Texas-1994 Elections

Texas THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON 4 October 1994 MEMORANDUM TO MELANNE VERVEER FROM HAROLD ICKES RE PHONE CONVERSATION WITH GARRY MAURO On 23 August 1994, I had a long conversation with Garry Mauro about Texas politics. He said the President is very unpopular. At the recent Democratic State Convention, only 1 elected official (Garry) mentioned the President's name. He said Hutchinson was leading the Senate race by 10-14 points and was the likely winner. He said Fisher does not have as strong a staff as Hutchinson. Richards: Although tight, he thinks Richards will probably win. The Republicans are running a highly partisan campaign. He thought the best thing that could be done for the President in the short term is for Lloyd Bentsen to arrange a trip to Texas with the President and HRC for a social/political event at Bentsen's ranch and introduce them to the Texas establishment. He said we need to get the Bentsen "machine" activated. The Hispanics are upset about the failure of the federal judge they have been pushing to qualify and how it was handled by DOJ. Apparently a telephone call was made at the wrong time by a lower level DOJ person.