TX Senate: Runoff No Dancin’ Matter for Radnofsky

[Freddie Stubbs]

By Kathryn Kennon | 5:58 PM; Apr. 05, 2006

Barbara Radnofsky — a long-shot challenger to Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — appeared the front-runner heading into the March 7 Democratic primary, in large part because she drew the backing of her party’s establishment.

Yet while Radnofsky, a lawyer and first-time candidate, finished first in the three-candidate primary, she received just 43 percent of the vote, well short of the majority she needed to avoid an April 11 runoff.

That forced Radnofsky into an additional five-week campaign against Gene Kelly, who took 38 percent of the primary vote. Kelly, an 80-year-old Air Force veteran, retired lawyer and frequent candidate, snared the Democratic Senate nomination in 2000 but lost to Hutchison by a ratio of more than 2-to-1.

The setback spurred Radnofsky to kick her effort into overdrive, as the second-round vote next Tuesday nears. Radnofsky’s campaign has bombarded potential voters with almost 750,000 pieces of direct mail, a paid media campaign on radio and automated calls.

more: http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/04/tx_senate_runoff_no_dancin_mat.html