Texas Can Do It—but Didn’t

Two weeks before the election Dolph Briscoe, the Democratic candidate for governor of Texas predicted confidently that he would win 2 to 1 against Republican Hank Grover. The press failed even to question this sanguine estimate.

The Dallas Times Herald reported just two days before the election that “one of the most thorough studies of voting preference ever conducted” showed Grover with less than 20 per cent of the Dallas County vote. On October 31 the Republican chairman of Tarrant County (Ft. Worth) revealed that a poll they had taken showed Briscoe winning that county. No one gave Grover a chance. Texas media and national media were agreed on one thing: The governor’s race in Texas was no contest. Briscoe was a shoo-in.

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Philip Nicolaides

Two weeks before the election Dolph Briscoe, the Democratic candidate for governor of Texas predicted confidently that he would win 2 to 1 against Republican Hank Grover. The press failed even to question this sanguine estimate.

The Dallas Times Herald reported just two days before the election that “one of the most thorough studies of voting preference ever conducted” showed Grover with less than 20 per cent of the Dallas County vote. On October 31 the Republican chairman of Tarrant County (Ft. Worth) revealed that a poll they had taken showed Briscoe winning that county. No one gave Grover a chance. Texas media and national media were agreed on one thing: The governor’s race in Texas was no contest. Briscoe was a shoo-in.