his s running mate. Twenty-eight years later the term was recycled when a Massachusetts governor named Michael Dukakis tapped Texan Lloyd Bentsen to be the Democratic vice-presidential nominee the same year he was up for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

Now there's a new Boston-to-Austin connection, but this time around it features two United States senators from Massachusetts including one who ran for president two years ago and a Democratic candidate from Texas who wants to join that highly elite club. The new axis will be christened on July 24 when U.S. Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry host a fundraiser for U.S. Senate nominee Barbara Radnofsky at the Downtown Harvard Club in Boston. Radnofsky will use the money she raises in Boston for her quest to unseat Republican U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the November general election.

According to invitations that went out Thursday, supporters who donate the maximum $2,100 allowed by federal law for individuals or $5,000 for political action committees will gain admission to a VIP reception before the main Radnofsky event. Sponsors at that top level will enjoy the added bonus of admission to an event the following day at Stonover Farm in Lenox, Massachusetts and an autographed copy of Kennedy's new book, America Back on Track. Everything but the book comes with the $1,000 host sponsorship package ($2,500 for PACs) - and supporters who contribute $500 to Radnofsky's campaign get a ticket to the main event minus the extras.

While the Massachusetts event will give Republicans an opportunity to brand Radnofsky as a liberal, the Houston lawyer who's making her first political race will be hoping that the things she can do with the money she raises will more than offset any potential damage an association with Kennedy and Kerry could inflict on her attempts to make inroads with independent Texas voters and conservative Democrats in the Senate campaign. Without a Texan as a running mate, Kerry did not fare as well in Texas when he ran for president in 2004 as the Massachusetts leaders who sought the White House in 1960 and 1988 did here. Kennedy carried Texas with 50.5 percent of the vote with Johnson as his VP nominee while Dukakis won 43 percent support from Texas voters after selecting Bentsen for the ticket. Kerry, however, received only 38 percent of the Texas vote two years ago with U.S. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina in the ticket's number two slot. Texas Republicans, meanwhile, will waste no time portraying Kennedy as the Senate's most liberal member.

Radnofsly's hopes for a historic upset were buoyed this week when a new Rasmussen Poll showed that a 28-point lead that Hutchison had enjoyed over the Democrat in a January survey had been cut to 19 points in June. The new poll showed Hutchison leading Radnofsky 53 percent to 34 percent. While the incumbent's lead wasn't as wide, the bad news for Radnofsky was that Hutchison was viewed very favorably by 40 percent by likely Texas voters and very unfavorably by only 12 percent. By contrast, 10 percent expressed a very favorable view of Radnofsky while 15 percent viewed her very unfavorably.

Hutchison - a member of the Senate for the past 13 years - has raised about $6.8 million in the past two years and had almost $8 million in surplus funds before the March primary election. Radnofsky has taken in almost $1 million for her campaign since launching it, but she was forced to spend a significant amount to win the nomination in a primary runoff against perennial candidate Gene Kelly, who files to run but never raises any money or campaigns. The Republican incumbent had 20 times more cash on hand in mid-February than the eventual Democratic nominee reported at the time.

In an attempt to narrow that gap, Radnofsky will travel to the West Coast later this month for a pair of fundraisers in Southern California. One event will be hosted June 29 by Los Angeles lawyer Gretchen Nelson at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Aron Rofer, who's also an attorney in the LA area, will host a fundraising luncheon for Radnofsky the following day in the Orange County suburb of Costa Mesa.

Radnofsky was the toast in late April at a Washington D.C. fundraiser that was hosted by Democratic U.S. Senators Harry Reid of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Carl Levin of Michigan and Charles Schumer of New York.

While Radnofsky is a political rookie, she and the veteran Republican senator have at least one common thread: the last opponent they faced was Kelly. Radnofsky defeated the Universal City lawyer who's run for numerous statewide offices with 60 percent of an April primary runoff vote almost six years after Hutchison beat Kelly in a general election race with support from 65 percent of the voters in her bid for a second six-year term.