Barbara Ann Radnofsky's opponent promised "I've always said that I would serve no more than two full terms. This may be my last term, or I could run for one more. But no more after that. I firmly believe in term limitations and I plan to adhere to that." This was in November of 1994 - 12 years ago. Kay Bailey has now served two full terms. Like an "aging prom queen", Kay Bailey Hutchison still believes she's just as popular as she ever was.
Barbara Ann's opponent also has some "wacky" ideas about immigration. According to Barbara Ann:
Each one of her immigration proposals is wacky... her proposal to ask everyone here illegally to "self deport" and wait at their home country for years waiting for the US President to certify our borders are "secure" before starting her crazy road to amnesty.
Even Michael Chertoff doesn't agree with Hutchison on immigration. According to Chertoff, "The cost of identifying all those people and sending them back would be stupendous. It would be billions and billions of dollars."
Another area where Kay Bailey has failed is her involvement in the Wright Amendment compromise forged by competing interests in Dallas Ft Worth. Barbara Ann:
It never occurred to the state's senior senator to try to resolve conflict and compromise, as she instead attacked anyone who voiced an interest she didn't wish to consider. The Ft. Worth Star Telegram ran an excellent article which gave more detail on the feelings in the DFW area over my her attack on the Justice Dept for raising antitrust concerns, as if her proposals were beyond antitrust scrutiny. All hope she learns the lesson and others can help her by laying the groundwork for her to assist her as she tries to produce rational legislative proposals, take into account competing interests, and build support and consensus to get the votes she needs. It's been laid out for her, now, with help from Texans, the community, the newspaper, the Justice Department and her colleagues.
Barbara is out campaigning, as always, but I'll be sticking around here to field any questions/comments. Thanks to Blackberry, wherever she is, Barbara is only an email away and she takes your questions seriously.
Andy