Texas, Tom Schieffer ... Tom Schieffer, Texas

Schieffer says he has vision to be governor of Texas

By ANGELA K. BROWN

Updated 2:56 PM CDT, Mon, Aug 31, 2009

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He's the former Texas Rangers baseball team president who later was appointed as a U.S. ambassador.

Many know him as the younger brother of CBS newsman Bob Schieffer. Others remember him as the popular and studious teen who was elected student-body president after giving Kennedy-esque speeches.

Now Tom Schieffer is traveling across the state, introducing himself to Texans as a Democratic candidate for governor.

"It's been a long time since we had any vision in this state, and I want to do something about that," said Schieffer, 61. "This spirit of Texas is still alive. This is the election. This is the day. This is the hour to decide to change Texas again."

Schieffer said he is running because the state must improve its education system and stop the high dropout rate, develop a better energy regulatory system, improve the healthcare system and focus more on the environment.

Schieffer said he can win the 2010 election no matter who survives the brutal Republican primary -- Gov. Rick Perry or Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

"To win, this campaign must become a cause," he said.

Schieffer, who also has a sister, grew up in Fort Worth and always was a leader, said former classmate Katherine Miller.

Although he was mostly serious, he could be funny and play practical jokes, so he was well-liked, she said. He was known for helping others and even started a school program to help welcome new students, she said.

Schieffer admired President John F. Kennedy and seemed to emulate his speaking style, she said.

"He was interested in running for office when nobody else was in those days," said Miller, now a Houston attorney. "He would start talking and he would hold a crowd. I was surprised that someone our age could talk in such a serious way."

Schieffer served three terms as a Democratic state representative, first elected at age 25 in 1972.

Schieffer, an attorney, later became a business partner with George W. Bush and they bought the Texas Rangers baseball team. He was the club's longtime president and succeeded Bush as general partner after Bush became governor in 1995.

After Bush was elected to the White House, he appointed Schieffer as U.S. ambassador to Australia in 2001 and to Japan in 2005.

Although Schieffer is a Democrat, his past ties to Bush are not necessarily a bad thing, said Jerry Polinard, a political science professor at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg.

"You've got to have a candidate to attract independent voters and siphon off Republican voters ... while holding onto the more liberal wing, which is a question mark, but nonetheless they may hold their noses and vote for Schieffer," Polinard said. "If he has Perry as an opponent, he can isolate him as a far right-wing candidate. And it's not like he'd be running against a person who's enjoyed overwhelming support."

In 2006, Perry was re-elected with 39 percent of the vote in a four-candidate race.

Still, any Democratic gubernatorial candidate faces an uphill battle in Texas, where no Democrat has won statewide office since 1994, Polinard said.

As a moderate and conservative Democrat, Schieffer could benefit if the GOP emerges fractured and bitter from its primary, Polinard said.

Schieffer, who has said he had no regrets about supporting Bush, said he's a lifelong Democrat but can rise above partisanship.

"I am a Democrat -- as Sam Rayburn used to say, without prefix, suffix or apology," Schieffer said in his speech announcing his candidacy last week.

After the campaign kickoff outside the Fort Worth elementary school he attended, Schieffer told reporters that supporting Bush for president in 2000 and 2004 were his only votes for a Republican in any general elections.

He also said he had told Bush, who recently moved to Dallas, that he was running for governor but declined to reveal their discussion. When asked if he might get Bush's vote, Schieffer smiled and said, "I hope so, but I don't know. You'll have to ask him."

Schieffer will likely face a primary challenge himself. Humorist Kinky Friedman, who ran as an independent in 2006, is raising money for a potential run as a Democrat. Mark Thompson, a therapist for blind children who ran unsuccessfully last year for Texas Railroad Commissioner, has filed paperwork for a Democratic gubernatorial bid.

Schieffer said Texans will get to know him and his message during the campaign.

"People still believe in the American dream," he said. "People still want a better life for their children, and the Democratic Party still offers people the best chance to realize their dreams."