Strayhorn Makes A Move That Will Cost Her Support

Everyone can remember those moments when candidates have either gaffed or made certain moves and statements that turned good campaigns down losing roads and caused mediocre campaigns to be run into the ground.

For Gary Hart, it was lying to the media about hanky-panky with women who were not his wife…for Clayton Williams, it was saying that “rape is like a fog,” and that women should just sit back and enjoy it…for Edwin Muskie, it was when a snowflake got into his eye and he seemed to cry while defending his wife during his 1972 presidential campaign.

For Carole Keeton Strayhorn, this moment will standout:

At a news conference on the front lawn of a campaign headquarters she calls Grandma’s House, Strayhorn said she intends to file suit sometime this week in state District Court to have Williams’ ruling struck down. When asked if she might be wasting the court’s time, Strayhorn said it was Williams who is cluttering the docket.

“I’m not tying up the court. It’s the secretary of state who incorrectly interpreted the law,” Strayhorn said. “Grandma is a not a slogan. Grandma is who I am.”

Notwithstanding the fact that Roy Minton is probably not relishing the day when he’ll have to stand up before a state district judge and argue that his client should be able to have her name on the ballot as “Grandma,” this is simply the dumbest and worst thing to happen to the Strayhorn campaign.

And, although I disagree with Strayhorn in most instances and believe she is a political opportunist to the maximum degree, no one who has spent any time in politics can say that—at one time—her campaign did not show some promise of being at least moderately successful.

However, months of stupid stunts, statements and feuds coupled with the two paragraphs above—which detail a pattern of behavior more at home in the campaign for president of the Hudspeth County Quilting Club than in a race for governor—have caused me to believe ‘Comptroller Cartman’s’ campaign has ‘jumped the shark.’

That’s good news and that’s bad news, but I’ll get to that in a minute. First, I want to talk about the “grandma” situation.

I wish there was actually video of this press conference online somewhere, because you can bet we’ll be seeing it in a political ad come October. If I were a political consultant, I can think of nothing better than putting some of the above exchange in a 30 second television spot.

Why? Because it makes Strayhorn sound like she has no sense whatsoever.

I’ve bashed Strayhorn time and time again—but I won’t deny that the woman is smart and can be politically ruthless and cut-throat when needed. We’ve seen her attack Perry for years and—let’s be honest—she looked at least reasonably competent doing so.

Now, she’s like a myna bird cross bred with a suicidal Norway Lemming. What is wrong with this woman? Did someone forget to make her take her meds or what?

You might think that sounds harsh. But, it’s not. Anyone who would take this aspect of their campaign to the extreme that she is taking this “grandma” thing is clearly in bad shape.

I mean, let’s consider a couple of things. Strayhorn’s wanting to use “grandma,” because she’s never appeared on the ballot as “Strayhorn.” It’s always been “Rylander” for statewide office and “McClellan” for Austin Mayor and AISD. She thinks voters are stupid (I won’t dispute her on that, some are pretty dumb) and won’t know that Carole Keeton Strayhorn is the same lady they voted for in 2002 as Carole Keeton Rylander.

If that is the case, then why didn’t she ask to be on the ballot as “Carole Rylander Strayhorn,” or “Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn?” Judging from the criteria Roger Williams claims he used in making the determination, Strayhorn could have gotten on the ballot in this manner, possibly with no questions asked and, poof! Problem solved. It’s all ‘Rylanderlicious.’
But, no. She wants to take a campaign slogan she’s used for years, “One Tough Grandma,” and wear it out worse than Sprint’s “Can You Hear Me Now?” slogan.

Further, that voters don’t know who Strayhorn is is simply asinine. People know she was Rylander, and they know she changed her name. I’d venture to say that she gets her name mentioned in the press twice as much as Rick Perry does, by virtue of the fact that her office constantly sends out press releases on sales tax rebates and all that jazz—which papers actually print. For God’s sakes, the woman actually sent out a press release when she got married and became “Strayhorn,”—and it was covered in the press. And, everyone remembers her damned Texas Tomorrow Fund commercials. And, even if you watch the crappiest of local TV newscasts every night and never pick up a newspaper, chances are you’ve heard her name mentioned ten or eleven times in the past six months and it’s registered with you who she is.

I don’t know if any “name recognition” surveys exist that would have included Texas’ current sitting officeholders. I’d damned sure bet, though, that if they did, Strayhorn would be number one or number two. From 2002-2005, it seemed as though she managed to get more press than Perry and all the members of the House and Senate combined. Like Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-Dallas), the woman has an opinion on every issue (of course, it changes with the wind, but she has an opinion…).

Worst of all, Strayhorn’s starting to sound like a Grandma. And not the kind that bakes cookies and changes diapers, or the one who works as a greeter at Wal-Mart. She’s starting to sound like the old lady who lives down the street with 52 cats who talks to herself in the supermarket and thinks her fillings are being monitored by the CIA.

As I mentioned before, this is a good news/bad news thing for Texas Democrats.

It’s a good news thing because, surely now any bleeding of our base from Bell to Strayhorn will cease. It is a bad news thing because Rick Perry’s base could stop bleeding, too.

I tend to think, however, that Strayhorn will still pull Republicans though she’ll stop pulling Democrats. After all, many Republicans see this as a life-and-death fight between the far right of their party establishment and the mainstream Republicans. The mainstream may stick with Strayhorn, irregardless of how many cats move into Grandma’s House.

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