Democrat Richards Wins Bitter Contest With Williams : Texas: The governor’s race was the state’s longest, most expensive and perhaps most rancorous. GOP oilman’s verbal gaffes damaged his chances.

Democratic state Treasurer Ann Richards overcame huge odds Tuesday to win the governorship of Texas after a long, costly and bitter battle that focused attention on the Lone Star State as the ultimate example of negative campaigning.

For her opponent, Republican Clayton W. Williams Jr., it may have been a case of one too many missteps on the campaign. Last Friday, when the millionaire oilman confessed he had paid no taxes in 1986, Richards immediately pounced on the admission and used it as her last bit of ammunition to put her over the top.

With 80% of the vote counted, Richards had 52% to Williams 48%.

As the votes trickled in during the evening, it appeared that Democrats had a chance of pulling off a clean sweep of all the top Texas offices. With more than half the votes counted, a Republican was ahead in only one race, that of state treasurer, Richards’ old job.

Richards’ victory also gave Democrats a leg up in the redistricting process, a major achievement in this, the nation’s third-largest state.

Cheered on by hundreds of her supporters, Richards claimed victory late in the evening. Surrounded by her family, Richards vowed to change the face of Texas, from the governor’s office to the quality of education to the criminal justice system.

The people of Texas, she said, “want a governor who understands that Texas is made up of people who live from paycheck to paycheck,” a clear reference to Williams’ millions.

Williams, in his concession speech, congratulated Richards and also said, “the bad news is that we lost. The good news is that it’s not the end of the world.

“I’m sorry I let you down,” he told his campaign workers. “I did my best.”

The Texas governor’s race was the longest, the most expensive and, arguably, the most rancorous campaign in the state’s often volatile political history.

In all, Williams and Richards spent an estimated $45 million--a national record. The campaign was bitter from the start and remained that way right down to the wire.

At the outset, Williams, the West Texas oilman who won the Republican nomination largely on the strength of his slick ad campaign, held a double digit lead over Richards, whose image was tarnished during the down and dirty Democratic primary.

Williams’ lead remained large throughout the long summer of campaigning and into the fall, with Richards doggedly chasing the Republican, who spent $8 million of his own money in his quest for the governorship. But then, beginning in early October, the seemingly invincible Williams campaign began to fray at the edges, almost completely because of the Republican’s own verbal gaffes.

He had set the tone earlier by comparing rape to the weather: “you may as well sit back and enjoy it.” Then, in quick succession, came these events: When told of a Richards’ claim that she trailed by only five percentage points, Williams replied: “I hope she hasn’t started drinking again.” Richards is a recovering alcoholic who says she has not had a drink in 10 years. Then, at an event in which both candidates appeared in Dallas, Williams refused to shake Richards’ hand and accused her of being a liar.

In late October, while being interviewed on a Dallas television station, Williams confessed ignorance to a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot, even though he had already voted absentee. Finally, last Friday, the millionaire rancher disclosed that he had paid no taxes in 1986.