Post 615: It would have been an anti-Reagan contribution for the most part..
This was my response in 677 to 615: Texas at the time, like all southern states was a one-party system. Maybe her donation to Al Gore was more for business purposes than for political beliefs. That's how democrats operate, after all, donate to us or you are our enemy.
I don't know how Miers will turn out, but the "damning" evidence against her isn't that damning, IMO. Gore, at the time, was a pro-life Democrat. If the donation came when Dukakis had the nomination in the bag, it seems obvious that she wasn't trying to get Gore elected. Why is that an "anti-Reagan" donation? Gore was running against Bush's daddy, IIRC.
Gore would have run more strongly in Texas than Dukakis had, because he presented himself as a moderate Southerner, as Carter did in 1976. I would have to question Miers' party affiliation at that time. The support of Bentsen in 1988 would have been a means of opening doors to a powerful Democrat. His GOP opponent in 1988, Beau Boulter, was a conservative Republican who was very much an underdog.
No doubt some old-line Democrats like Phil Gramm have been solid conservatives after moving to the GOP. However, it appears that Miers is more a pragmatist than an ideological conservative.