<< former speaker of the Texas state House, Democrat Ben Barnes, now admits>>
Actually he was the Lieutenant Governor, which in Texas is a more powerful position than Governor. The Speaker at the time, Gus Mutscher was implicated in the Sharpstown scandal that resulted in the defeat of a lot of incumbents in the primaries that May (in Texas at the time, winning the Democratic primary was tantamount to winning the election. The Republicans were still considered to be the party that freed the slaves, and were not yet forgiven for it). Ben Barnes was also at the periphery of Sharpstown, and was one of four candidates running for Governor. (Yes that seems to contradict my earlier statement about the relative power of the offices, but that's the kind of thing that looks good on the resumé -- ask W.) He placed third, ahead only of the incumbent, Preston Smith, also tainted by Sharpstown.
In subsequent years, all these conservative Dems who were still active in politics turned Republican, as yankees who didn't care about the Civil War moved in and outfits like Conally's Democrats for Nixon rearranged the party alignments. |
