McCaul, Streusand finally square off (Texas CD 10)

Candidates for new congressional district focus on their Republican credentials.

HOUSTON -- Face to face for the first time since the primary, GOP congressional candidates Ben Streusand and Michael

McCaul stayed in tune with a runoff campaign that has devolved into an issue-free contest based on questioning each other's Republican credentials.

After several previously scheduled debates fell through when Streusand didn't show up, and after some last-minute negotiations needed to get McCaul to show up Tuesday, the two candidates sparred at an evening event organized by several Houston-area Republican clubs.

Streusand and McCaul will face off in an April 13 runoff that will decide who will represent the new 10th Congressional District, which stretches from Austin to suburban Houston.

No Democrat sought the seat, and, to date, no third-party or independent candidates have qualified for the November general election ballot.

The evening featured a four-question Q-and-A that showed little difference on the issues as the candidates, businessman Streusand and former federal prosecutor McCaul, tried to make the case that they had the most valuable experience.

Both offered bedrock Republican values, promising to defend the nation's borders, get government out of the way of business, cut federal spending and work to ban abortion.

The event started with opening-statement thrust and parry, with McCaul getting the ball rolling.

"I am getting kind of bloody, I must say, recently," McCaul said, blaming Streusand for a campaign that has "spiraled into one of the most negative, nasty campaigns the state of Texas has ever seen."

"The truth will prevail at the end of the day," McCaul said. "Good will prevail over evil, and it's time for this negative campaign to stop."

"I am as committed as he is to running a clean campaign, and I want you to know that despite the expressions of righteous indignation on his part and despite the feeling that I don't feel like I've been treated fairly, I hope tonight we can talk about the issues," Streusand said.

What followed was 45 minutes of questions and answers that showed little difference between the candidates on the issues. McCaul touted his experience as an anti-terrorism official in the U.S. attorney's office.

Streusand, a mortgage banker, seemed unimpressed with McCaul's government service.

"Who do you want to give your checkbook to?" he asked voters in his closing statement. "Do you want to give it to somebody who has been in private enterprise his entire life, or do you want to give it to somebody who has worked for state and federal government his entire life?"

McCaul closed by challenging Streusand to stop running ads that erroneously say McCaul failed to sign an anti-tax hike promise.

Previous efforts to stage debates after the March 9 primary fell through when Streusand backed out of events in Houston and Brenham. His campaign cited a scheduling conflict when he missed a previous Houston event and dissatisfaction with event organizers when he skipped the Brenham debate.

The Brenham event had been organized by McCaul's Washington County chairman, who also is the head of a GOP club in that county.

Until Tuesday afternoon, McCaul was unsure whether he would attend the event because of concerns about moderator Debbie Riddle, a state representative and Streusand supporter. After several hours of negotiations, McCaul decided to show up.

Streusand, who has put more than $2.3 million of his own money into what has become the nation's most expensive congressional race, is running television spots tying McCaul to Democrats, a link that could be fatal in this heavily Republican district.

McCaul has been forced to spend much of his time and some of his money ($1 million so far) responding and reminding GOP voters that Streusand, who has given more than $500,000 to Republican candidates and causes, made contributions to two Democrats, former U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen and former U.S. Sen. Bob Krueger.

Streusand's commercials note that McCaul worked in the Justice Department under President Clinton. The spot does not mention that McCaul was a nonpolitical appointee who began at the agency when the first President Bush, who is endorsing him, was in office.

Thanks for the post. I had an SD17 committee meeting and couldn't be there. Hope to make the Katy forum:

District 10 Runoff Candidate Forum

Sponsored by Katy Area Chamber of Commerce, the Katy Area Republicans and the Waller County Republican Party.

March 30, 2004 7:00 PM

The Club at Falcon Point
24503 Falcon Point Dr; Katy, TX 77494 (directions)

The recent election resulted in a run-off for the newly created Congressional District 10. The candidates in this run-off are Michael McCaul and Ben Streusand. Both of these gentlemen have agreed to join us on Tuesday, March 30th for a Candidate's Forum. The run-off election will be April 13th. This election is of great importance to our community and we encourage you to join us.

