Pubdate: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX) Copyright: 2002 San Antonio Express-News Contact: http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384 Author: Peggy Fikac, Chief, Express-News Austin Bureau ERRORS IN STRATEGY BY SANCHEZ CITED AUSTIN - Tooling around his hometown of Laredo last year, months before he won the Democratic nod for governor, Tony Sanchez talked about the risks of the oil and gas business on which his family's fortune was built. "You go in to drill the well knowing - if it's a wildcat well - that the risks are very high," he said. "The potential is high, which is why you're taking the risk, but there is a very, very big chance that you're not going to be successful." The same turned out to be true for Sanchez's campaign against Gov. Rick Perry, an effort in which the Democrat spent tens of millions of dollars on the way to a dry hole in a stunning GOP statewide sweep. With the election in the rearview mirror, some say the well had a good chance of being dry from the beginning, given that Sanchez was challenging a GOP incumbent in a state where Republicans have the edge. However, some also saw strategic errors in the costly and futile effort. "We made some mistakes and had some tough hills to climb," said Sanchez campaign consultant Patrick Woodson. "We had the opportunity to run the perfect campaign. I just don't feel like we did." In a weird way, we started out the race in fourth gear and ended it in third, whereas Perry started the engine later and took it into fifth gear when he had to. "Among the difficulties and mistakes Woodson sees: The campaign should have sent out a more positive and forceful message this summer. Perry started earlier and ended later than expected with tough ads about alleged drug-money laundering at Sanchez's failed Laredo thrift. Advisers also think the Sanchez campaign should have had the candidate interact more and earlier with the media. "It was harder to get a message out with the limited exposure he was advised to have," Woodson said. "It was a fact of having a bunch of people with a bunch of different ideas. This really was a multiheaded monster, and different heads had influence at different times." But campaign manager Glenn Smith said he wouldn't change a thing about the operation, calling the team "very unified." "I don't think there were any mistakes," Smith said. "I think for a first-time candidate, he did unbelievably well. I can't think of what would be done differently." Sanchez, pondering the question before the election, could think of just one thing: "I should have had more education summits." He held one, which was blasted by Perry's camp as an admission of ignorance on what was to be a campaign cornerstone. The mark of the Sanchez-Perry race was its tough, early TV ads. Sanchez, who among other hits accused Perry of selling his official power for campaign donations, at times launched multiple ads simultaneously. "He got caught in negative campaigning and didn't focus on issues," said political science professor Andy Hernandez of St. Mary's University. "It was a strategic campaign error." Woodson said: "We had two critical tasks: driving his (Perry's) negatives up and creating a positive message. We were never able to drive his negatives up fast enough to allow us to come back and reintroduce Tony in a positive fashion. In hindsight, we probably would have been better off going positive in June or July to inoculate us against some of the negative stuff that was coming." In July, Perry focused on alleged drug money laundering in the mid-1980s at Sanchez's failed Tesoro Savings and Loan. His final thrust on the issue came shortly before Election Day, when he sought to tie Sanchez to Mexican drug traffickers who killed a U.S. drug agent. Sanchez called the ad "a terrible lie" and said reporters should have done more to put the issue in context. Thrift officials weren't charged with wrongdoing and weren't kept from heading other financial institutions. In emphasizing that he acted properly, Sanchez pointed to testimony from representatives of three federal agencies and to federal judges' rulings. But, he said, reporters didn't dig aggressively into the issue. "I don't think you all have given it the seriousness that it deserves," Sanchez said. "You've treated it as a ... political squabble, and I think that's wrong. I think that had you presented it in its proper fashion, in its truthfulness instead of some political antic by my opponent, people early on would have understood that there is absolutely nothing there." Hernandez said Sanchez seemed to count on his conservative businessman credentials to play well with white conservatives who tend to vote Republican. But he said Sanchez was cast in a different light after his primary battle with Dan Morales for the nomination, in which Sanchez's support for affirmative action was a top issue. "The first thing white voters hear about Tony Sanchez is affirmative action," Hernandez said. "He had to have a stronger message - not just to white voters, but to voters, period." Sanchez pounced on the issue of rising homeowners insurance rates, but Perry moved quickly on the same subject. Political science professor Jerry Polinard of the University of Texas-Pan American said that about two weeks before the election he opened a "beautiful flier" concerning home insurance, expecting it to be from Sanchez. But it was a Perry mailer. "That's an example of a very effectively managed campaign," Polinard said. "You take an issue that should put you on the defensive and actually use it against your opponent." Perry's campaign, seen as a disciplined operation, was quick on the draw throughout the race. Perry - who has earned a reputation as a tough and hard-working campaigner in all his statewide races - traveled extensively. He also had the benefit of campaigning as an incumbent and was generally easier to reach for a comment on a story than Sanchez was. "There was a whole school of thought within the campaign that it would be a smarter decision not to put him (Sanchez) out there more," Woodson said. "I think it's a decision that ended up hurting us." When reporters were allowed aboard his campaign bus and in other relatively informal interactions, Sanchez appeared comfortable, speaking easily with an engaging manner. He fielded questions about his proposals, offered details on the energy business, shared a story about the religious roots of South Texas and even danced a few steps in the aisle. Smith said Sanchez was available at campaign stops around the state and pointed out that no law required him to have news conferences in Austin, where newspapers maintain Capitol staffs that closely covered his campaign. "Y'all think that he was less accessible than he really was," Smith said. "He was a newcomer. He was learning a new skill. It took some time for him to learn that skill, as it would anybody. In the end, he didn't make the kind of mistakes that newcomers to politics sometimes make." However the Sanchez strategy is judged, Hernandez said outside circumstances - including the Enron scandal and the war on terror - worked against a businessman who was challenging a "professional politician." "When he decided to run, it seemed like all the stars were aligned," Hernandez said. "The cosmos changed." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth