Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 12, 1993 TAG: 9305120360
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Cal Thomas
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Hutchison, who surprised many by finishing first in a field of 22 candidates in last week's runoff, will face Democrat Bob Krueger, Gov. Ann Richards' handpicked successor to Lloyd Bentsen, now secretary of the Treasury. Krueger opposed Clinton's "economic stimulus" package and hardly mentioned the President's name during the campaign, while Hutchison repeatedly listed Clinton's broken promises and unsound economic policies.
The key to this race lies in what the social conservatives decide to do. Many pro-life, pro-family voters supported Republican Rep. Jack Fields of Houston and Joe Barton of Ennis. They can now refuse to vote for Hutchison because she is "pro-choice" on abortion (but moderately so - she favors parental consent laws and restrictions on abortion after viability, except in the rare instance when the mother's life is threatened), or they can engage in principled pragmatism and vote for Hutchison.
This isn't an election for church deacon. It's politics. They should unite behind her and secure her victory.
This is precisely the course of action followed by social and religious conservatives in Georgia last November. They coalesced around Republican Paul Coverdell, another pro-choice moderate, and helped defeat super-liberal Wyche Fowler. In practicing principled pragmatism, they ensured that Coverdell's door would be open to them.
Jack Fields is setting a good example. He announced his support for Hutchison after her victory and, although he has unpaid bills from his own campaign, he told me he is sending her a $1,000 check this weekend.
The election of Hutchison would also break the Democratic Party's near monopoly on women senators (the national press often ignores Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.) because she is not as fashionably liberal as the Democratic women). Hutchison is as tough as Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Carol Moseley-Braun, Patty Murray and Barbara Mikulski, but she has an engaging Texas charm and Southwestern courtly manners the others may lack. Her message is that not all women think alike.
She favors term limits of no more than two for senators and a maximum of four two-year terms for House members. She supports a balanced-budget constitutional amendment and invokes the old Ronald Reagan mantra that is catching on again with Republicans. Like Reagan, Hutchison says, "We have a deficit not because we're taxed too little, but because government spends too much."
She opposes additional federal involvement in public schools (a glaring difference from most Democrats who are in the pocket of the National Education Association lobby), preferring control and oversight by local officials and parents. And she opposes dropping the ban on homosexuals in the military, one of the two hot-button social issues (the other being abortion).
The Texas Senate race could significantly influence next year's all-important congressional contests. If Hutchison beats Krueger in the June 5 runoff, she could help revitalize the Republican Party and generate significant momentum for additional GOP victories. This could return the Senate to majority Republican control for the first time since 1986. Clinton would effectively become a lame duck two years before the end of his term.
By supporting and working to elect Kay Bailey Hutchison, principled pragmatists will have influence with the new senator, and they will be saying to the Republican Party and the nation: "Getting someone close to our views is better than nothing at all. We're not sitting on the sidelines, waiting for someone to pass a litmus test, someone who might not be electable."
This attitude will put them in a much stronger position for the 1996 presidential race.
(c) 1993, Los Angeles Times Syndicate
by CNB