Morales says Perry is his pick - Perry & Sanchez debate in Houston tonight (10-9-2002) @ 7 p.m.

Associated Press ^ | October 9, 2002 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Morales says Perry is his pick

Democrat's endorsement crosses party lines

10/09/2002

Associated Press

HOUSTON - Former Democrat for governor Dan Morales snubbed his party's pick Tuesday and backed GOP Gov. Rick Perry, saying voters should ignore partisanship and choose the best candidate.

"After all, the challenges we face as a state demand the most experienced and most accomplished political leader Texas has to offer. That leader is Rick Perry," Mr. Morales said.

The endorsement came on the eve of the first debate between Mr. Perry and his Democratic challenger, Laredo businessman Tony Sanchez. They face off Wednesday night at Rice University in Houston.

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The Sanchez campaign brushed off the Morales endorsement, saying it won't help Mr. Perry.

"Dan is irrelevant to this race. He's been rejected by Texas voters. Texas families can't afford four more years of Rick's so-called leadership, which has left us with the highest homeowners insurance rates in the nation," said Sanchez spokesman Mark Sanders.

Mr. Morales, a former Texas attorney general, lost to Mr. Sanchez in the March primary. In a joint appearance with Mr. Morales, the governor said the endorsement "speaks volumes" about his ability to work across party lines.

"While we all don't share a common party," Mr. Perry said, "Texans are united in the effort to ensure educational opportunity for every child, to make health care affordable and available for all, and to continue to make our communities safer, and our neighborhoods more vibrant."

Debate tonight
The first debate between Republican Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic challenger Tony Sanchez is scheduled at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Rice University in Houston. Texas Cable News (TXCN, Cable Channel 38) will air the hourlong debate live.	Shows of support
A look at high-profile supporters Tuesday in Texas races: SENATE Actress Dixie Carter of Designing Women fame and George P. Bush, the president's nephew, headlined fund-raisers for Senate Republican candidate John Cornyn in Houston. ATTORNEY GENERAL Actor Chuck Norris, who starred in Walker, Texas Ranger, backed Republican Greg Abbott for attorney general at an anti-crime rally in Dallas. Baylor University president Robert Sloan and Herbert Reynolds, the president emeritus, issued a personal endorsement of Democrat Kirk Watson for attorney general.

The Democratic primary was combative, and Mr. Morales on Tuesday revived his accusations that Mr. Sanchez has tried to divide voters by race, ethnicity and language.

Mr. Morales also has taken aim at Texas Democratic Party leaders, saying they appear to be concentrating too heavily on generating Hispanic votes while overlooking whites.

Mr. Sanders, the Sanchez spokesman, dismissed the Morales comments as "the same tired distortions" rejected by voters in the primary.

Although Mr. Sanchez had indicated after the primary that he might meet with Mr. Morales about his role in his general election campaign, no meeting occurred, his campaign said.

Mr. Morales declined to say whether he will switch parties. And he said he didn't plan to get involved in other campaigns when asked whether he would endorse Republican John Cornyn or Democrat Ron Kirk in their race to replace retiring Sen. Phil Gramm.

Mr. Morales in June was appointed as an adviser to Mr. Perry's Anti-Crime Commission, fueling speculation he would support Mr. Perry. The two worked together in the Texas Legislature in the 1980s on anti-drug laws.

The Sanchez-Perry debate is scheduled at 7 p.m. Wednesday and sponsored by KHOU-TV and the Houston Chronicle. Texas Cable News (TXCN, Cable Channel 38) will air the hourlong debate live.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/tsw/stories/100902dntextxgov.112d8.html

[MeekOneGOP]

Governor Rick Perry (Left) & Tony Sanchez

[MeekOneGOP]

Perry & Sanchez debate in Houston
tonight (10-9-2002) @ 7 p.m.

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas ping list!. . .don't be shy.
No, you don't HAVE to be a Texan to get on this list!

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for fixing my title boo-boo!

[MeekOneGOP]

Here are the latest poll standings, fyi:

http://www.nbc5i.com/politics/1707582/detail.html

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US Senate"who do you think you would vote for if the election were held today?"

	State	North Texas	East Texas	South Texas	Central Texas	West Texas
Democrat Ron Kirk	30%	33%	28%	29%	33%	20%
Republican John Cornyn	56%	55%	57%	51%	55%	66%
Undecided	14%	12%	14%	20%	12%	14%

	State	Male	Female	White	Hisp	Afri-Amer
Democrat Ron Kirk	29%	26%	33%	24%	43%	77%
Republican John Cornyn	56%	61%	51%	63%	30%	9%
Undecided	15%	12%	16%	13%	26%	14%

Rick Perry enjoys a comfortable lead in his race against Tony Sanchez, Jr. according to our poll of 600 likely voters throughout the state of Texas.