Note current endorsements from candidate web sites:

McCaul

Streusand

Senator John Cornyn
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
State Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson
State Representative Jack Stick
State Representative Todd Baxter
State Representative Corbin Van Arsdale
State Representative Terry Keel
Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal
Harris County Attorney Mike Stafford
Gerald Daugherty, Commissioner Travis County Precinct 3
Bob Vann, Constable, Travis County Precinct 2
Ron Hickman, Constable, Harris County Precinct 4
Dave Phillips, former candidate, U.S. Congress, CD10
Mayor Hap Harrington, City of Tomball
Texas Farm Bureau
Texas Homeschool Coalition
Young Conservatives of Texas
Dr. Joe Pojman
Executive Director, Alliance for Life
United Republicans of Harris County
Austin Police Association
Justice for All
Kaye T. Goolsby, VP-Legislation, Texas Federation of Republican Women
College Republicans
Carol Hanle, Past President Austin Republican Women
Dr. Charles Graham, Owner Southwest Stallion Station
Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (C.L.E.A.T.)
Texas Cattle Feeders Association
Independent Bankers Association
Texas Association of Mortgage Brokers (federal and state associations)
Sportsman and Animal Owners Voting Alliance

Cathie Adams - Texas Eagle Forum
Davida Stike, Scott Gilmore and Jack Selman - Board Members, Texas Alliance for Life
Peggy M. Venable, Director, Americans for Prosperity
Grover Norquist - President, Americans for Tax Reform
Gary Bauer - President, American Values
State Representative Ray Allen
Deany Meinke - Daughters of Liberty Exec. Board

I am a volunteer McCaul supporter. More later ...

Yes, it's possible Streusand is just a rich scam artist but I don't think he is and I'm willing to take that chance over another Bush rubber stamp. Otherwise, we get more Rick Perrys, more Rove RINOs.

THANK YOU! That is exactly what this race comes down to. Neither guy in it is a saint and both flunk the GOP Purity test, but McCaul has one additional item of baggage that Streusand doesn't: the RINO Rick Perry John Cornyn Karl Rove stamp.

Though I was never happy with the field of candidates in this race from the very get go, I will readily admit that I wasn't very opposed to McCaul at first. About a month or two ago I was even urging people to back him on the Texas forum, albeit reluctantly, as the least bad of the frontrunners (I personally backed Elliott because he was the most conservative). The more I've learned about McCaul though the less I've liked him, and now I am firmly convinced that Streusand is the lesser evil.

Perhaps the biggest personality issue I've had with McCaul is the fact that he is so damn whiny. True, the Johnny Devine attack mailers were anonymous and they were a cheap shot since nobody with Devine's camp put their names to them but that is how Devine has always campaigned - he's sleazy and does sleazy tricks like that. But does that mean the content of those mailers was false? No. Does that mean Mike McCaul is justified in whining like a little baby about being "unfairly attacked"? Hate to break it to him but he's in the wrong business if he thinks so. This is politics and he had every reason in the world to know his record would be scrutinized and attacked. His "poor me" act is an increasingly sorry show and that is the last kind of person I would pick to go up against the Dems. If he thinks it's tough now he'll be lunchmeat for the Dems when he gets to the floor of congress. Heck, he's still in the REPUBLICAN primary and he's already snivelling about how mean everyone is being to him!

McCaul's "honorable" and "sacrificing" record as a "public servant" is also turning into a tired act. The bottom line is that he's a career bureaucrat. He worked for the government for most of his adult life and that's it. There is nothing special about being a bureaucrat that somehow makes them more honorable than the private sector. He didn't work any harder than you or I, and he doesn't deserved to be honored for simply working any more than you or I do. For the record, I'll even admit to holding positions at various times in previous years in which I was an employee of more than one level of government. I certainly don't run around telling people that I "sacrificed" my resources for "service" on their behalf. I don't run around demanding that people should respect me more than they otherwise would since I was a "public servant." So why does Mike McCaul? Why should anybody "honor" him for the jobs he's held as a government employee any more than they should "honor" me or anyone else who has ever held a job in a political position? And especially so, why should they honor him more for making a permanent career out of Uncle Sam rather than those of us who have also worked in other jobs that weren't taxpayer funded? There is no intrinsic honor or gift of service in being a bureaucrat and Mike McCaul is arrogant to presume that there is.

