October 17, 2004

Democrat Sandlin Rips DCCC Ad
Aimed at GOP Candidate Gohmert

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

A neurotic campaign season has taken another batty twist as Democratic U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin blasts the national organization that aired an attack ad in his battle against Republican Louis Gohmert in East Texas. But this particular television commercial isn't a product of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's plan to erase Texas Democrats from the congressional map - and it isn't the work of Republican operatives in Washington trying to undermine a Democrat back home.

Sandlin says he has problems with a new anti-Louis Gohmert ad sponsored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The four-term incumbent from Marshall went public with his disdain for the DCCC ad a few hours after it began running Friday on a Shreveport television station that covers a large segment of Northeast Texas.

The ad centers on Gohmert's record sentencing defendants convicted of crimes when he was a judge. Sandlin - a former court at law judge who went on to become county judge in Harrison County - says the DCCC ad is inaccurate, misleading and appalling. Insisting that his campaign had nothing to do with the ad's creation or placement, Sandlin has called on the DCCC to pull the ad off the air. Should the the Democratic national organization continues running the commercial, Sandlin says the television station should refuse to air it again.

“I have no problem with accurate hard hitting issue ads, but this new commercial that the DCCC apparently authorized in my district is simply unacceptable,” Sandlin said late Friday. “I pride myself on telling the truth and I expect everyone else to tell the truth, too. Unfortunately, this ad clearly doesn't’t live up to that standard."

Sandlin, however, didn't reserve his criticism exclusively for the DCCC. The Democrat who's been targeted for elimination on the new DeLay-inspired U.S. House map made it clear how unhappy he's been with ads that he says have been run by the Republican National Congressional Committee on Gohmert's behalf. The Democratic congressman says he's been offended by the Republicans' ads, which he assails as " distorted and misleading." One ad in particular likened Sandlin's credibility to CBS News anchor Dan Rather's when asserting that Sandlin had flip-flopped on tax cuts and only supported them when convenient for a campaign. Now Sandlin is suggesting that he doesn't want to be guilty of the same kind of political sins he's complained about since ads zinging him began airing.

Sandlin's harsh words about his own party's organization appear to be aimed primarily at independent voters and Republicans who cross over to back Democrats like himself in down-ballot races now and then. Republicans will likely question the Democratic incumbent's sincerity, saying that he's merely trying to demonstrate his independence with an attempt to distance his campaign from the national Democratic Party by attacking the ads that are critical of his opponent. Some Republicans will probably go as far as to accuse Sandlin and the DCCC of conspiring to give the incumbent an easy target to use to help showcase that independence.

Republicans in recent years made a concerted effort to tie Democrats in swing districts and more conservative areas to Democrats on the national level. And Texas Democrats at times have attempted to keep as much distance as possible from their national party. Two years ago, the state Democratic Party had invited several potential presidential candidates and some other national party leaders to speak at the state party convention in El Paso. But the state party rescinded the invitations after giving into pressure from its nominees for governor and lieutenant governor - Tony Sanchez and John Sharp. The statewide candidates didn't want to have to sacrifice the spotlight with major political celebrities but they also knew full well that they would be sitting ducks for liberal labels if they had to share the stage with high-profile national leaders.

Sandlin and several other targeted incumbents skipped the Democratic National Convention in Boston after announcing that they'd rather be campaigning in their home districts in Texas instead. U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, a Dallas Democrat and former House Democratic Caucus chair didn't make the trip to John Kerry's home state because he said he had to be in New Mexico to attend his daughter's wedding, which took place the week after the convention ended. Frost, Sandlin and the other targeted Democrats were all listed as official delegates to the national event like all other Democratic members of the Texas congressional delegation.

Sandlin has been winning in a district with a slight Republican tilt since his first election in 1996. But Republicans in the Legislature last year removed Democratic areas such as Texarkana from CD 1 while adding the GOP strongholds of Longview and Tyler to the district instead. Despite loading Sandlin's district with more Republicans, the GOP doesn't appear to have put the incumbent away with only two weeks left before the November 2 general election. A Sandlin poll this summer showed him with a slight lead a few months after a poll a few months earlier by Gohmert's campaign suggested that he had the edge.

Some Republicans are guardedly predicting a Gohmert victory at the polls next month, but other GOP members have expressed concerns that Sandlin is in position to pull off an upset in defiance of the redistricting effort at the Texas Capitol in 2003. Sandlin has raised $1.5 million for his uphill re-election bid while Gohmert is close behind at just under $1.4 million, according to reports filed Friday at the Federal Election Commission. Sandlin has about $150,000 more in the bank for the closing stretch than his Republican foe.