Former Texas Governor Ann Richards Dies

She ran for office herself for the first time when she successfully challenged an incumbent Travis County commissioner in 1976. She was re-elected in 1980.

Smart and sassy, with a homespun charm that often disarmed her political foes, she was making a name for herself across Texas, but her personal life was in shambles. Her political involvement put a strain on her marriage, which ended in divorce, and she began drinking heavily. Her friends eventually forced her into rehabilitation, and she credited their intervention with saving her life and her political career.

In 1982, in a Democratic sweep of top offices, she was elected state treasurer. Receiving the most votes of any statewide candidate, she became the first woman elected to statewide office in Texas in 50 years. Columnist Molly Ivins, attributed her old friend's success to her "hard hair." She looked like a Republican, in other words. She was reelected in 1986.

"Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards in high heels," Ms. Richards told her fellow Democrats in the 1988 convention speech. Two year later, she made it a priority as governor to appoint more women and minorities to state boards and commissions than any of her predecessors ever had. As the mother of two daughters, she was proud of the fact that she smashed gender barriers for a generation of Texas women pursuing professional careers. It was the "New Texas," she proclaimed.

Other accomplishments during her term in office included insurance reform, a statewide performance review of government agencies, creation of an ethics commission and an effort to set up programs for prison inmates addicted to drugs or alcohol. She also lobbied for a state lottery.

She was idealistic and inspiring, but also tough-minded and practical, Washington writer Celia Morris recalled. Morris, who wrote "Storming the Statehouse, " (1992), a chronicle of the 1990 gubernatorial campaign, recalled how representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union visited Ms. Richards a few months after she took office. They were there to complain about a crèche on the Capitol grounds. "You know," Ms. Richards told them, "that's probably as close as three wise men will ever get to the Texas Legislature, so why don't we just let them be."

She was still popular in 1994 and even better known around the country, but Texas Republicans refused to make the same mistake twice. Their nominee, George W. Bush, then part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, may have been a political neophyte, but he was affable and ran a smart, disciplined campaign. Ms. Richards underestimated him. That, plus a lackluster campaign on her part, resulted in defeat, 53 percent to 46 percent, to the man who would be president six years later.

Out of office, she served on corporate boards, was a senior adviser at the Washington law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand and worked for Public Strategies Inc., an Austin-based public relations and marketing firm. Still funny and down-to-earth, she also made frequent appearances on "Larry King Live" and other talk shows.

Survivors include four children, Cecile Richards of New York City, Daniel Richards, Clark Richards and Ellen Richards all of Austin; and eight grandchildren.

Washington Post Staff Writer Joe Holley served as Ann Richard's deputy press secretary while she was governor.