That is essentially how I feel right now about his candidacy. When he entered the race I was open to hearing him out and I was open to letting him make his case as to why conservatives should support him. After three months all I've seen is a nonstop flow of "poor me" combined with a campaign message that boils down to little more than this: "support me (1) because I am a career government employee, (2) because I also agree with all the other candidates on all the issues, and (3) because Rick Perry, John Cornyn and a bunch of other people like them are supporting me too." I do not find a single aspect of that message appealing and unfortunately he hasn't conveyed anything beyond it to earn my support.

IMHO McCaul's list, though longer, is the worse of the two. Virtually all of Streusand's endorsements are solid conservatives while a third to half of McCaul's are not. In particular, I am actually disinclined to support the guy by the endorsements of:

Cornyn (pro-illegals RINO)
Stick (sleazy)
Van Arsdale (sleazy)
Tommy Thomas (Alan Blakemore crony who pulled strings to get his unqualified kid appointed judge in Harris County by Governor RINO Rick)
Chuck Rosenthal (incompetant redneck DA who blew the sodomy case argument before the SCOTUS and embarrassed the entire state of Texas by looking like an ignorant fool during questioning, also a Blakemore crony)
United Republicans of Harris County (the pro-abortion moderate big tent PAC for Harris County)
Justice for All (sleazy and corrupt organization run by gun control advocate Dianne Clements)
College Republicans (As far as I know, Texas College Republicans is not allowed to make endorsements in primaries. This was the case when I was a CR chapter president and I don't believe it's changed since then - so McCaul may be claiming that endorsement illegitimately)

Streusand: Not running negative campaign

By ARTHUR HAHN/Managing Editor Tuesday, March 23, 2004 1:24 PM CST

Ben Streusand rejects claims of his U.S. House runoff opponent that he is conducting a "negative campaign."

Streusand was here Monday for a campaign stop, first meeting with a handful of supporters at the courthouse and then hosting a dinner at a local restaurant.

He is locked in a runoff with Mike McCaul for the U.S. House District 10 seat, an election that is shaping up as the most expensive House race in the country.

Streusand and McCaul have spent more than $2.6 million on the race, most of it their own money.

Streusand said McCaul has questioned his "Republican credentials."

"I'll gladly put my Republican credentials against his any day of the week," said Streusand, who pointed out that he has long been involved in the GOP, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for party candidates that have included President Bush.

Streusand, who runs a Houston mortgage company, has pumped more than $1.3 million of his own money into his campaign, according to the latest campaign finance reports filed in February.

McCaul has put at least $650,000 into his own campaign.

Streusand has spent more of his own money on his campaign than any other congressional candidate in the nation and McCaul ranks third, according to the campaign finance disclosures.

Streusand said it is necessary to spend large amounts of money because of the size of the district, which stretches from Travis County to Harris County.

"There is no general election (Democrats didn't field a candidate), so most of the money is going to be spent on the primary," he said. "Plus, the district has two of the most expensive media markets in the country in Houston and Austin."

Streusand said McCaul has campaigned "virtually in one county," his home Travis County.

Streusand received 28 percent of the vote to McCaul's 24 percent, but since neither got more than 50 percent, they were forced into a runoff that will be held April 13.

Streusand announced Monday that he has picked up the endorsement of the third-place finisher in the primary, Judge John Devine. Devine got 21 percent of the votes.

Devine, who was with Streusand on his campaign stops here, said McCaul is "a government lawyer, for crying out loud."

McCaul is a former federal prosecutor who resigned last year to run for office.

Devine said he decided to back Streusand because of his business experience.

"He's had to manage budgets. He's created jobs," said Devine.

Devine said he met with both Streusand and McCaul and "evaluated their positions on key issues."

"I strongly believe Ben will be a representative for the entire district," he said.

'L' Word in Air in Expensive Texas Republican Race
Wed Mar 24, 2004 02:29 PM ET

By Jeff Franks
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The most expensive House primary race so far this year has degenerated into a mud-slinging battle between two conservative Republicans accusing each other of being a closet liberal.

More than $2.6 million has been spent in a race that is now a runoff between Houston mortgage banker Ben Streusand and Austin lawyer Mike McCaul to win the Republican nomination for the remapped 10th Congressional district that stretches 150 miles from Austin to Houston.

Both are running on a staunchly conservative platform -- anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, pro-gun, pro-tax cuts and backing President Bush in all things -- to appeal to the suburbanites and small town residents who make up most of the district's voters.

