TX SEN: Bill White’s Listening Tour?

Without calling it such, it appears as though Houston Mayor Bill White has launched a “listening tour” and delayed the announcement of his candidacy for U.S. Senate.

Miya Shay tells the story:

Today, Mayor White went to Ft. Worth to meet with potential supporters.  He apparently brought along his financial guru, Herb Butrum.  Tomorrow, he will be present for a City Council meeting, and then head to the Valley with Carol Alvarado to meet more people.

Butrum is, of course, a well-known fundraiser for Republicans (and, evidently, an early Mitt Romney supporter). He started going after Republican money for White back in 2003. More recently, he raised money for Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.

I wonder exactly how the term “potential supporters” is defined if White brought along Butrum. It is hard to imagine that someone whose firm has done work for Railroad Commissioner Michael L. Williams, the Harris County Republican Party, former Texas Supreme Court Justice Michael Schneider, and formerly indicted Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina would be at home in a meeting of Democratic activists–meaning White was probably in Fort Worth to cozy up to well-moneyed interests.

Of course, every politician has to have their financing in place to run a race, but with someone like Butrum at his side, it is safe to say that White is likely looking to tap well-moneyed donors who are not typically supporting Democrats.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it speaks volumes about the candidate. Typically Republican donors in a red state don’t make donations to a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate unless there is a compelling reason to believe that candidate will be on their side more than on the other side.

It is a given that Texas isn’t going to elect a truly liberal U.S. Senator in the next decade, but Democrats will have to be exceedingly careful in the coming U.S. Senate race to not select a Democrat that will vote with Republicans seventy percent of the time.

As for the Valley, I’m not sure what he’ll be trying to accomplish down there. There is money to be raised down there and local officeholders to cavort with, but I’d expect that a lot of Valley opinion leaders will be holding out on determining who to support–either hoping for a Hispanic or Valley candidate in the race or looking toward John Sharp who has a long history of support in that region.

Related posts:

1. TX SEN: Bill White Hits The Valley, Meets With Business Leaders
2. TX SEN: Railroad Commissioner Michael L. Williams Enters Race For Hutchison’s Seat
3. Hutchison Begins 2010 Campaign With A Tour Of South Texas
4. CAPITOL GOSSIP: Hutchison Throws Hissy Over Which Reporter Will Cover Her Bus Tour
5. Sen. Rodney Ellis To File Minimum Wage Bill