If Tony is leading why did he double his spending?

No one else is running media ads but Tony Sanchez and apparently he has doubled his spending from $1 million per week to $2 million per week. Now anyone with a brain larger than a doodle bug knows that if you are leading, and have always been leading, then you don't need to increase your spending on ads if no one else is running any.

In 7 days were are all going to see that Tony Sanchez was never leading and it was just a bad dream turned into a nightmare. Tony is not trying to out run Dan Morales and his federal investigation, anti-affirmative action and ex-stripper wife. He is running to catch WorldPeace who has not spent a dime since the last reporting period and who hasn't made a telephone call or run an ad of any kind this year.

The press is frantic. The Sancheese lie is about to be exposed to the light of truth. Tony is a dud. He is a loser. He is a corrupt, short, draft dodger, lazy Republican whose personality is worth less than a bag of stale tortilla chips.

Tony can spend his entire fortune and he is still not going to be governor. In fact, if he buys the Primary, he is going to bring down all the other down ballot candidates. The guy is a political loser who hates mingling with the common folk and we all know it. You can't win an election with a bunch of slick Hollywood ads when you have pissed off every Democratic County chair in Texas by sending lackeys and apathetic children to speak for you.

I gave the numbers this morning. Tony will flame out of the Primary with less than 20% of the vote. He can't beat WorldPeace. He never could. It was the nonsensical ravings of lunatic minds that ever thought a corrupt little banker from Laredo could win anything north of the border towns of Texas.

In the end, WorldPeace.

John WorldPeace
The next governor of Texas
No more corruption. No more Monicas.
God Bless Texas

March 4, 2002

_____________________

Gubernatorial campaign heads toward breaking state record 
03/05/2002 

By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News 


AUSTIN – With a campaign spending spree unprecedented even by Lone Star standards, the governor's race is poised to become the most expensive political contest in Texas history. 

Democrat Tony Sanchez spent at a rate of more than $2 million a week in February – doubling his activity from the month before – in pursuit of his party's nomination. 

So far, the wealthy Laredo banker and oilman has shelled out nearly $19 million, a record-setting pace that analysts say could push total spending in the governor's contest above $75 million. 

His expenses – driven in large part by a massive TV ad blitz – have sparked charges from his rival, former Attorney General Dan Morales, that Mr. Sanchez is trying to buy the election. 

Mr. Sanchez has disputed that. He said his ads are needed to spread his message in what is his first run for office and to overcome Mr. Morales' high name identification with voters. 

The previous record in a governor's election was $50 million in 1990, which featured spirited primaries in both parties and a hard-fought battle between Democrat Ann Richards and Republican Clayton Williams. 

"We're seeing a new level of spending," said Garry Mauro, the 1998 Democratic nominee for governor who lost to George W. Bush. "It's a new level because of the size of the state and the fact of increasing concentration of voters in urban areas" where buying commercials is expensive. 

Dr. Bruce Buchanan, a government professor at the University of Texas, said Mr. Sanchez's willingness to dip so deeply into his own pocket assures that Republican Gov. Rick Perry will have to spend a sizable sum himself. 

"Rick Perry ought to thank his lucky stars he is a Republican. That means he can get at other deep pockets," Dr. Buchanan said. 

Funding costly campaign 


At the same time, Dr. Buchanan said, voters need to consider the consequences of such costly campaigns in which one candidate's personal spending may prompt another candidate to solicit huge sums from special interests simply to keep pace. 
"The people of Texas have to reflect whether that's acceptable to them, whether the governorship ought to be for sale in that way," he said. 

"Whatever are Mr. Sanchez's qualifications, the fact that he has pockets this deep raise questions about the democratic legitimacy of the process," he said. 

Financial reports filed Monday in Austin by the candidates are the last before the March 12 primary. They cover contributions and expenditures from Feb. 1 through Sunday. 

According to the filings: 

• Mr. Sanchez raised about $330,000 in contributions during the period. He added another $7.7 million in contributions and loans from himself. 

• Of the $19 million that Mr. Sanchez has spent so far, about $15 million is his own money. 

In contrast, Mr. Morales raised $111,000 last month and spent $433,000. Since he entered the race in January, Mr. Morales has spent about $560,000 in his bid to win the Democratic nomination. 

Despite being outspent, Mr. Morales predicted that his performance in Friday's gubernatorial debates in Dallas is attracting an increasing number of previously undecided voters. 

"I think Mr. Sanchez is hitting the money panic button," he said Monday. "We will continue to see these unprecedented amounts of dollars utilized in an attempt to purchase the office governor, but he will not succeed." 

Sanchez aides said that as a political newcomer their candidate has been forced to pay for expensive commercials to introduce himself and his agenda to voters. 

So far in the primary, he has spent more than either Ms. Richards or Mr. Bush spent in the entire 1994 matchup. 

Perry's war chest 


In January, Mr. Perry reported having $13.2 million in the bank. The Republican governor did not have to report Monday because he is not in a contested primary. 
The next deadline for all gubernatorial candidates to report is July 15. 

Much of Mr. Sanchez's money has financed a series of television commercials running statewide. And that is costly because Texas has some of the largest TV markets in the nation. 

Although the Texas contest is on pace to smash records, it probably will not surpass the country's most expensive statewide race in 1998 in California. 

In that contest, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and his opponents spent $118 million. 

Email wslater@dallasnews.com