Democratic Blog News: Perry's Campaign Tries To Hold A Presser Outside The Travis County Democrats’ Coordinated Campaign Office

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Perry's Campaign Tries To Hold A Presser Outside The Travis County Democrats’ Coordinated Campaign Office

While Gov. Rick Perry was in China, his campaign spokesman called a curbside press event in front of the office of Travis County Democrats’ Coordinated Campaign office, which serves as the local campaign office for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White and all other Democrats running for office in Travis County.

Mark Miner, Perry’s mouthpiece, stood in the early afternoon’s sweltering heat - in a dark suit nonetheless - to try to talk to members of the Capitol press corps.

But unless you were standing inches from the sweaty Miner, you couldn’t hear anything but the chants of Democratic campaign workers, one of whom donned a chicken outfit.

“Rick Chicken Perry,” they squawked. “Debate Bill now.”

As Miner tried to address the handful of reporters in attendance, the Democratic campaign workers waved Bill White signs and tried to bait Perry into a debate.

Presumably Miner was speaking about the same topic that was on a press release handed out by his campaign companion. It said that White continues to refuse to release tax returns from his days as the deputy secretary of energy and chairman of the Texas Democratic Party.

[In fact, Perry's campaign is behind the curve, again, because] Last week, White's campaign made public his tax returns from his time as Houston mayor.

On the issue of Rick Perry refusing to debate Bill White:

The Houston Chronicle - AUSTIN — GOP strategist Royal Masset thinks Republican Gov. Rick Perry is unlikely to debate Democratic challenger Bill White, and his reasoning has nothing to do with Perry’s call for White to release more tax returns first.

“There’s a real probability we won’t have a debate. I just don’t think Rick sees it in his interest to have one,” said Masset, former political director of the Republican Party of Texas. “All he’d be doing is giving name ID to an opponent.”

Masset — who disagrees with those in his party who offer angry rhetoric on issues like immigration — backed U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the GOP primary but plans to vote for Perry in November. Masset noted that voters rarely see an unscripted answer in a debate, but White could bring something different — and that’s no advantage to Perry.

“He (White) is plain-spoken. He is very specific-oriented,” Masset said. “He’s kind of our nightmare ... Why give him a chance?”