Geraghty: Whatever Happened to Bill White?

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At NRO's Campaign Spot blog, Jim Geraghty has noticed that Bill White seems to have dropped off the radar screen:

Earlier this year, you heard a lot of buzz about former Houston mayor Bill White’s chances to beat Texas governor Rick Perry, a win that would undoubtedly invigorate Democrats and persuade them that they can win, with the right candidates, even in the reddest parts of the country.

Well, Jim, from our vantage point down here on the Brazos, we can assure you all that buzz was just the sound of the more liberal elements of the Texas media stuck on the spin cycle for their beloved Democrat Party. Geraghty quotes the liberal Houston Chronicle, which was engaged in some wishful thinking when it fantasized:

“The former Houston mayor arguably is the strongest gubernatorial candidate Democrats have nominated since Ann Richards in 1990.”

Geraghty checked the poll numbers and found that, except for a June PPP outlier, Gov. Rick Perry's lead has consistently been 10 points or more ahead of White since -- with some help from Sarah Palin in the form of an endorsement and a key campaign appearance in the Houston area at Cypress -- Perry convincingly defeated U.S. Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison for the GOP gubernatorial nomination:

So maybe this race won’t be so competitive after all.

It never was. Though the major newspapers in Texas all lean liberal in their editorial points of view, Texas is conservative country. And no matter how many Democrats dwell in the big state's big cities, they are outnumbered by conservatives in the rural areas and not-so-gigantic cities and smaller towns. And the Lone Star State state has a bunch of those smaller towns.

God bless Texas!

- JP