Dallas / Ft. Worth NORML

Top 2 Democratic governor hopefuls to debate
02/08/2010

By MICHAEL GRACZYK / Associated Press

The two top-financed Democrats hoping to regain the Texas governor's mansion after 16 years of GOP control looked to grab a chunk of the political limelight Monday evening when they meet for a televised debate.

The hour-long debate before a small TV studio audience in Fort Worth will give rookie Democratic candidate and hair care mogul Farouk Shami a chance to share equal billing with his more politically seasoned challenger Bill White, the former three-term Houston mayor.

The Texas Democratic gubernatorial primary has often taken a back seat to the more high-profile Republican slugfest between incumbent Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

White, 55, appears to be mainstream Democrats' choice after abandoning his original plan to run for U.S. Senate. White has picked up support from former and current Democratic politicians in Texas and collected some $750,000 in contributions last month, allowing him to amass a campaign fund of $6.4 million, according to filings with the Texas Ethics Commission.

Shami, meanwhile, has managed to attract less than $4,000 in January contributions but is fueling his campaign with $5 million of his own money, part of the $10 million of his fortune he's said he's budgeted for the campaign.

Thomas Myers, a political science professor at Baylor University, looked forward to "a fascinating debate" that should reveal more of Shami, 67.

"I have not seen or heard him but I've read his material," Myers said. "I'm not unimpressed with what he says, but he shows some political naivete.
"And I'm not convinced he's the most informed."

Shami, a Palestinian born outside Jerusalem, parlayed his development of chemical-friendly hair care products and a flat-iron hair straightening tool into a business worth tens of millions of dollars. He acknowledged he was "not a polished and packaged career politician with a cookie cutter campaign."

"I am a candidate for the people, not the special interests or the quid pro quo politics that disillusion voters," he said.

He promises an aggressive program of "jobs, jobs, jobs" in his campaign stumps and points to achievements in creating jobs in his own business ventures.

White, a lawyer, former U.S. deputy energy secretary and oil industry investor, has focused more on Perry than Shami in his campaign travels around Texas. He's said he hoped to use the debate to build on his pitches for cleaning Texas' air, improving education and easing partisan squabbling in Austin.

White, who grew up in San Antonio as the son of two teachers, has used education as a foundation of his campaign. He's critical of the state's poor high school graduation rates and rising college tuition.

"Hopefully they'll get to see the candidates who put their ideas forward about where we ought to go in Texas," White said.

Similar TV debates involving Perry and his GOP opponents, Hutchison and activist Debra Medina, have featured the candidates taking verbal shots at each other.

"The voters should penalize people in either party who spend as much time attacking the other person as they do talking about where our state should go," White said.

No Democrat has held the Texas governor's office since Ann Richards was bounced by George W. Bush in 1994 after a single four-year term. Republicans now hold all statewide elected offices and have crushed Democrats by huge margins since the late 1990s.

Five other candidates are on the Democratic ballot in the March 2 statewide primary but only White and Shami were invited to the debate by north Texas public broadcast station KERA, which hosted the event, and its media partners. The invitations were based on whether candidates could achieve at least 6 percent support in an established nonpartisan poll.