Nearly half of all likely voters think both campaigns are using "unfair" campaign ads.

The poll was conducted from Sept. 30 through Oct. 6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1%.

Governor , "who do you think you would vote for if the election were held today?"

	State	North Texas	East Texas	South Texas	Central Texas	West Texas
Democrat Tony Sanchez, Jr.	29%	31%	28%	32%	26%	15%
Republican Rick Perry	56%	52%	59%	50%	56%	70%
Undecided	15%	16%	13%	18%	18%	12%

	State	Male	Female	White	Hisp	Afri-Amer
Democrat Tony Sanchez, Jr.	29%	26%	31%	24%	43%	70%
Republican Rick Perry	56%	60%	51%	63%	32%	12%
Undecided	15%	13%	17%	12%	26%	19%

[IVote2]

I LOVE these statistics! Thanks! Morales endorsing Perry is good news to me. VERY interesting development.

Funny thing, I had some young guy come to the door, conducting a poll. It was obvious after a few questions that he was a Sanchez worker.

I told him that in the beginning I rather liked the Sanchez ads, and that while I probably wouldn't have voted for him, I liked what he had to say. However as the campaign developed, I couldn't stand them. He was not the friendly old grandfather type that he seemed to be at first glance but revealed himself to be a mean, petty, dirty little politician, the type we don't need.

Jen

[deport]

The following is a listing of TXCN cable channels across the State where the debate can be seen......

City	Ch.	Cable System
Arlington	38	AT&T
Austin	324	Time Warner digital tier
Beaumont	58	Time Warner
Bridge City	58	Time Warner
Brownsville	52	Time Warner
Cleburne	38	Charter
Columbus	67	Coming soon to Time Warner
Coppell	38	AT&T
Corpus Christi	74	Time Warner
Cotulla	47	Time Warner
Dallas	38	AT&T
Del Rio	28	Time Warner
Dilley	47	Time Warner
Duncanville	38	Charter
El Paso	17	Time Warner
Fort Worth	38	Charter
Garland	38	AT&T
Gonzales	37	Time Warner
Graham	53	AT&T
Grand Prairie	38	AT&T
Grapevine	38	AT&T and Charter
Highland Park	38	Charter
Houston	230	Time Warner digital tier
Irving	38	AT&T
Kennedale	38	Charter
Kerrville	45	Time Warner
Killeen	74	Time Warner
Laredo	28	Time Warner
Lewisville	38	AT&T
Mansfield	38	Charter
McAllen	39	Time Warner
Nederland	58	Time Warner
Orange	58	Time Warner
Pearsall	47	Time Warner
Pharr	39	Time Warner
Plano	38	AT&T
Port Arthur	58	Time Warner
Port Neches	58	Time Warner
Rio Grande Valley: Alton, Mission, Hidalgo, Lagrulla, Rio Grande City, Roma, & Sullivan City	39	Time Warner.
San Antonio	232	Time Warner digital tier
The Colony	38	AT&T
University Park	38	Charter
Uvalde	14	Time Warner
Waco	74	Time Warner
Weatherford	38	Charter
Weslaco	39	Time Warner
Wichita Falls	58	Time Warner

http://www.txcn.com/txcn/

[MeekOneGOP]

Thank you sir !!

[jimt]

With that endorsement I might vote for Sanchez.

Morales is well know in Texas as a crook who gifted his buddies to the tune of billions in the tobacco lawsuit deal. Endorsing Perry makes me worry. I knew Perry was no conservative, but hmmmmm.....

[MeekOneGOP]

I'll watch the debate tonight at 7, but I can't think of anything either one could say
to make me change my vote to Sanchez.

[Dog Gone]

This will also be aired on KHOU Channel 11 (CBS) in Houston. I guess that means that they will have at least one of their dippy reporters asking questions.

[deport]

Yep Jerome Gray of KHOU got the first question of the debate

[Miss Marple]

What was the question?

[deport]

lol.... I don't remember now, but most so far have dealt with the Insurance problems and affirmative action.... We/ve had a major upset in our insurance industry and have lost most all underwriters for physicans, etc

[deport]

Well what did you think? It appears that Perry got the best of it by far but then I'm biased at best. I think he hung some of the things around Sanchez's neck like the $150 million dollar loss his S/L cost the tax payers and his mangament was identified as a major factor... Also his ties to the insurance industry, etc. I doubt many people were swayed one way or the other as I really doubt many were watching other than political junkies.

[Dog Gone]

Perry smoked him. Sanchez stuck to a theme of attacking Perry on campaign contributions and the insurance problem. Perry more than handled the insurance problem, and then he stuck Sanchez with his banking problems, big time.

This one wasn't even close. It's possible, even probable, that nobody watched in Texas, which is fine. Perry is going to coast to victory. Nothing in this debate changed that.