From HuckFunn: To those of us in Texas who remember the 1990 gubernatorial election, the current presidential campaign is like the remake of a bad movie. The race between Clayton Williams, the wealthy and brash wildcatter vs Ann Richards, a career liberal politician, is quite similar to the Trump vs Clinton contest.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Republicans nominate a brash multimillionaire prone to gaffes and verbal acrobatics. His personal attacks against a veteran female politician divide voters, spiking the gender gap. He blames the media and claims to not play by traditional political rules.
Trump for president in 2016? Try Claytie for Texas governor in 1990.
Cut from the same cloth as Trump, 1990 Texas Republican gubernatorial nominee Clayton “Claytie” Williams parlayed his Texas A&M degree in animal husbandry to a multimillion dollar fortune in oil and gas, real estate and telecommunications. He got the political bug starring in television commercials for his phone company, where he used his cowboy charisma to rope his way onto Forbes’ wealthiest Americans list. Williams had an expansive grin, huge drooping ears and a west-Texas wildcatter’s drawl. Molly Ivins described him as the “perfect representative of a vanishing Texas”: white, macho and rich — a character plucked right from Giant.
Trump and Williams are remarkably similar: larger-than-life figures, self-made men, bucolic, mostly self-funded campaigns and television personalities. Trump, like Williams, has attacked the media for bad coverage when his campaign went awry. Both candidates faced a sharp-elbowed female candidate with considerate political experience, keen political instincts and a reputation for getting things done.