Posted on 03/06/2004 4:34:30 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
AUSTIN — Democratic primary voters in congressional District 25 have a choice of voting for an Anglo outsider or a mudslinging pariah disdained by elected officials in her own county.
At least that's the impression being left by a spate of negative radio and TV ads, many in Spanish, hitting the airwaves in the Rio Grande Valley, where the outcome of this suddenly bitter race likely will be determined.
Days before Tuesday's election, former state District Judge Leticia Hinojosa of McAllen and five-term U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin were arguing over the accuracy of each other's ads, and even over what they contained.
The nasty tone may reflect either desperation or a closer-than-expected contest, one Valley political observer said.
"Either way, it does not reflect very well on you as a candidate, and it certainly does not inform the electorate, or turn out the vote," said University of Texas Pan American professor Jose Hinojosa, who is not related to Leticia Hinojosa.
"There is nothing subtle about Leticia's ads. They are clearly racist," added Samuel Freeman, another UT-Pan Am political science professor. "The thrust of her ads is the argument that Mexican Americans can only be represented by a Mexican American and that an Anglo should not even try. ...
"For her to deliberately tailor that kind of message is astounding."
In ads that began airing late this week, an old man questions whether Doggett lives in the newly created, overwhelmingly Hispanic district and how someone who doesn't speak Spanish expects to represent it.
District 25 snakes from East Austin 350 miles south to the Mexican border.
In the 60-second radio commercial and a 30-second TV version, Hinojosa questions "whether he will run in another district if there is a redistricting effort next election."
Doggett almost immediately fired back with ads that declare, "The people who know her the best have supported her the least — that's why every single Hidalgo County official who has endorsed in the race has endorsed me."
Doggett has said he is a resident of the newly configured district, which contains about one-third of the population that was in his old Austin district.
A Republican-dominated Legislature last year redrew the state's 32 congressional districts, targeting Doggett and five other Anglo Democratic U.S. House incumbents for extinction.
Doggett accused her of characterizing him as a rich Anglo.
"It's ironic that she's saying I'm a rich Anglo when she was relying on a small group of Anglo power brokers to crown her campaign," he said.
Hinojosa denied any racial or ill intent and said she was justified in "raising those issues because it is what voters are asking me about him."
Earlier, when told Doggett was claiming her ads portray him as a "white-wine liberal" who lives in a tony neighborhood outside the district, she replied, "Gosh, I knew he doesn't speak Spanish, but maybe he needs someone to translate what those ads really say."
This weekend, Hinojosa will release another Spanish-language ad that features endorsements from popular Tejano musicians Little Joe and Ruben Ramos.
------ggarcia@express-news.net
What are the odds, I wonder, of a professor saying that about a Democrat nominee running similar ads about a Republican? Hmmm? Hinojosa's attacking the annointed Democrat and all of a sudden racial politicking is condemnable.
Either the paper found a principled professor to suit their needs or the professor is as politically biased as the media.
The Chronicle also has a good article on the Republican primary candidates in the 8 districts that will elect new Republicans to Congress,
It looks like we might have a good crop of new Congressmen.
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