LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ann Richards: Governor
built 226 days ago
Ann Richards wasn't without her critics and she wasn't blunder free. More than once her quick wit got her in trouble. Calling George Bush [Two] a jerk may have cost her the gubernatorial election in 1994. Until her loss to George Bush she had been a rising star in the national Democratic Party--that loss seemed to be the kiss of death for Ann's political career. By her own admission she said Bush was better at staying on message of his intentions as governor when elected.
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Ann Richards brought a vitality and outrageousness to the governorship that had not been seen in decades. Born Dorothy Ann Willis, she grew up in Waco, where she made her mark early on as an outstanding student who excelled at debate and participated in Girls State. She married her high school sweetheart, David Richards, and the young couple moved to Austin, where Richards became a teacher. The couple had two daughters and two sons.
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Richards was a feminist who, rather than scaring men, stung them with her wit, a technique she famously applied to President George Bush senior in what became a legendary quip in American politics. Speaking at the Democratic party's convention in 1988 she simultaneously referred to Bush's stumbling articulation and patrician upbringing by saying: "Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth." The Bush family did not forgive this slight, and it was recalled in 1994 when George W Bush restricted her to one term in the governor's mansion in Austin, before being re-elected himself four years later and then going on to the US presidency.
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Richards said, "I’ve been a friend to Texas film since the number of people who cared about Texas film could have fit in a phone booth." She was an advocate for the Texas film industry, and traveled to Los Angeles to market her state. Gary Bond, director of the Austin Film Commission, noted, "She was far from being the first governor to appoint a film commissioner; I think she was the first that really brought the focus of Hollywood to Texas."
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Richards rose to the governorship with her come-from-behind victory over millionaire cowboy Clayton Williams in 1990. She cracked a half-century male grip on the Governor's Mansion and celebrated by holding aloft a T-shirt that showed the state Capitol and read: "A woman's place is in the dome."
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Molly, your comments about Anne Richards highlight her wit, charm, grace, decency and spirit. The comment that most people have not heard is one that she made, which may have ultimately cost her the governorship. It was made shortly after George W. Bush first announced that he was running for governor. He had decided that he would get retribution for Anne Richard's "silver foot in his mouth" comment. Bush declared his intent to run against Anne. When a reporter asked Anne what she thought about it, she commented that she was not too concerned just because "some jerk" announced that he wanted to be governor.
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