Mike Cochran's Upcoming Biography of Clayton Williams Jr.

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“[Clayton Williams Jr] went into the general election campaign [for Texas governor in 1990] with a 20 point lead over Ann Richards. Then, the professional handlers took over. Volunteer advisers were pushed aside by the highly paid, politically hired guns.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Mr Pauken may be right to blame Clayton Williams' loss on his professional handlers, but he's too easy on Mr Williams himself. That camping trip allowed voters to get to know Mr Williams and they didn't like what they saw. Hiding that may have been better for the campaign, but is that what's important? And not shaking hands with Ann Richards was both mean-spirited and a campaign blunder, but Mr Williams went along with his handlers' bad advice. What does that say about him?

By the way, if the election really turned on such personality traits, it's a sad statement about American democracy. What does it take to get issues to be the center of campaigns instead of whether the voters would like to go on a camping trip with the candidate?