Where Conservatives Can’t Lose

It’s simple: Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr., the Democrat, is a conservative; George Bush, the Republican, is a conservative. The winner, therefore, will be . . . you guessed it. A conservative.

Simple. But not quite. For underneath the surface, things are not all that clearcut. They are, in fact, pretty well mixed up at the moment. The reason: the election falls during a crucial moment of transition in Texas politics. Times are changing in Texas. Old leaders are fading from the scene; new ones are on the rise. The rural and small-town Democrats who sent Tom Connally to Washington and Coke Stevenson to Austin now live in Dallas and Houston—and a startling number of them vote for John Tower. Few talk anymore of civil rights or labor bosses.

WM

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William Murchison

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It’s simple: Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr., the Democrat, is a conservative; George Bush, the Republican, is a conservative. The winner, therefore, will be . . . you guessed it. A conservative.

Simple. But not quite. For underneath the surface, things are not all that clearcut. They are, in fact, pretty well mixed up at the moment. The reason: the election falls during a crucial moment of transition in Texas politics. Times are changing in Texas. Old leaders are fading from the scene; new ones are on the rise. The rural and small-town Democrats who sent Tom Connally to Washington and Coke Stevenson to Austin now live in Dallas and Houston—and a startling number of them vote for John Tower. Few talk anymore of civil rights or labor bosses.