The stakes are high because the victor in the April 13 vote has no Democratic opponent in the November election.

Streusand, with 28 percent of the vote, and McCaul, with 24 percent, were the top two finishers out of eight candidates in the March 9 primary.

Since neither won a majority, they were forced into a runoff and ever since have been linking each other to some of the Democrats that Republicans most love to hate.

Streusand, said one McCaul television commercial, once gave money to a "liberal Democrat" senatorial candidate "to help Ted Kennedy control the U.S. Senate."

Former federal prosecutor McCaul, a Streusand TV ad said, "worked for Bill Clinton and Janet Reno for six years, and Reno picked McCaul to defend her actions at Waco."

Brandishing the "L" word in Republican primaries is a popular ploy because the party faithful demand adherence to their brand of conservatism, so creating doubt about an opponent's fealty can be effective, said University of Texas government professor Bruce Buchanan.

"They are polarized in opposition to Democrats in a way that makes any association with the other side the kiss of death," he said. "It's that kind of climate."

The 10th Congressional district was held by Democrats for decades -- Lyndon Johnson was its representative in the days of the New Deal -- but got changed into a Republican stronghold in a controversial redistricting last year.

With a push from U.S. House Republican Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land, Texas, the state legislature redrew the Texas congressional map to favor the election of more Republicans.
Democratic incumbent Lloyd Doggett chose to run in another district, where he won his party's nomination in the primary.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the $2.6 million spent in the race is the most for any House seat so far in this election season. Spending is high, experts say, because candidates must buy television time in two large markets -- Austin and Houston.

Campaign finance records show Streusand, who is a multimillionaire, spent about half of the $2.6 million total and has outspent McCaul by almost two-to-one.

But McCaul has been endorsed by key Texas Republicans such as Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison.

TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL RACE
MOST COSTLY IN NATION

HOUSTON (AP) - The District 10 congressional race is shaping up as the most expensive House race in the country, with Republican rivals Ben Streusand and Michael McCaul footing most of the bill.

Together, the competitive pair have spent $2.6 million so far and both plan to raise more money as they head into an April 13 runoff. The election is key because there is no Democratic contender in the district stretching from Austin to Houston, so the winner takes the seat.

"It is a family fight," said Bob Stein, dean of the school of social sciences at Rice University. "One of the consequences of redistricting is it is making it increasingly expensive to run for office."

Last year, the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature redrew the boundaries for congressional voting districts in the state to give Republicans a better chance at taking control of the state's delegation, split 16-16 between the parties.

The old District 10 seat was held by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat who decided to run in the new 25th District, which extends from Austin to the Mexican border. District 10 became an open seat with a 64 percent Republican voting history.

District 10 also spans two sizable media markets, Austin and Houston, making it expensive for rookie candidates like Streusand and McCaul to get their name known through TV ads.

"By making these districts so geographically large ... you have made it an expensive district to run in," Stein said. "It has always taken money to run for office."

Streusand, who runs a Houston mortgage company, has pumped more than $1.3 million of his own money into his campaign, according to the latest campaign finance reports filed in February. He has raised about $55,000 from a handful of attorneys, bankers and executives, including $1,000 from Robert Lanham, a vice president with roadbuilding giant Williams Brothers Construction Co.

McCaul has put at least $650,000 into his own campaign and raised more than $260,000 from individuals such as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's brother, Randolph DeLay; Thomas Hicks, chairman Southwest Sports Group, the company that owns the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars; Ken Leonard, president of Ignite! Learning, a company founded by presidential brother Neil Bush; Erle Nye, chairman of the board of TXU Corp.; and Houston Astros' owner Drayton McLane.

Streusand has spend more of his own money on his campaign than any other congressional candidate in the nation and McCaul ranks third, according to the campaign finance disclosures.

The District 5 race in North Carolina, where candidates have spent $2.4 million, ranks second when it comes to expenses so far this year. Both Republicans and Democrats see the seat as a key win, said Kerry Haynie, a political science professor at Duke University.

"Candidates who can raise a lot of money or have access to a lot of money have a huge advantage," Wise said. "The vast majority of the time, and for House races it is 9 out of 10 times that, the candidate who spends the most money, wins."

