Word: bentsen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...winner on Saturday, the biggest loser was Senator Lloyd Bensten, who can thank Reagan that things didn't turn out worse. Jimmy Carter soundly boxed his ears in the presidential primary, winning all but five delegates. Carter got 49 per cent of the popular vote, leaving Bentsen with a thoroughly embarrassing 23 per cent, George Wallace receiving most of the rest. The defeat was all the more humiliating because it was Bentsen who had set up the presidential primary--Texas's first--solely to advance his own presidential ambitions...
...only bright spot for Bentsen was his easy victory over a vigorous challenger in the concurrent race for the Senate nomination, getting 63 per cent of the vote. The challenge came from Phil Gramm, a conservative economics professor at Texas A&M, whose attacks focused on Bentsen's supposed neglect of the Lone Star state in his presidential bid. One TV ad featured two disembodied voices, one of which asked what Bentsen had to show for his six years in the Senate. The other mentioned Bentsen's vote to expand the Voting Rights Act, his support for federal...
Those attacks hit Bentsen where he is most vulnerable, but Gramm did poorly, mainly because of all those people who crossed over. If those 300,000 Texans had voted in the Democratic primary instead, most of them likely would have voted for Gramm. That might have given him enough of the vote to embarass Bentsen...
Should Carter eke out a victory in a state with an equal distribution of blue-and white-collar workers and as great an ethnic mix as anywhere else in the nation, he will be well placed to defeat Favorite Son Lloyd Bentsen in the Texas primary at week's end. That would build a perhaps irresistible momentum for Carter-unless he can be slowed by the forces gathering behind Humphrey...
...from the race. Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo, who could control 30 votes at the convention, probably will announce his support of Jackson soon. Carter and Udall also are setting up extensive efforts in Pennsylvania. Then, on May 1, Carter hopes to make a splashy showing in Texas. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, a favorite son, has tightly organized the state. But Carter is challenging Bentsen in every district and plans a high-powered drive to win as many seats as possible. Beyond Texas, the candidates' strategies and expectations will be dictated largely by how well they do in the intervening primaries...