Texas: General Elections 2006

Well, its been just over a week since the two candidates held their first debate. Both had expressed their interest in discussing immigration issues:

Top issue: Immigration

Both candidates eagerly await the chance to discuss illegal immigration as Taylor tries to portray Edwards as “weak” on the issue, and Edwards attempts to trumpet what he calls more than a decade of “clear, consistent” support for “strong” immigration reform.

~ Waco Tribune-Herald 10/07/06

The issues actually discussed during the the debate: negative campaigning and unpaid taxes, of course. Leading up to and during the debate, Edwards repeatedly asked Taylor to pledge to show only positive ads for the remainder of the campaign. Taylor declined, and I’ll let him explain his reasons:

Taylor said that tactic would clearly benefit the incumbent, and refused, saying Edwards is acting like a “school-yard bully” with years of ordering others around.

Taylor’s campaign manager, Casey Phillips, likens Taylor’s stance to “when a little kid refuses to give up his lunch money and fights back.”

~ Waco Tribune-Herald 10/07/06

I guess there was an issue discussed during the debate then: Taylor is against school-yard bullies.

The next bombshell was dropped by Taylor when he claimed that Edwards was on the board of a seafood company that owed the state of Texas over $6000 in unpaid taxes. The company was started in 1979 by Chet’s brother, and went out of business back in 1985. Yes, that’s right, Taylor dug through 27 years of financial records to find this little tidbit. Now that’s dedication, or maybe its desperation. One of the two. Anyway, a few days later, a better explanation of what happened was offered by Edwards. When the company closed in 1985, his brother failed to properly close the business with respect to the government. As a result, it had been accumulating a $68 franchise tax plus interest each year. Furthermore, he stated that Taylor had grossly overstated the amount owed and that he in fact only owed a little over $2000. He also claimed that his brother would pay off the amount by the end of the week. Source:Waco Tribune-Herald 10/10/06

The candidates did accidentally slip up and cover a few real issues. Both claimed the other is weak on illegal immigration. Edwards attacked Taylor for not wanting to raise minimum wage. Taylor attacked Edwards for fighting against prayer in schools. To summarize their respective positions:

Edwards said he has fought to keep open the Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital, secured funding for businesses and parks throughout the district and will keep fighting for homeland security, Social Security and stopping illegal immigration.

Taylor said he represents the values of central Texans: lower taxes, less government spending, traditional families values, gun rights and being tough on illegal immigration. He urged voters to send the first Iraq war veteran to Congress.

~Waco Tribune-Herald 10/15/06

Taylor has also been receiving a steady stream of bad news in the general campaign. Democrats are reporting that Edwards has $1.1 million in cash on hand compared to Taylor’s $102,500. Also, in contrast to the last three years, the NRA has decided not to endorse either candidate. In the past it has supported the Republican challenger to Edwards.

The final blow to Taylor has been the publication of two polls. First, Edwards published parts of his own internal polling that gave him a 54% to 33% lead over Taylor. Taylor claims the poll is biased and that his internal polls show the gap to be much closer, yet he declined to release the actual numbers. Finally, an RT Strategies poll from October 10 gives a 55% to 38% lead to Edwards.

Things aren’t looking good for Taylor, and time is running out. There are more debates scheduled following the October 23 early voting.