McCaul is a former federal prosecutor who resigned last year to run for office. His father-in-law, Lowry Mays, is chief executive officer of San-Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications and heads Texas A&M University's board of regents. He plans a fund-raiser for McCaul on March 31 at a private Houston home where former President George H.W. Bush is the guest of honor.

"No one is more respected than George and Barbara Bush in the Republican Party," McCaul spokesman Ted Delisi said Thursday. "We are doing our best to compete with Streusand's bottomless pit."

Streusand spokesman Marc Cowart said the March 9 primary indicated that voters aren't "going to be told who to vote for by the Washington establishment."

Streusand received 28 percent of the vote to McCaul's 24 percent, but since neither got more than 50 percent, they were forced into a runoff election.

The candidates have a way to go to beat the record for the most expensive House race in history. That happened in 2000 when California Democrat Adam Schiff raised $4.7 million to pull-off an upset of Republican incumbent James Rogan, who brought in $6.9 million but was jeopardized by his role as a prosecutor in former President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial, said Steven Wise of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C.

The last three posts are various articles about the race that turned up on a Google News search. The first is from the Brenham Banner Press which seems to be more interested in this race than either the Statesman or the Houston Chronicle. The second is from Reuters. The third is from the AP. They are posted for informational purposes, not as a way to endorse either candidate.

While my mind is about 80% made up on this issue, I accept that others can disagree. It really depends on what you want from your state representative and, even as FReepers, we can disagree as to what is most important.

I'd like to see more news reports but this race just doesn't seem to generate much interest in the liberal media. I found that out on election night when KLBJ's coverage ignored the race altogether and focused on Lloyd Doggett's race in the Valley.

Both campaigns are engaging in distortions to paint the other as "not conservative enough" or "not Republican enough". I reject the charges on both sides. What I keep looking at is what each candidate brings to the table if elected. What it all boils down to me is whether you want a conservative that's part of the Bush/Rove/Perry machine or whether you want one who isn't. Reasonable people can see differently about this so I have no complaint with those who back the other candidate.

My point is that an informed voter is a better voter.

Streusand, who runs a Houston mortgage company, has pumped more than $1.3 million of his own money into his campaign, according to the latest campaign finance reports filed in February. He has raised about $55,000 from a handful of attorneys, bankers and executives, including $1,000 from Robert Lanham, a vice president with roadbuilding giant Williams Brothers Construction Co.

McCaul has put at least $650,000 into his own campaign and raised more than $260,000 from individuals such as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's brother, Randolph DeLay; Thomas Hicks, chairman Southwest Sports Group, the company that owns the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars; Ken Leonard, president of Ignite! Learning, a company founded by presidential brother Neil Bush; Erle Nye, chairman of the board of TXU Corp.; and Houston Astros' owner Drayton McLane.

Who has support from individual donors? Who has support of only "a handful of attorneys"?

I find it interesting that Streusand has outspent McCaul 2 to 1 and is still struggling to keep ahead. Someone's message is resonating with voters even though it has not had as much airtime.

So basically, GOPCap, to summarize your MANY posts on this subject, every elected Republican in the state of Texas, from local office on up,(with the exception of the sainted, anti-defense Ron Paul) is either sleazy or RINO?

No, just those mentioned.

As you know, I agree with you on a few of them, but I'm left wondering what your attachment to the Republican party is if you consider all our leaders to be RINO's.

My attachment is as an NFRAer/RLCer type Republican who wants to make the party more conservative from the inside. The primary is exactly the place to do that so I happily use it to oppose the non-conservative party "leaders" and their hand picked candidates of choice (of which McCaul is a prime example if there ever was one).

And sometimes, it means voting for someone who doesn't gratuitously pander to you because he has the experience and integrity to achieve realistic policy objectives.

That's a valid point and it's also one of the reasons I oppose McCaul (and I'm no Streusand fan either for that matter, though given the present knowledge he is slightly less bad than McCaul IMHO). I know he has a realistic policy objective and I know he has the experience in government to help bring about that objective. It's the objective itself that I find so offensive as that objective entails growing the government. That objective entails the wholly undesirable Perry/Cornyn/Rove-style model of "big government conservatism" and its correlaries in amnesty light and medicare. As for integrity, McCaul's "undocumented workers" freudian slip is a dead giveaway that he does not share the same position on illegal immigrants that we do. Some people may think that's fine and some may be willing to accept him on the grounds that he stands with us on other things but I consider immigration to be a core and central issue - one that I expect my candidates to take a hard line on with very little room for exception.

