Democrats making last-minute push across state

By STEVE RAY / Harte-Hanks Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - High-profile Democrats are crisscrossing Texas in a last ditch effort to gain advantage for President Bill Clinton and Democratic congressional and legislative candidates.

Buoyed by results that show Clinton in a neck-and-neck battle with Republican Bob Dole in the state, four former Texas governors on Tuesday endorsed the president's reelection bid.

The governors are part of a Democratic strategy to blanket the state with well-known supporters in the final week of the presidential campaign in an effort to get out their voters.

That includes Texas appearances by the president, vice-president and first lady as well as Hispanic cabinet members and a descendant of the civil rights movement most famous hero.

"I am proud to support Bill Clinton because he has a record of opportunity, of giving people in this state the opportunity to make the most of themselves," said former Gov. Dolph Briscoe, a Uvalde rancher who served as governor from 1973 to 1979. "That is the kind of government Bill Clinton has given this state and this nation, and that is the kind of government the Republicans are trying to take away. We can't let that happen."

Republicans said Texans don't want Clinton's type of government, and they bristled with the knowledge Clinton would be campaigning Saturday at the Alamo in San Antonio.

"Every Texan will be offended at the sight of an admitted draft dodger speaking from a shrine where men of both Anglo and Hispanic descent died for freedom," said Lester Van Pelt III, a spokesman for the Texas Republican Party. "They won't take too kindly to that."

The latest Harte-Hanks Texas Poll showed Clinton and Dole in a deadheat for the support of Texans in the presidential race. Dole had 42 percent and Clinton 39 percent of Texas voters in the poll which had a three percent margin of error.

Dole visited Texas last week in an effort to shore up support among the party faithful but has relied mainly on support from GOP party officials like Gov. George W. Bush, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Texas Railroad Commissioner Barry Williamson.

Democrats have been rallying minority voters by sending state Hispanic officeholders on buses to get-out-the-vote rallies and bringing in celebrity surrogates like Martin Luther King III and Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena.

Also on the campaign trail for Texas Democrats are former Gov. Ann Richards, former House Speaker Jim Wright and former U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen.

Briscoe, in the middle of a 3-day, 14-stop campaign swing through Central Texas, was joined by former Gov. Mark White at an Austin press conference to announce their support.

Richards and former Gov. Preston Smith sent written endorsements of the President and the rest of the Texas Democratic ticket.

On Saturday, Briscoe and Texas Land Commissioner Garry Mauro are expected to make a campaign swing through West Texas including stops at Lubbock, San Angelo, Abilene and Wichita Falls.

Meanwhile Republicans were counting on support from the state's Republican elected officials to rally voters as well as massive direct mail and phone banks to get out the vote.

They also hoped polls showing U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm with a 22 percent lead over Democratic challenger Victor Morales would help Republicans down ballot.

"Democrats are making a big effort to increase the Hispanic turnout," Van Pelt said, "but Clinton's veto of the ban on partial birth abortion does not sit well with Hispanic Texans and we will do well in that group because of that issue."

The Texas Poll showed Clinton leading among minority Texans with 8 or every 10 black voters and 6 or every 10 Hispanic voters supporting the President. Dole had a wide lead among Anglo voters.

Republican Party chairman Tom Pauken said he was surprised that conservative Democrats like Briscoe and Smith would endorse Clinton whose "philosophy is so much at variance with their own."

And he said the Nov. 5 election hinged on who got their voters out to the polls.

"Both Democrats and Republicans are worried about turnout," Pauken said. "We have a lead in Texas right now but if they get their voters out and we don't, they can turn this thing around."