(Part of UPI's Special Report on Election 2002)
DALLAS (UPI) -- Democrat Ron Kirk is running stronger than some expected against Republican John Cornyn in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Phil Gramm and many are watching, including President George W. Bush.
Republicans want to retake control of the Senate and none of them expected to worry about the president's home state when Kirk, the first black mayor of Dallas, resigned to enter the race. But he has drawn close to Cornyn as the Nov. 5 election nears.
In the most recent poll, Cornyn had only a six point lead over Kirk in a survey in September by the University of Houston Center for Public Policy and the Rice University School of Social Sciences for the Houston Chronicle and KHOU-TV in Houston.
Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, believes Kirk is within "striking distance" of Cornyn, the 50-year-old state attorney general and a former Texas Supreme Court justice.
"Kirk has to run a flawless race from here on out," he says. "That San Antonio stumble a couple a weeks ago he has to be very sure not to repeat. As a black candidate in Texas he is well inside what anyone thought he would be able to do. He has run a very good race."
At San Antonio, during a discussion of possible war with Iraq, Kirk said America's wars are fought in disproportionate numbers by low-income minorities. The next day he said he regretted making the remark that Cornyn quickly called divisive.
"I support the president's efforts on Iraq," he said. "I also am concerned about each and every American who potentially will be on the front lines fighting in Iraq, should we go to war. I regret the way I stated those concerns, and had no intention of offending anyone; particularly those who serve or like my father have served this country."
Jillson said it was a mistake for Kirk to make the comment for two reasons, because Texas is pro-military and raising the race issue was contrary to the image that the Democrat seeks to project of a moderate, pro-business candidate.
"When lots of voters who don't know Kirk well look at him they assume that he is an urban liberal Democrat in the civil rights tradition," he says. "He's got to show them no, that's not true."
Both campaigns have had problems with racial comments, although the candidates rarely ever mention the issue unless asked by reporters.
Earlier in the campaign, a Cornyn spokesman characterized the Democrats' so-called Dream Team as a "racial-quota system," which prompted the Republican candidate to call a news conference and repudiate the remark by his staffer.
The "Dream Team," is a trio of candidates Texas Democrats have rolled out this election year in an effort to regain the political power they once held in the Lone Star state, where Republicans now hold all statewide offices.
Democrats hope that Kirk and millionaire Laredo banker and oilman Tony Sanchez, the party's gubernatorial candidate, will draw a record number of black and Hispanic voters, enough to put them in office along with lieutenant governor candidate John Sharp.
If elected, Kirk would be only the third black elected to the Senate, after Republican Edward Brooke of Massachusetts and Democrat Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois.
To voters, the campaign styles of the Kirk and Cornyn are in stark contrast. Kirk is a gregarious, outgoing, charismatic candidate with a booming voice. Cornyn is more quiet and reserved in the manner of the judge that he was in Austin and San Antonio.
Cornyn tells voters he will be a loyal supporter of Bush, who still enjoys widespread popularity and support in Texas from his years as governor. Bush has already done some personal campaigning for Cornyn and appeared in at least one of his commercials. The GOP brought in the Top Gun in mid-October when Barbara Bush came to campaign.
Cornyn's campaign questions whether Kirk would be as loyal to the president, although the Democrat has backed the president on the war and other issues. He portrays Kirk as a liberal attempting to hide behind the cover of a moderate, pro-business candidate.
Kirk, a 48-year-old attorney, was elected to two, four-year terms as Dallas mayor with the backing of Republican business leaders. He was known as a consensus-builder on the city council in Dallas, the heart of Republican strength in the state.
