Reply #46: That depends on who you ask. One big factor in my area was...

[JayS]

...Governor Richards' refusal to not only not allow the CHL (our version of the concealed handgun license) to pass but would not even allow it to come up for a vote. I see Richards around town every so often and I have always been tempted to ask WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!

Add to this the revolution in the U.S. House and Senate that was occurring and the probable "spillover" into state politics and you can see Bush getting a boost in his campaign. Oddly enough, Bill Clinton attributes the revolution in part to the Democrat's gun control policies. Bit of a trend going here.

In some ways I think the raid and resultant standoff at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco hurt her also. I doubt she approved the bizarre plan for the raid or allowed it to go forward after the element of surprise was long gone, but she did appear to allow herself to get steamrolled on the posse comitatus issues. Something about seeing the U.S. military engaged in hostile action on Texas soil was incredibly disturbing no matter what kind of nuts the Davidians were.