August 16, 2006

Campaign Strategies Back in Vo Camp
for General Election Rematch with Heflin

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

According to the old adage, you shouldn't try to fix something if it's not broken. State Rep. Hubert Vo seems to agree.

One week after former Texas House member Talmadge Heflin unveiled a new campaign staff and consulting team for the fall rematch with Vo, the Houston Democrat who made history two years ago in his maiden political race revealed that he'd turned once again to the hometown firm known as Campaign Strategies for general consulting in this year's general election contest.

Vo put Campaign Strategies to work on his campaign two months before the 2004 election when few thought he had a chance - and he ended up winning the House District 149 seat by 33 votes in an election that was in dispute until after the Legislature convened in regular session early last year. Vo's belated victory gave him the distinction of being one of the first two Vietnamese-American state lawmakers in the nation - a monumental achievement for someone whose first job in the United States had been busing tables in a small town Texas restaurant after fleeing Saigon with his family three decades ago.

Campaign Strategies, which is led by Dan McClung and includes veteran Democratic consultant Robert Jara, served as the lead consulting firm in Alma Allen's victory over longtime Texas House member Ron Wilson in the Democratic primary two years ago. Campaign Strategies helped Houston businessman Borris Miles knock out veteran State Rep. Al Edwards in a primary election runoff this year - and the firm is hoping for similar success with client Ellen Cohen in her bid to unseat Republican State Rep. Martha Wong in a nearby west Houston district in the general election this fall.

While McClung's firm has advised a long list of Houston area clients, it's provided consulting services for contenders in other parts of the state as well such as State Rep. David Farabee of Wichita Falls and 2002 gubernatorial nominee Tony Sanchez. McClung was even called to Austin this summer to testify as an expert witness for Democrats in their bid to keep the state GOP from replacing former U.S. House member Tom DeLay on the November ballot in a Houston area congressional district. A federal judge in Austin ruled in the Democrats' favor in a decision that was upheld on appeal.

Few if any of Campaign Strategies' previous victories can match Vo's win over Heflin for political shock value and historical significance. Heflin at the time was second only to the House speaker in power in the chamber as the head of the Appropriations Committee - and he'd been winning re-elections for 20 years without serious opposition.

In addition to Campaign Strategies' return as the general consultant, Vo has Karen Loper back on board as campaign manager, the same post she held two years ago. Austin consultants Kelly Fero and Jeff Hewitt have been helping out as well.

Heflin's rematch campaign appeared to be languishing while raising a relatively small amount of money during the first half of the year after filing for the seat that Vo wrestled from him in 2004. But Heflin sent out a sign that he was prepared to mount a serious bid to reclaim his House seat when he announced last week that Court Koenning would be his general consultant on a team that includes Houston attorney Mike Schofield and real estate broker George Huntoon as the grassroots managers.

Koenning was Republican Dan Patrick's lead consultant this year when the radio talk show host left a field of well-known opponents in the dust en route to a primary victory with almost 70 percent of the vote in the race for the nomination for an open state Senate seat in northwest Houston. Koenning advised Schofield in the second round of the primary in a runoff bid that he lost to Jim Murphy in an open Houston state House race.

Campaign Strategies also lost its chance for a no-hitter this year while advising several candidates who came up short and several who won in this year's primary election as the main consultant for the trial lawyer political action committee called Texans for Insurance Reform.

The one thing that Heflin and Vo appear to have in common is a need to pick up the pace of their fundraising efforts in order to afford the top-level help they've hired for the rematch this fall. That might be less of a challenge for Vo, who has a substantial amount of personal money that he can tap if needed and the advantage of incumbency that he didn't have when running as a challenger two years ago. Vo ranked 77th among state House candidates in fundraising with a $16,000 cash balance while Heflin was 81st in contributions with only $6,000 in the bank at the end of June.