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Clinton Texas Coordinator: '3 AM' Ad Too Late

March 04, 2008 11:44 AM

Garry Mauro, a longtime Clinton family friend and the Texas state coordinator for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., told ABC News that the Clinton campaign waited too long before challenging the national security credentials of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

"I find it fascinating that asking the question 'Who do you want to answer a telephone at 3 o'clock in the morning when there is a problem?' is a big problem," Mauro said about the controversial Clinton ad running in Texas that implies Obama would not effectively be able to keep the nation safe. "That is a question that should have been asked from day one."

Asked if he was faulting the campaign's senior advisers for waiting until the waning days of the Texas race before running that ad, Mauro said, "I am from Texas and we get to second-guess everybody. We get to second-guess our football coaches first and our politicians next. And yeah, I can second-guess their political decisions just like I second-guess the calls that are played on the football field, but that doesn't accomplish much."

Mauro made the comments in an interview that ran on last night's "Nightline".

The Clintons have known Mauro since they came to Texas in 1972 to work for the ill-fated presidential campaign of Sen. George McGovern.

"Looking back on it, we were tilting at windmills," Mauro said.

"Hillary Clinton was probably the most unusual person I had ever met," Mauro recalled of those times. "She was compelling, she was scary smart."

Of Bill Clinton, Mauro said, "What can I say about him that hasn't already been said?"

Four times elected Texas Land Commissioner, Mauro said he stayed in touch with the Clintons fairly regularly.

"Any time either one of them would come to town we'd have a little homecoming at some Mexican restaurant and eat lots of enchiladas and tacos. And then I was fortunate enough to serve in the late 80s on the Wal-Mart environmental board with Hillary so we've kept up our contact."

In 1998, Mauro was the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the state, and he was crushed by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

"I have been introduced upon occasion as Iraq being my fault," Mauro says. "I think people are joking."

Mauro predicted victory in Texas for Clinton on Tuesday, but, he argued it was more important for Obama to win the state.

"Barack Obama has two major weaknesses as a national candidate that he doesn't have much time to overcome. And both of them converge in Texas. He hasn't proven he can carry a big state outside of Illinois yet. There are only three big states left and we are one of the three. So I would suggest that Texas is more important to Obama than it is to Hillary. And secondly, any national coalition of voters to get the majority of the electoral votes require carrying a large percentage of the Hispanic community. And he has not been able to carry Hispanic voters in any significant numbers outside of Virginia. . . I think it's a challenge for him. He's gotta show some ability to go beyond yuppies and latte drinkers and African-Americans and I haven't seen that happening in Texas yet."

-jpt

March 4, 2008 in Weblogs | Permalink | Share | User Comments (22)

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Posted by: jds | Mar 4, 2008 11:57:05 AM

Posted by: chasseur | Mar 4, 2008 11:49:34 AM

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