The graphic below shows that Abbott’s campaign schedule is just as light – long on sucking up to insider friends and big money donors and painfully short on making any kind of contact with the press or the people of Texas.
Abbott hiding out and avoiding accountability
Greg Abbott was nominated by Texas Republicans as their gubernatorial candidate on March 4th – more than six months ago. Since then, he has essentially gone into hiding, avoiding most public events and strictly limiting attendance at the few public appearances he does make.
Abbott’s disinterest in talking to voters is matched by his contempt and disrespect for the Texas political press. In the 182 days since becoming the Republican nominee, Abbott has shown up for only 10 campaign press conferences. Frankly, even characterizing those fleeting appearances as “press conferences” is too charitable. Abbott hasn’t allowed a traditional press conference format, instead he has forced reporters to ask questions in brief one-on-one encounters, limiting the range of questions and making follow up by other reporters impossible.
Abbott’s ongoing disappearing act and his obvious disdain for both voters and the press were on full display last week when he broke a long-standing promise to participate in a debate with Wendy Davis. Abbott stiffed WFAA-TV and over a dozen affiliates by bailing out of the debate, which was to have been broadcast statewide. Instead, he retreated to the safety of an alternative debate format with only limited viewership.
Will Abbott get a pass and never be fully vetted for voters?
So far, in his political career, Greg Abbott’s strategy of dodging voters and ducking the press appears to have worked. He’s been in public office for nearly 20 years, but in that entire time, he has participated in public debate with a political opponent for a grand total of only 30 minutes.
Only rarely has he deigned to answer questions from the press or participate in town hall style meetings with the public.
Instead, he has used his office as Attorney General to play politics – protecting his insider friends instead of Texas citizens. He has chosen to spend millions of Texas tax dollars defending massive funding cuts for Texas public schools and intentionally discriminatory redistricting plans and voter ID laws.
Now, after six months as a candidate for Texas Governor – with only ten weeks until Election Day – Greg Abbott clearly believes that he can pull it off again.
He’s betting that he can win by continuing to avoid voters and dodge reporters.
