Bell's revival

The Chron has a nice article (front page, even) on the recent rise of the Chris Bell campaign, which has had its share of tough times along the way. How bad did it get?

Democratic leaders and financial donors dodged his calls. The news media cast him as an underfunded also-ran. By his own admission, Bell was almost ready to give up in late June. [friend and political adviser Jeff] Steen said the fight to keep hope alive was bitter.

" 'Disappointing' might be the wrong adjective. 'Discouraging' might be a better one," Steen said.

Then a psychological turn occurred.

The July campaign finance reports showed Bell keeping up with independent Kinky Friedman. Polls had him running about even with Friedman and independent Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, while incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry was vulnerable. Libertarian James Werner trailed badly.

Then Bell made an impressive showing in the only gubernatorial debate of the fall, followed by a $1 million campaign donation from Houston trial lawyer John O'Quinn with a promise of more. Bell's campaign got a new burst of life with television advertising that moved beyond cable.

The improbable suddenly seemed possible.

"If I win this race for governor, you're going to have a lot of people saying, 'Damn, I wish I'd gotten in,' " Bell said.

The Bell campaign has done some things that I disagreed with. I still think they didn't take the threat of progressives falling for Kinky Friedman seriously enough. But I'll tell you what, I respect the hell out of him for running this race when nobody else wanted to (up till Bob Gammage's late entry into the primary) and when a lot of people who should have known better looked to the Strayhorn campaign for a sign of hope. (For the same reason, I respect Barbara Radnofsky, who unsurprisingly didn't get the Chron endorsement but at least got a request to run for something else (*cough* *cough* CD07 if Jim Henley loses *cough* *cough*) in the future, because you know that there would have been a lot more entrants into this race had KBH decided she wanted to move back to Austin. Only BAR had the guts to run regardless.) Let's just say that my memory will be long on this one, no matter what happens.

Bell's opponent in the [2002] Democratic primary [for the 25th Congressional District seat being abandoned by U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen], former Houston City Councilman Carroll Robinson, had nothing but praise for his former colleague.

"He's a hard-working and determined guy who focuses on innovative solutions to problems," Robinson said. "He's well-suited to be governor."

But Republican Tom Reiser, whom Bell defeated in what local observers called Houston's nastiest race of 2002, was less magnanimous.

"Chris is what he is. He is pretty much willing to say or do anything to get a job as a politician," Reiser said. "I can't remember Chris saying anything of weight or importance."

Poor baby. Nobody remembers a thing you ever said or did, either, Tom. Thanks for playing.

Bell's tenure in Congress was short-lived. DeLay pushed a redistricting plan through the Legislature that left Bell unable to win the Democratic nomination for his own district. Bell said he did not expect to lose to Al Green.

"We never realized we were swimming uphill, and it was a complete total gut punch," Bell said.

I can't say that Al Green is my favorite Congressman, but he's been solid for Chris in the Governor's race, and that goes a long way. He seems to be the guy who introduces Chris at events they both attend, or at least he's done it at the events I've also attended.

One of his last major acts as a congressman was to file the ethics complaint that led to a public reprimand of DeLay for unethical behavior.

It started a series of events that resulted in DeLay leaving Congress, and it made Bell a hero with Democrats.

"I always thought that was about building his profile in the party," Blakemore said. "He made a lot of friends by doing that."

DeLay declined to comment for this story.

Just as well, since I doubt he'd have had anything more insightful to say than Tom Reiser. Was he in Virginia or Sugar Land when you reached him, RG? Enquiring minds want to know.

Anyway. Good story, nice background on Bell, and a little hope for the final stage of the race. About all one could ask for, really.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 24, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack