Wilting across Texas -- Editorial, The Washington Times

When the going gets tough, a candidate for governor sues

Politics is a contact sport, and Texas Democrats have no bench. Republicans hold all 27 statewide elective offices, including judgeships. Democrats haven't seen the inside of the governor's mansion since a fatal campaign gaffe by the Republican candidate nearly a quarter-century ago sent Ann Richards to take up residence for a single term.

After so long in the wilderness, it was inevitable that Democrats in Texas would fall head over Prada heels for fashionista Wendy Davis. The state senator parlayed fawning national media coverage of her failed 12-hour filibuster of restrictions on abortion in June into a bid for governor next year.

Her candidacy inspires Democrats with visions of turning deep-red Texas blue. Vogue magazine, in a profile of the two-term Fort Worth Democrat, set a more modest goal for the pol it describes as an "overnight sensation" with "Barbie-doll looks." Vogue asks: "Could Texas turn purple — and is Davis the one to take it there?"

It's not clear she'll be able to make it that far without a breakdown, or at least a lawsuit. Erick Erickson, on his conservative Red State website, reports that Mrs. Davis sued the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for defamation after she lost a 1996 election for the Fort Worth City Council, claiming that unflattering editorials about her position on expanding the zoo were written with "malicious intent to defame Davis." There was a conspiracy, she said, "to direct criticism at Davis on the editorial page in an effort to prevent Davis from being elected." This effort, which included an endorsement of her opponent, caused her to "suffer damages to her mental health."

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