How did George Bush beat Ann Richards?

Perhaps a Texas resident could fill me in on the specifics. In politics it is highly unusal to unseat a popular and successful incumbent governor.

Once elected did dubya have any interest in actually caring out Republican policies on a statewide level or did he only view Texas as a stepping stone to the Presidency? Even if this a correct assumption it is widely known that old lady Bush always favored Jeb more so was the two governor strategy just a back up in case his brother failing?

Please discuss the role of media, Bush family elders, corporate interests and Carl Rove.

Only 29% of the eligible voters turned out to vote and Dubya swept into power...

wasn't right? I was living in Texas when Ann Richards was governor and I didn't know anyone who didn't like her. It seems impossible to me that only the freepers showed up to vote George Bush in in that election.

And it was 1994, so it wouldn't suprise me for a Repug to beat a Dem that year.

eom.

George Nethercutt beat Speaker of the House Tom Foley, and 37% of Nethercutt voters told exit pollers that Nethercutt would become Speaker upon beating Foley.

Sheesh.

He and Rove lied about the crime rate and how basically she was letting criminals out on the street. That was one of the reasons, there were many omitting facts and flat out assholery on the part of Bush. BTW she nicknamed him the Shrub.

Seems the gopher from Caddy Shack could have beaten * for Governor.

i voted in that election for ann & am still scratching my head over how that idiot won. i watched one debate that they had...ann was cleaning up the floor with him, answering the questions on point. his answer to EVERY QUESTION was "come see my new stadium in arlington."
:+

if i were the type of person to drink & do shots whenever a key phrase was said, i'd still be passed out!! :beer:

hopefully all this 9/11 & Iraq stuff is coming to a critical mass when even the most die-hard rats will have to flee the ship....
:nuke:

dg

I was totally blindsided by Ann getting beat.

She was very popular, things were great in Texas, and Bush was a nobody.

Now Babs Bush may have preferred Jeb, but Karl Rove had had his eye on GW Bush since 1980 and said early on he could make him President.

about her being a lesbian since she wasn't married? Can't remeber where I read that. Wouldn't suprise me considering what they did to McCain.

Notwithstanding the fact that she had been married for years and has several children.

One of her friends was Lily Tomlin, who is a feminist and liberal, and who was supposed to be a Lesbian.

So what? I have several close friends who are Lesbians. We are devoted to each other's happiness, success in the dog show ring and to just being good friends.

Doesn't make me a Lesbian, though. I'm awfully lucky to be in a loving marriage with a wonderful man.

I'm sure Rove did whatever he had to to beat Ann Richards that year.

I miss her to this day, and wish she were still in public life.

It's an older book, but chock full of stuff that shouldn't ever be forgotten.

wasn't the first election he stole. They figured, "We did it once, we can do it again."

and hinted she was a lesbian.

Same way he beat McCain in SC.

How can someone who IS an alcoholic smear someone who is not?

she's been sober for many years but it took her family and friends doing an intervention for her to clean up.

And, these smears failed to work when Richards opposed Williams in 1990. The 1990 campaign was the polar opposite of 1994. Williams (per the polls) was way ahead of Richards in the early going, but he refused to show her any respect (the famous incident was his refusal to shake her hand at the first gubernatorial debate). He acted like it was beneath him to discuss or debate issues with a "drunk and a dyke."

Texas voters punished Williams for his attitude on election day.

If Ann had only worked half as hard in 1994 as she did in 1990 GWB would have never made it to the Whitehouse.

with his comment of "if rape is inevitable, lay back and enjoy it." He was leading or even in the polls until that remark.

Ann Richards and her friend Molly Ivins enjoyed themselves immensely joking and wise-cracking about GWB's inadequacies. She assumed little Georgie didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of beating her (which was confirmed by all the early polls) and she failed to see any need to debate Bush on the issues. She turned-off many who had voted for her in 1990.

Most of the Republican leadership in Texas expected GWB to lose, but wanted him to head the ticket because they thought his family name would help with fund raising and get enough dyed-in-the-wool Republicans to turn out on election day to prevent a Democratic sweep of statewide offices.

Ann Richards = Clinton = Bad

:eyes:

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The hatrack is not to be uncovered as of yet.

NAME RECOGNITION WAS ALL IT TOOK FOR IDIOT TEXAS VOTERS.

1- A large segment of natural Dems (Hispanic) who don't vote, who are innured to being ignored and to being "used" cheaply.

2- An aggressive robber baron (White) class, that knows that money-talks-b.s.-walks. a.k.a., Good ol boys.

3- The B.F.E.E. surname, divested of Poppy's wimp image.

4- The Weak-Governor system, where "success" in the Governor is largely defined as p.r.

5- Redneck culture in #2 that detests "bleeding heart Libruls" and loves the hypocritical Blue Nose denial of common human urges and practices.

I heard her discuss this about a year before the election. She warned the Dems would have to watch out for this in 2000 because it was absentee ballots that allowed Bush* to beat her in Texas. She was interviewed on Larry King.

Stayed on his message, ignored Anne's attacks, and won with an efficient hard-working campaign and help from the national tidal wave that also knocked out Foley and Mario Cuomo in the same election night.

The debate was very similar to the Gore debates. Anne was on the attack, and Bush didn't swallow his tongue.