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CNN Live Today

Sanchez is First Hispanic Governor Candidate in Texas History

Aired March 13, 2002 - 12:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Political news. Texas, the Lone Star State, has nominated its first Hispanic candidate for governor. Millionaire Tony Sanchez beat out another Hispanic in yesterday's rather contentious Democratic primary.

Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley tracking this from Washington. Now some insight on what's happening in the Lone Star State.

Candy, good afternoon.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.

A contentious is sort of just the half of it. This was a really bitter race in the Democratic primary, but there is a winner, Tony Sanchez, as you say. He's never run for office before. He's got a pot load of money. He's worth about $600 million. People figure he spent $20 million of it in this primary race, and you can expect him to spend at least that much on the general race. He's going to be running against Rick Perry who is the sitting governor. He took over when George Bush left to run for the presidency.

What's interesting, I think, about this race is, first of all, it will be very expensive, perhaps the most expensive governor's race in Texas history. And it also will pit two friends of George Bush against one another. The Democrat, Tony Sanchez, gave money to the Bush governor campaigns as well as to the Bush presidency, and of course Rick Perry was Bush's lieutenant governor before he left office. So no doubt that Bush will, of course, campaign for Perry. But Sanchez has been a friend. So that's an interesting race.

HEMMER: On the -- on the national scale, Candy, this race kind of crept up on a lot of us here. Why are politicians watching it so closely there in Texas?

CROWLEY: Well a couple of things. It has implications for 2004. That is, you know President Bush took Texas for granted, as well he should have, in the last time around. He's from there. Suppose a Democratic governor should get in, that changes things mightily. It would be a place where Republicans would have to spend money. But more than that, it's the demographics, as we say. Is Texas going to become another California?

California was very Republican and then the demographics began to change. It got increasingly Latino, increasingly Hispanic, and it became very Democratic. It's now solidly Democratic. Texas is, likewise, a huge influx of Hispanic-Americans. And that's why you see the Republicans and Democrats out there so assiduously courting Latinos and Hispanics because they are an increasingly powerful voting block and they could well change the politics in Texas which have been solidly Republican for a decade or so.

HEMMER: As you point out there, a harbinger, possibly, for the rest of the country as well.

Thank you, Candy.

Candy Crowley watching this from Texas, live in D.C. with us.

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