Copyright 2002 San Antonio Express-News  
San Antonio Express-News
September 14, 2002, Saturday , METRO
SECTION: METRO / SOUTH TEXAS; Pg. 4B

LENGTH: 619 words

HEADLINE: Fight on for South Texas votes ; Candidates hit S.A. toreach Hispanics

BYLINE: Sherry Sylvester 



BODY:  Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic opponent Tony Sanchez were in San Antonio on Friday battling for South Texan and Hispanic votes both sides see as critical to victory in November.  

After a morning news conference announcing the expansion of the Texas Amber Alert Network to help locate missing children, Perry met with the Editorial Board of the Express-News, then joined nearly a hundred Hispanic business leaders for a freewheeling question and answer session at Mi Tierra Restaurant downtown.  

"We have been actively reaching out to all Texas voters," Perry said, noting he has been endorsed by several advocacy groups, including the Mexican-American Sheriffs Association and the largely African American Baptist Ministers Alliance in Houston.  

Sanchez promised a cheering crowd of mostly Hispanic veterans on San Antonio's West Side that he would be the best governor Texas veterans have ever had. He also predicted his party will sweep the Nov. 5 election.  

"There are only 53 days left until the election, 38 days until early voting. We are very close to changing the government in Austin and giving it back to the people," he said.  

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ron Kirk also campaigned before Alamo City veterans Friday, and his Republican opponent, Attorney General John Cornyn, is slated to march in today's Diez y Seis Parade and campaign with George P. Bush, President Bush's nephew.  

Speaking in Austin, Cornyn said the Hispanic vote is up for grabs throughout Texas, and he called on Kirk to agree to a debate in the Rio Grande Valley to put a focus on regional and border issues.  

"I'm from San Antonio, and I was first elected in 1984 in a county that is majority Hispanic," Cornyn said, adding that Hispanic values are consistent with the pro-family and strong national defense themes central to the Republican campaign platform.  

Kirk stressed his support for President Bush's war on terrorism and urged pursuit of the same bipartisan resolve to tackle many of the social problems facing the nation.  

"It ought not take a war for Congress to understand that you need help with things like Medicare and prescription drugs," Kirk said.  

Republican pollster Mike Baselice said his numbers show Perry and Cornyn are doing well in South Texas, even though they do not have to win the region to claim the election.  

"South Texas is a battle ground for Tony Sanchez," Baselice said. "He needs to be doing better there than he is, because he is not attracting voters in other parts of the state."  

Sanchez is a Laredo native and multimillionaire making his first run for public office.  

Baselice said Republicans believe they must attract 30 percent of Hispanic voters from Sanchez's South Texas home base to win comfortably in November.  

But Democratic strategist Kelly Fero said the GOP won't likely make inroads in South Texas.  

"It is an important region, but not much of a battleground - we expect to win it handily," Fero said.  

Fero said Republicans have not come close to earning a big portion of the Hispanic vote.  

A handful of Republicans picketed Sanchez's speech, repeating demands that he release his college transcripts to clarify his draft deferment status during the Vietnam War.  

Sanchez said emphatically that he would not release the documents and charged that Perry will say anything to get elected.  

Army veteran Alfonso Moreno said it's too late for Perry to make charges regarding Sanchez's military service.  

"My mind is already made up," he said. "At this point it's just mudslinging."  

ssylvester@express-news.net. Austin Bureau Chief Peggy Fikac contributed to this report.  



GRAPHIC: Photo: KAREN L. SHAW/STAFF : Tony Sanchez addresses veterans at his campaign headquarters as U.S. Senate candidate Ron Kirk listens in the background. ; Gov. Rick Perry talks with San Antonio Police Department recruits. He was at the Police Department Training Academy on Friday.

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