Just consider the following:
He's earning over $200,000 from his law firm without having had a billable hour in at least a year;
During his tenure as mayor, Kirk's wife sat on the board of one of Tom Hicks' companies (Hicks, Muse, venture capital firm; owner of Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars), and received over $500,000 in stock options, in addition to director's fees. Hicks got his money back, and much more when the new arena was ok'd (American Airlines Center) for downtown Dallas.
He spent his time as mayor focusing on big projects while totally neglecting basic services for Dallas. I cringe every time I have to go downtown, simply because of all of the potholes.
Ron Kirk is your typical trial lawyer who waxes eloquently about looking after the 'little guy', while wearing $1500 suits and riding around in limos. He's dangerous in that he's like John Edwards, but the Hispanic voters will likely sit on their hands in November.
My biggest worry is that John Cornyn, his opponent, will act more like Trent Lott than Phil Gramm.
Before or after he gets elected?