December 16, 2005

Groundswell of Support Growing Daily
for Bill White Bid for Governor in 2006

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Houston Mayor Bill White's admirers are having a hard time taking no for an answer as the groundswell of support for a governor's race in 2006 continues to grow each day with the window of opportunity on the verge of closing amid a January 2 filing deadline for primary campaigns.

While White has said repeatedly that he's focused only on running Houston since winning re-election last month, the Democrat's supporters are holding out hopes that he'll run for governor next year based on the fact that he hasn't completely shut the door on a statewide campaign in 2006.

White, a lawyer who captured more than 90 percent of the vote in his bid for a second two-year term, is considered by many Texas Democrats to be their most viable potential contender not only for offices such as governor or U.S. senator but as a possible vice-presidential nominee on a national ticket as well.

The surge of support for a gubernatorial race next year is fueled by the theory that White would have a better chance to beat Republican Governor Rick Perry in the fall of 2006 than he'd have in a duel against U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison if she were to win her party's nomination for governor over potential contenders such as Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in 2010. Hutchison appeared to seriously consider a campaign for governor against Perry in next year's GOP primary before electing to seek another six-year term in the U.S. Senate. Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn, who will be up for re-election in 2008, reportedly has a watchful eye on White as a potential challenger for his post that year.

Perry's potential vulnerability isn't the only reason that some of White's supporters think he should make his move for statewide office next year instead of waiting until the governor's office is up for grabs again in 2010 or running for the U.S. Senate at the end of his new mayoral term in 2008. There are concerns that White's popularity is more likely to go down than up if he's forced to deal for four more years with the endless maze of costly problems that a city the size of Houston can expect to face in that amount of time.

A San Antonio native who chaired the Texas Democratic Party during the 1990s after a stint as deputy secretary of energy, White won the Houston mayor's job in 2003 by reaching out to white voters in the city's sprawling suburbs at the same time he mobilized support from African-American, Hispanic and other Democratic base supporters in the inner-city. The support that White received during his first race for mayor transcended party lines - and he built his administration during his first two years in office on a bipartisan approach. Some White supporters would like to see him move up before that popularity peaks.

Despite working alliances with Republicans at the city level, White's supporters believe he could beat former Congressman Chris Bell and ex-Texas Supreme Court Justice Bob Gammage in the 2006 Democratic primary election March 7. Bell and Gammage both represented Houston in the U.S. House. Bell, who's been running for governor for months, was a member of the Houston City Council before losing a race for mayor. Gammage, who filed for the governor's race on Thursday, was elected to the Texas House and Senate from districts in Houston in the 1970s before serving a term in Congress and eventually winning seats on the Third Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court.

White's supporters also see a race for governor in 2006 as a logical step toward a place on the national Democratic ticket in 2008. Some of the mayor's supporters think he'd make an ideal fit as a vp nominee from Texas with broad appeal on a ticket led by U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, who's widely perceived to be the frontrunner among Democrats in the White House race at this stage of the game.

While the most successful paths to the White House for modern-day presidents have gone through governors' offices, some of White's supporters believe he's already in a strong enough position to be considered for a national ticket on the strength of his record as mayor and his success in the fields of business and law.

Texas Republicans say that Democrats are mistaken if they think they have a winning shot at Perry in next year's general election. At the same time White's supporters envision him on a national ticket, Perry's name has been mentioned as a possible candidate for vice-president on the GOP ticket in 2008.

But the picture could get complicated and work to White's advantage if Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn shifts gears as some predict and runs for governor as an independent instead of as a challenger to Perry in the GOP primary competition. Strayhorn - a Republican for more than 20 years - would presumably draw more votes away from Perry than she would take from the Democratic nominee in a three-way general election battle for governor.

In his public statements since the re-election victory, White and his aides have suggested that he plans to stay on as mayor for at least two more years. White's campaign finance director, Herb Butrum, confirmed that the mayor has received extensive encouragement for a gubernatorial bid but feels that he still has work to do as mayor and is concentrating on that task. White spokesman Robert Michel echoed that sentiment, saying the mayor made a commitment to the voters of Houston and plans to keep it.

"It's not going to happen," Butrum said of a White campaign for governor in 2006 before adding that the mayor is "never saying never" to future possibilities.