Cruz, Dewhurst see race differently
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News // Politics
Peggy Fikac
June 15, 2012 Updated: June 15, 2012 11:41 p.m.
1of3U.S. Senate Candidate Ted Cruz speaks during the Texas Republican Convention in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, June 9, 2012. Cruz and David Dewhurst are locked in a fierce fight for the Republican nomination to fill Texas' open U.S. Senate seat.APShow MoreShow Less
2of3Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and candidate for U.S. Senate pauses while speaking during the Texas Republican Convention in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, June 9, 2012. Dewhurst and Ted Cruz are locked in a fierce fight for the Republican nomination to fill Texas' open U.S. Senate seat.LM Otero/APShow MoreShow Less
KERRVILLE — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and tea party-backed Ted Cruz shook hands and came out fighting in speeches to a GOP women's club Friday, agreeing their race for the Republican nod for U.S. Senate is a referendum on who gets to pick Texas' next senator.
For Dewhurst, it's a battle between Texas voters and Washington special interests.
For Cruz, it's a fight between the grass roots and lobbyists on the government "gravy train."
The winner in the July 31 runoff will face one of two Democrats: Paul Sadler or Grady Yarbrough. A Democrat hasn't won statewide office in Texas since 1994.
The focus in Texas and nationally has been on the multimillion-dollar fight between Dewhurst and Cruz, the state's former solicitor general under Attorney General Greg Abbott, that's been consumed in a national narrative of the battle between traditional Republicans and insurgent conservatives.
The Hill Country battlefield opened cordially at the Republican Women of Kerr County luncheon Friday. Dewhurst walked over to Cruz to shake hands. In their speeches, each candidate portrayed himself as a fighter with far different backers in his corner.
"We've always had an independent streak here in Texas. We're ornery, we're tough and we've never been very good at taking orders from Washington," Dewhurst said. "And that's exactly what's at stake in this Republican runoff — a referendum on who selects your next United States senator — the Texas voters or Washington special interests."
Cruz, supported by national tea party and conservative intellectual groups and figures including ultraconservative U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin, gets the referendum part, but disagrees on the battle lines.
"I agree this is a referendum on who decides," he said. "If you want every lobbyist in Austin to decide, everyone who makes their living keeping the government gravy train going, or if you want this race decided by conservative grass-roots activists."
As he did at the Republican State Convention, Cruz got a more vocal and enthusiastic reception than Dewhurst, who nonetheless received a cordial welcome and applause.
Dewhurst, who's been knocked by Cruz for skipping forums, apologized for missing one in Kerrville last summer.
"You may remember Gov. Perry was crisscrossing the country, running for president," Dewhurst told the crowd. "I was acting governor every day, and I couldn't be here."
Cruz has portrayed Dewhurst as an establishment politician who doesn't have the fire to fight for conservative causes in Washington, touting his own work as solicitor general handling cases dear to conservatives' hearts.
Dewhurst has called himself the most-conservative-ever lieutenant governor on fiscal and social issues and insists he's a fighter.
Rachel Whitton, 84, of Kerrville lauded Dewhurst as "very dependable," someone with experience and military service.
"He has all these years in government. He knows how to act," she said.
Denise Dessaint-Ferguson, 57, who is retired from the Air Force and teaches biblically based classes on the Constitution, said Cruz is her choice.
"Ted Cruz represents the ethics and integrity and patriotism and God-fearingness that's important to me," she said. Dessaint-Ferguson described herself as a "Christocrat," meaning, "I vote for the man or woman that most represents the teachings of Christ." Intern writer Andrew Messamore contributed to this report.
pfikac@express-news.net
Twitter: @pfikac
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Peggy Fikac is Austin bureau chief and columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, delving into politics and policy in areas including the state budget, where the intersection of the two is compelling.
She covers Gov. Greg Abbott, who won the state's top seat after a nationally noticed campaign against Wendy Davis; dug into Ted Cruz's ascent to the U.S. Senate; covered George W. Bush as governor and during his races for president; and has bird-dogged Rick Perry's tenure as Texas' longest-serving governor, his White House ambitions and his indictment.
Peggy was bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle as well as the Express-News for more than five years when the two combined their Austin operations.
She previously worked for the Associated Press, where she covered the late Ann Richards during both of her campaigns for governor and specialized in public education and legislative coverage. Peggy also has been the correspondent for three Rio Grande Valley newspapers, starting as a senior at her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin.