"Davis falters in bid to make Democrats a force in Texas" by Karen Tumulty | Washington Post October 26, 2014
DALLAS — For Wendy Davis, the Democratic nominee for governor, success is looking all but out of reach. If there was a moment when she might have leveraged her national celebrity to break the Republicans’ 20-year lock on statewide office here, it appears to have passed.
Davis has proven a disappointment as a candidate, and Democrats lament privately that her campaign has been a mess.
The question that remains to be answered on Election Day is more about significance: How much will Davis’s candidacy have done, along with other Democratic efforts, toward making their party truly competitive in Texas?
Texas has 38 electoral votes — second only to California’s 55 — and putting it into play would change the balance of the nation’s politics.
‘‘It’s the question right now among people who are watching this stuff: Can the Democrats win by losing, and where is that line?’’ said James R. Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.
Recent public polls give Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the GOP nominee, a double-digit lead. The latest bad news came on Thursday, with a University of Texas/Texas Tribune survey that showed Abbott 16 points ahead of Davis.
Her campaign noted that it was conducted over the Internet — regarded as less reliable than surveying through traditional interviews — and maintained that their internal numbers show the race is closer. But the Texas Tribune results are in line with a recent random sample telephone survey sponsored by Houston Public Media and KHOU-TV.
Still?
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Davis was an obscure state senator before she rose to fame with an unsuccessful filibuster against antiabortion legislation in 2013. She has proven to be a leaden, polarizing figure at the top of the ticket, starting with an early stumble over questions about whether she had embellished her hard-scrabble biography.
Related: The Birth of the Perry Presidency
Also see:
Davis hits back over criticism of her life story
Stretching the truth in Texas
She.... lied?
Why didn't she abort the campaign?
More recently, she drew national attention — and criticism — when she ran an attack ad against Abbott that featured the image of an empty wheelchair. Her opponent is paralyzed as the result of an accident; her campaign said the spot was an effective means of drawing attention to what it says is his hypocrisy when it comes to the plight of other victims.
Some Democrats grouse that Davis has become a drag on other party candidates — including Van de Putte, a Hispanic lawmaker who is popular with the business community.
The Obummer effect!
Nonetheless, Davis has raised more than $30 million, a staggering amount of money for a Texas Democrat. Her star power was such that it brought in contributions from the likes of Barbra Streisand and Steven Spielberg.
OMG! No wonder she has cratered in Texas!
Abbott, however, retains a significant financial advantage, entering the final month of the campaign with about five times as much money on hand as Davis.
Davis also stands to benefit from the organizing efforts of Battleground Texas, a longer-term initiative that predates her campaign and that is sharing resources with it. The group was founded by Jeremy Bird, who directed the spectacularly successful field operation for President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
He lost Texas. Twice.
Together, the two endeavors claim to have built an army of 32,000 volunteers and deputized 8,600 voter registrars. In Houston’s Harris County, they say Democrats have more staff on the ground than the party counted in the entire state in 2010. They also have invested in state-of-the-art analytic tools and in updating voter files.
‘‘Wendy wants to leave something behind’’ after the campaign is over, said one Davis aide, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the campaign....
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At least she will have a sister with which to commiserate.
