Clinton's Ties To Texas Run Long and Deep

Another Texas Democrat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly assess the two campaigns, said Clinton's supporters overstate the breadth of her network. "There is no network outside of South Texas, and that is built on relationships with Bill" Clinton, the strategist said. Across the state, "she does not have bonds outside of older Latino women and other women."

Hillary Rodham was a Yale law student when she and Bill Clinton arrived in Texas in August 1972. He had been assigned as one of the state coordinators for the McGovern campaign. She was named to head a voter registration drive and spent much of her time working in the Hispanic community.

"Hispanics in South Texas were, understandably, wary of a blond girl from Chicago who didn't speak a word of Spanish," she wrote in her book "Living History." She allied herself with labor and legal-aid activists in the Rio Grande Valley and doggedly tried to make the most of a losing battle. In the final month of the campaign, she parked herself in San Antonio, and when she returned there last Wednesday, she reminisced with reporters. "It's where I became addicted to Mexican food and mango ice cream," she said.

In 1992, the Clintons desperately wanted to win Texas, despite its growing red-state leanings. With H. Ross Perot cutting into then-President George H.W. Bush's support, the Clintons staged a bus trip through the state in the early fall and came back on the eve of the election for several big rallies. "Governor Clinton hated the idea of losing Texas," said Paul Begala, a Texan and Clinton adviser in that campaign and later in the White House.

But Clinton's war-room leaders, particularly James Carville, refused to put serious money into the state. Spence said he and others hunkered down, peppering campaign headquarters with faxes that were forwarded to Clinton on his campaign plane.

"We were the Alamo team," Spence said, with messages patterned on William Barret Travis's famous 1836 letters from the Alamo. "We will hold on as long as we can," one fax read, according to Spence. "I can see the guns in the distance," another read. The Clintons, he said, "loved it." Still, no money arrived, and Bush won the state.

Once in the White House, Bill Clinton populated his administration with Texans. Then-Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was tapped to run the Treasury. Cisneros took over HUD. Bob Armstrong, who was part of the 1972 McGovern brigade, went to Interior. Bill White, now the mayor of Houston, went to Energy. Richards, Texas's governor from 1991 to 1995, became an influential outside adviser. Jose Villarreal, a former chairman of the National Council of La Raza, went to the White House. Swanee Hunt of Dallas and Lyndon Olson of Waco became ambassadors.

Hillary Clinton traveled to Texas as first lady, and when she decided to run for the Senate in 2000, Mauro, Spence and others helped raise money for her. They did the same in 2006, when she ran for reelection, and in the early stages of her presidential campaign, when she was considered the favorite for the nomination.

The stakes now are significantly higher. Clinton can ill afford to lose Texas in two weeks, and her campaign has responded accordingly. She spent two days rallying Hispanic support in El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio. On Friday, her husband plied East Texas, where his Arkansas roots may help win over conservative white voters. She returns to South Texas next week just before Thursday's debate with Obama in Austin.

One early poll released last week showed Clinton with a single-digit lead over Obama in Texas. Her advisers are confident that she can win, but the state is only one test that day. "I personally believe she'll win the Texas primary," Cisneros said. "The dilemma here is by how much [of a margin] to rack up the delegates she needs, and how do we deal with this conundrum of the caucuses?"

Texas's primary will award about two-thirds of the state's pledged delegates. The remaining share will be awarded that night at caucuses, which are open only to voters who participated in the primary. There will be an estimated 8,000 caucus sites around the state, an organizational challenge for Clinton and Obama.

Clinton's built-in advantages here could be foiled by the rules governing the distribution of delegates, even in the primary portion of the contest. Some of the most delegate-rich districts are in areas where Obama may have his greatest strength, particularly those with sizable black populations. The 10 most heavily Hispanic districts will award far fewer delegates. By one analysis, Clinton could win those Hispanic districts 60 to 40 percent and still emerge with just a two-delegate advantage among one of her strongest constituencies in the state.

The Clinton and Obama campaigns already are arguing over rules, delegate counts and expectations in Texas. But the real question is whether the state that helped teach Clinton the highs and lows of political organizing will repay her for the affection and attention that she and her husband have given it over the past three decades, or whether Obama convinces Texans that it is time to embrace a candidate from a different generation.

Research director Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.