By Mary Clare Jalonick
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 32

Delegates: 231

Chairman: Rep. Martin Frost

Hotel: Los Angeles Airport Marriott (310) 641-5700

1996 Election:
Dole – 49%
Clinton – 44%
Perot – 7%

Though Texas Democrats are coming to the convention in Los Angeles this year with the goal of electing Vice President Al Gore as president, most delegates from the home state of Republican nominee Gov. George W. Bush don't hold any illusions that Gore will carry the Lone Star State.

The Texas delegates do, however, feel they have a decided purpose at the Democratic convention: to communicate to the country how they feel about their governor.

It is a tradition for the delegation from the state that produced the other party's presidential candidate to act as a "truth squad" - and it is a role that Bush's Texas Democratic adversaries relish.

"We Texans are always asked what we think of Bush, and whether we think he is qualified to be leader of the free world," says Ed Martin, former executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. "We may offer a bit of a different perspective than what you will get out of the Bush campaign."

Bush's home-state partisan rivals will especially attempt to punch holes in Bush's campaign themes of leadership and "compassionate conservatism."

U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will head the 231-member delegation. The delegation co-chairmen are Texas Democratic Party Chairman Molly Beth Malcolm; state Democratic National Committeeman Al Edwards, who also is a state representative; and state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos.

The panel of co-chairmen represents the Democrats' efforts to promote diversity: Malcolm is white; Edwards is African-American; Barrientos is Hispanic.

Despite their buoyant Bush-bashing mood, the Texas Democrats are at a low point in their modern political history. The politics of Texas, long a Southern Democratic stronghold, have changed drastically since the Democrats last held a convention in Los Angeles in 1960 and nominated a Texas favorite son, Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, for vice president on the ticket with John F. Kennedy.

Standing in this year's delegation as an unintentional symbol of the Democrats' downturn is former state Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, the Democratic challenger who Bush steamrolled with 68 percent of the vote in his 1998 gubernatorial re-election campaign.

A slump over the past decade has not only seen Bush rise to political dominance as governor but has also seen the Republicans take control of the 28 other major statewide offices. The 1998 victory of Republican Rick Perry as lieutenant governor freed Bush to run for president without having to worry about a Democrat taking over as governor.

Republican Phil Gramm has held one of Texas' U.S. Senate seats since winning a 1984 election, and the GOP's Kay Bailey Hutchison has held the other since she won a 1993 special election for the seat Democrat Lloyd Bentsen left vacant after his appointment as President Clinton's first Treasury secretary.

Hutchison has become so popular and such a strong campaign fundraiser that the Democrats could coax no well-known challenger into the race against her this year, leaving her a shoo-in for re-election.

Democrats still have the majority in the state's U.S. House delegation with 17 seats to the Republicans' 13.

Gore dominated the Texas primary that occurred on March 14, after he already had knocked his one rival, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, out of the race.

Although 13 of the state's delegates are Bradley supporters, party insiders said there has been no tension between Gore's and Bradley's camps and described the June state Democratic convention - at which the delegates were nominated - as peaceful.

Despite the mighty Bush presence in the state, Gore has a strong network in Texas. Kenneth H. Molberg, senior member of the state Democratic Party executive committee and a delegate, said Democrats from Texas are "solidly behind Gore; even the former Bradley people are very much supportive."

Martin agreed. "Democrats in Texas are looking forward to the convention at a time when Gore steps out of Clinton's shadow and the public will see him as a presidential candidate," he said.

State party leaders also hope to showcase two of their congressional challengers during the Los Angeles proceedings: Regina Montoya Coggins, who is running against Republican Rep. Pete Sessions in the 5th District, and Loy Sneary, who is taking on GOP Rep. Ron Paul in a rematch of their 1998 race in the 14th District. Coggins is planning to attend the convention, though she is not a delegate.

The delegation - which party members describe as "moderate" - is a mix of newcomers and old party supporters, and contains some colorful characters reminiscent of the state party's glory days.

Former House Speaker Jim Wright is an "automatic" delegate because of his former post, as is former Democratic National Committee Chairman Robert Strauss, a prominent attorney.

Also attending are Liz Carpenter - former press secretary for Lady Bird Johnson, wife of the late President Lyndon B. Johnson - and longtime Democratic activist Billie Carr, a member of the Democratic National Committee since 1972.

Other Texas notables include John Sharp, who came very close to beating Perry in the 1998 lieutenant governor's race, and Democratic National Committeeman Rosa Walker, a member of the state AFL-CIO.

Gwendolyn Creacy is the youngest delegate at 18, and she will have to miss the first week of her senior year in high school to attend.

TEXAS NOTABLES: U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, the delegation chairman, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; state Democratic Party Chairman Molly Beth Malcolm; Democratic National Committee members Al Edwards, a state representative, and Rosa Walker, an organized labor activist; state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos; Garry Mauro, the former Texas land commissioner who lost to Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 1998; former House Speaker Jim Wright; former Democratic National Committee Chairman Robert Strauss; Liz Carpenter, former press secretary for Lady Bird Johnson.