Neophyte Democrat Trails in Texas Runoff

High school civics teacher Victor Morales, a virtually unfunded neophyte who has been barnstorming Texas in a Nissan pickup, was narrowly trailing Tuesday in the runoff for the Democratic nomination to oppose Republican Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas.

Veteran Rep. John Bryant led Morales, 51% to 49%, with about a third of the vote counted.

Morales’ candidacy had gained national attention because of its improbable nature. And he had been hoping to continue his Cinderella story by winning the runoff and setting up one of the most unlikely David-and-Goliath showdowns of the 1996 political season: A genial, self-described “normal guy” versus Gramm, a well-funded, hard-nosed political veteran.

“The essence of my campaign is: I am who I am,” said Morales, 46, who sought to become the first minority in Texas to win a U.S. Senate nomination this century.

Spurned by the leadership of his own party and outspent nearly 100 to 1, Morales stunned the pundits and delighted much of the public when he topped the field with 36% of the vote in last month’s primary, forcing Tuesday’s runoff against Bryant, his own Dallas-area congressman.

Although Bryant’s seven reform-minded terms in Congress earned him the endorsements of major Democratic and Latino officials, Morales’ shoestring candidacy continued to resonate with an increasingly disenchanted, politically cynical electorate. The last major poll before the runoff showed he held a small lead over Bryant. But the poll also showed 25% of those surveyed were undecided.

While Democratic strategists kept their eyes on the Senate race, Republican officials were focused on another key Texas runoff in which Rep. Greg Laughlin was battling to hold onto his 14th Congressional District seat.

With 41% of precincts in the central Texas district reporting, Laughlin was trailing challenger Ron Paul, 52% to 48%

Laughlin, a longtime conservative Democrat who made a well-publicized switch to the Republican Party last year, had received the full backing of Republican leaders, including a rare endorsement last week by former President George Bush.

But other Republicans were not so polite, including Paul, a former congressman and 1988 Libertarian Party presidential nominee who forced a runoff last month by finishing a strong second to Laughlin.

Although voter turnout was exceptionally low--mainly because there were only two statewide races on the entire ballot--most of the congressional and legislative runoffs around Texas were in predominantly Latino districts. That was expected to benefit Morales, who also is believed to have received a boost from the last name he shares with Texas’ attorney general.

A small-town city councilman on leave from his $35,000-a-year job at Poteet High School in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, Morales presented himself as a simple--some might say simplistic--alternative to the traditional politician.

Rep. Jim Chapman, an East Texas Democrat who finished third in last month’s Senate primary, predicted that Morales would have the better shot of dethroning Gramm. “He not only has a Bambi-like innocence, but he also brings the mantle of being the first Hispanic with a real chance of becoming a U.S. senator,” Chapman said. “I think that gives him enormous appeal.”

But other Democratic leaders have their doubts about Morales’ ability to go head-to-head with Gramm, who has turned his full attention to retaining his Senate seat since his bid for the GOP presidential nomination sputtered to an unexpectedly early end in February.

State Sen. Carlos Truan of Corpus Christi, when asked how Morales would fare against Gramm responded: “Do you mean before he eats him up and spits him out?”