Roughly 3,500 people were on hand in Austin, Texas today for President Barack Obama’s speech on higher education and the economy, but the state’s Democratic candidate for Governor was not among them.
Bill White, the former Mayor of Houston and the man who will challenge incumbent Texas Governor Rick Perry this fall, opted to attend campaign events in other parts of the state rather than be seen on stage with the President. White, however, told reporters on Friday that his decision to not appear with Obama wasn’t that big of a deal.
“I really don’t think about stuff like that,” White said. “I don’t use national figures as surrogates for me. I tend to campaign for myself.”
At least one recent poll, however, shows that Obama’s approval ratings in Texas are lower than in most other states. Nearly 63% of Texas voters dissaprove of the job Obama is doing, according to a Rasmussen survey taken last month. Perry, who greeted the President when he arrived in Texas earlier in the day, put out a video this morning tying his opponent’s views and policies to Obama’s.
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) cautioned reporters after the speech to not rush to judgment on the meaning of White’s absence.
“[Bill White] has a great deal of respect for the President,” she said. “There is no divide as relates to the respect they have for each other.”
Before the speech, White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton dismissed the theory that White would like to distance himself politically from Obama.
“I don’t think [White’s decision] says anything broadly about the President’s coattails. I think it says that Bill White had something else going on today that he would rather do than campaign with the President,” he said.
“[President Obama] definitely does not take that as an insult,” Burton added.
White, who served as deputy Energy Secretary under President Clinton, trails Perry slightly, according to polls conducted last month.