Posted on 09/07/2001 10:14:06 PM PDT by kattracks
LAREDO, Texas (AP) - Standing just footsteps from the Mexican border, Tony Sanchez tells hometown supporters that he wants to do what no Hispanic has ever done in Texas: become governor.
Alternating between Spanish and English, the millionaire businessman describes his Mexican heritage in Laredo, where he packed pineapples and melons as a child before making his fortune as an oilman and a banker.
"Like many of you, I was shaped by the sweat and toil of generations that came before me," says Sanchez, the first member of his family to go to college.
The largely Hispanic crowd of about 300, waving Texas flags and "Tony!" signs, is sold.
"Tony for governor and then for president," says Laredo resident Armandina Espino. "He's a very intelligent man. He has a very good heart and is for working people, for us."
Sanchez, a seventh-generation Texan making his first run for elective office, opened his campaign at the border on Tuesday and has been taking his message from town to town since then in his bid to make history in 2002.
Hispanics have been elected to other statewide offices in Texas, including attorney general. But electrifying Hispanic voters could help jump-start the Texas Democratic Party, which has been in a slump since it lost every statewide office in 1998.
Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of the state's 20.9 million people, going from 4.4 million in 1990 to 6.7 million in 2000, according to the Census Bureau.
Political analysts say Sanchez must inspire Hispanic voters while being careful not to push away other core Democratic groups like blacks, women and liberal whites.
Antonio Gonzalez, president of the nonpartisan William C. Velasquez Institute, said Sanchez could have tremendous across-the-board appeal.
"He's a longtime Democratic Party stalwart and he's also a gazillionaire and he's from the border," Gonzalez said. "He's a Texas Democrat, which means he's no big liberal, and that makes him viable to non-Latino voters."
Democrats are not the only ones taking note.
"No party or candidate should realistically expect to win many elections in the future without aggressively competing for the support of Hispanics today," said Susan Weddington, chairwoman of the Texas GOP.
Sanchez, 58, first must battle lawyers Marty Akins and John WorldPeace for the Democratic nomination.
The only GOP candidate is Gov. Rick Perry, who as lieutenant governor assumed the post when George W. Bush became president.
In Perry, the Democrats face a seasoned campaigner who has risen through the ranks of state politics.
"This election, in my judgment, is Perry's to lose," said Tucker Gibson, chairman of political science at Trinity University in San Antonio.
Perry has taken Spanish lessons, peppered some speeches with the language and made several trips to the Mexican border. As governor, he has appointed Hispanics to top posts, including the Texas Supreme Court bench.
Sanchez said he is unimpressed.
"The idea of Rick Perry studying Spanish for a couple of weeks in Mexico, I think it's a noble thing. I'm glad he did it," Sanchez said. "But it is not going to sway one single voter in Texas that he understands their problems. His deeds will speak much louder."
Sanchez has said he is concerned about the fairness of the death penalty and favors a limited government role in a woman's right to an abortion. As a member of the University of Texas Board of Regents, he supported affirmative action.
Sanchez said he is proud he could become the first Hispanic governor in Texas' 156-year history. But he added: "I am not running to be first in anything. I am running to make sure Texas is first in everything, because we deserve no less."
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