March 26, 2004, 10:22PM

Duel for 10th District waged on ties to Dems
By JOHN WILLIAMS
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Political Writer
There has been more discussion about Democratic politicians than Republican issues in the GOP runoff between Ben Streusand and Mike McCaul for the 10th Congressional District.

Streusand has run ads tying McCaul to Democrats Bill Clinton and Janet Reno.

McCaul has countered with an ad noting that Streusand contributed campaign money to Democrats Bob Krueger and Ken Bentsen. And Streusand didn't vote for President Bush in the 2000 Republican primary, McCaul says.

The spate of Democrat-baiting has both candidates crying foul, each accusing the other of starting mudslinging that forced him to respond in kind.

"I am deeply disappointed that he has chosen to go completely negative," McCaul said. "He's not even running on his record. The voters are tired of this type of campaigning, and I think they will see it for what it is, a distortion of my career."

Streusand said, "He has attacked my Republican credentials. As a result, I attacked his."

"I assumed it was part of running a Republican primary," he said. "So, I don't have the same amount of self-righteous indignation as he has shown."

Streusand and McCaul will meet in the April 13 GOP primary runoff for the newly drawn congressional district that stretches from Houston to Austin. The winner will head to the U.S. House next year because Democrats did not field a candidate in the district, crafted last year to elect a Republican.

In what has become the nation's most expensive congressional race, Streusand took 28 percent of the vote and McCaul took 24 percent to eliminate six other candidates in the first round on March 9.

As of Feb. 18, the most recent campaign finance report date, Streusand had contributed more of his own money than any other congressional candidate -- $1.34 million, or 96 percent of the $1.4 million he had raised. McCaul was the nation's third-biggest personal spender at $647,000, or 70 percent of the $929,000 he had raised.

McCaul has accused Streusand of using his financial lead to spread lies about him in an attempt to buy the election.

In the campaign ads, Streusand links McCaul to former President Clinton and his attorney general, Reno, because McCaul worked in the U.S. attorney's office while Reno ran the U.S. Justice Department. In addition, Streusand says, McCaul did not make political contributions to Republican Sen. John Cornyn's 2002 senatorial race. Cornyn has endorsed McCaul.

McCaul said the allegations are "ridiculous."

McCaul was hired as an assistant U.S. attorney during the administration of former President Bush, who is supporting him. He served throughout the Clinton administration and during the current Bush administration until October, when he stepped down to run for office.

On Wednesday, former President Bush will attend a McCaul fund-raiser being hosted by McCaul's father-in-law, Lowry Mays, the chief executive officer of San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications and head of Texas A&M University's board of regents.

"My opponent is trying to twist and spin the truth to make voters believe I am something I am not," McCaul said.

Streusand campaign manager Marc Cowart said the ads are factually accurate.

"Obviously, he's twisting the truth and spinning the truth to make voters believe one thing," Cowart said. "We have a different perspective."

McCaul has attacked Streusand, noting that he gave campaign contributions to Democrats Krueger and Bentsen in their unsuccessful bids for U.S. Senate.

Streusand, a Houston mortgage banker, said that while he has given to selected Democrats, he has given more than $100,000 to Republicans, including President Bush in 2000.

He said he didn't vote in the 2000 GOP primary because it was obvious Bush was going to win. He said he supported Bush in the general election over Democrat Al Gore.

"My contributions to Republicans are extremely well known," Streusand said. "Mr. McCaul wants to distort that."

Even as both candidates are trying to link their opponents to Democrats, they are trying to tie themselves to Republicans.

McCaul leads in endorsements from public officials, including former President Bush, Cornyn, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas and Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal.

Streusand has the support of prominent social conservatives, including Cathy Adams of the Texas Eagle Forum and Gary Bauer, president of American Values.

Streusand has picked up the endorsement of the third-place candidate, former state District Judge John Devine. McCaul has been endorsed by the fourth-place finisher, lawyer Dave Phillips.

Besides trying to get an edge based on such associations, each candidate is taking shots at the other's record.

One Streusand commercial complains that McCaul did not push for a long-enough sentence against Johnny Chung when McCaul was a federal prosecutor.

Chung pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to Democrats, including the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1996, and for tax evasion as part of an influence-peddling scheme involving the Chinese government.

"This Chinese agent illegally funneled $30,000 to Clinton's campaign," Streusand's ad says. "McCaul got him off with just five years' probation."

McCaul said that as a federal prosecutor, he helped uncover the operation linking Chinese officials with the Clinton White House, getting help from Chung as part of a plea bargain.

"If it weren't for a Republican prosecutor, me, we never would have known about this," McCaul said.

McCaul launched a mail-out Wednesday criticizing Streusand for recently moving into the district. It shows photos of two babies and notes they have lived there longer than Streusand.

Both campaigns are engaging in distortions to paint the other as "not conservative enough" or "not Republican enough". I reject the charges on both sides.

That's the thing that some people who are backing horses in this race do not seem to understand. In a "Republican Purity" test neither candidate is ever gonna come out on top. Campaigning on the opponent's lack of purity, which both are apparently doing, only makes them both look like flaming hypocrites.

Streusand's position in this race has been compared to that of Peter Wareing a few years ago and I'll readily admit that the similarities are many. Wareing was a millionaire who bankrolled his own campaigns. Streusand is a millionaire bankrolling his own campaign. Wareing had a history of giving money to candidates on both sides including some particularly nasty democrats. Streusand has given money to both sides including some of those same democrats.

A key difference in the campaign dynamics distinguishes this year's District 10 race from the past ones in Districts 7 and 31 though: the runoff opponent. Both times that Wareing ran posed him against candidates with generally unimpeachable Republican Purity credentials, Culberson and Carter. I think the most that ever came up against either of them was that Culberson had voted in a single Democrat primary as a teenager in the late 60's or early 70's. Beyond that, there was simply no comparison - Wareing's GOP purity credentials were severely deficient when compared to both of his opponents. Not so in Streusand-McCaul where McCaul has his own baggage in this area called the Clinton Administration. That doesn't negate Streusand's comparable baggage but it does mean that (a) neither of them will ever win a GOP purity contest against each other and (b) the absence of a substantial advantage for either candidate in that category renders it relatively useless as a determinant in this particular vote unlike with Carter and Culberson.

Turning next to track records, we find that Wareing - the millionaire businessman - ran against two candidates with proven conservative records in elected office. The first was a conservative state rep who had one of the strongest voting records in the legislature. The other was a law-and-order type judge with a hard line conservative reputation on the bench. Both had stood before the voters before and both had met with approval from demonstrably conservative constituencies. Not so with McCaul though. His opponent is still a millionaire businessman, but he lacks the record that both Carter and Culberson had before him. Instead, his claim to fame is being an appointed "public servant" (read: career bureaucrat) and his reputation as a "conservative," if it can even be called that, is nothing more than the fact that he hung around John Cornyn, a politician of comparably suspect conservative credentials.

Third, when Wareing ran he did so as a self-financed candidate against two others who drew the majority of their funding from individual contributions that they raised. Streusand, the comparable millionare candidate in this race, is still self financed. But McCaul is no impoverished GOP footsoldier himself by comparison. Unlike either Carter or Culberson, McCaul has been able to finance his campaign with well in excess of the six figure mark out of his own pockets. True, he's raised more in private donations though they seem to derive from sources that are not substantially advantageous to Streusand's (i.e. McCaul is backed by his own share of sports team owners and downtown businessmen).

My point in all this? Virtually everything that made Wareing so bad in relation to his opponents in the previous two campaigns is of little comparitive value in this one because the millionaire candidate's opponent in this one has virtually none of the substantial advantages that either Carter or Culberson had as candidates versus the other millionaire. At face value, McCaul has the exact same problems as Streusand (i.e. lack of GOP purity). At his best, McCaul has very mediocre advantages over Streusand's problems (i.e. he's bankrolling the majority of his own campaign too, only he hasn't spent quite as much). And at his worst, McCaul actually has some disadvantages to Streusand (i.e. his career in the federal bureaucracy, his suspicious position on immigration, and his extremely close relationship to Cornyn and Perry).

Ethically? Well, that could change pending the answer to how Streusand got Steve Hotze's backing. Speculation that he may have bought it leads to a strike against him, but I want a substantive answer before making that determination.

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