AUSTIN, December 17 - Houston Mayor Bill White visited the Rio Grande Valley yesterday evening to drum up support for his U.S. Senate campaign.

McAllen businessman Alonzo Cantu hosted the private meeting at Pepper's Restaurant in McAllen.

White is a former Texas Democratic Party chair. Another Democrat eyeing the seat currently occupied by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is former Comptroller John Sharp. Hutchison may resign her seat in order to run for Governor, in which case there would be a special election.

"Alonzo has not committed to Bill White or John Sharp at this stage. He simply wanted to get some business people together to listen to what Bill White had to say," said La Joya Mayor Billy Leo, who attended the meeting.

Leo said about 20 people attended the meeting, including state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, and former Hidalgo County Judge Ramon Garcia. A number of physicians were also present, Leo said.

Garcia confirmed his presence and said he was enthusiastically backing White to be the next U.S. senator from Texas.

"As Democrats, we need to focus on winning this race. We need to look at the future of Texas over the next 20 years. If we win this race it takes Texas on a very different path," Garcia said.

Garcia ran through some of the reasons he believes Democrats should unite behind White.

"Bill White has excelled in everything he has done, as a managing partner in one of the most prestigious law firms in the country, as Under Secretary for Energy in the Clinton administration, as Texas Democratic Party chair, and as mayor of Houston."

Garcia said White knows the Valley well having made a number of visits over the years as Under Secretary of Education and Texas Democratic Party chair.

"In his speech, Bill said very sincerely that he would not neglect the Valley as others have done. We made him aware of the areas where we have been neglected, in terms of infrastructure, health care and education. We gave him examples. He assured us he will take care of the Valley," Garcia said.

Garcia said it was important for Democrats to go with a "winner" in any special election for U.S. Senate. "John Sharp has not been able to clear the hurdle in his last two elections. Bill White keeps winning. If you want to know how strong and effective Bill White is, call someone in Houston. He has a 90 percent rating in the opinion polls," Garcia said.

Leo said he was sticking with Sharp, an old friend. "I was the Lone Ranger in the room last night. I am sticking with Sharp. Bill White is good but John Sharp has been a friend for a long time."

Leo said White will probably "go down well"' with the business community. "I was impressed with his speech. I think he will make a strong candidate who will appeal to the business community. But, I am not sure how Bill White does with the grassroots of the party," Leo said.

What Leo does not want to see is a "bloody battle" between Sharp and White. "I would like to see a well-qualified Democrat run for governor, not a newcomer. Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison could cause a bloodbath in the governor's race in Republican primary and I would like to see the Democrats take advantage of that," Leo said.

Leo acknowledged that Democrats "do not have a good record" in Texas in U.S. Senate special elections. He pointed to Republican John Tower's victory over Democrat William Blakley in 1961, for the seat vacated by then Vice President Lyndon Johnson and to Hutchison's victory over Democrat Bob Krueger in 1993.

"Special elections are monster elections. I hope that as Democrats can unite behind one strong candidate for the Senate race," Leo said.

A number of Republicans have announced their intention to run for Hutchison's seat, should she resign to run for governor. They include state Sen. Florence Shapiro of Plano, Railroad Commissioners Michael Williams and Elizabeth Ames Jones, and former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams. Other Republicans rumored to be interested include Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Attorney General Greg Abbott and U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, of Fort Worth.

It's that he'd rather go to Washington to be with Caroline.

That, at least, is the spin you'll be hearing as an explanation for what appears to be a change of course.

Many who know White see him as an executive sort, one who would not be happy as a junior member of a club of 100.

But Washington holds much more attraction for a Democrat today than it did six months ago.

For eight years the capital has been dominated by a Reaganesque philosophy that said government was the problem rather than the solution -- and seemed hell-bent on proving it.

A changing agenda
Even when Democrats took over Congress two years ago, they couldn't pass sweeping laws because they couldn't get 60 votes in the Senate, and even if they could, the laws wouldn't be enforced.

Either the president would quietly attach "signing statements" indicating he didn't intend to enforce them, or the former industry lobbyists he had installed in various key agency positions would ensure that they were subverted.

Now, Democrats have a growing majority in the Senate, and President-elect Barack Obama is laying out an activist governmental agenda that would make FDR blush.

What's more, Obama is parading a dazzling array of picks for Cabinet positions and White House slots.

White may have been disappointed to be passed over for secretary of energy, but he was beat out by a Nobel laureate, for Pete's sake.

That's a team Democrats are flocking to join.

Who knew, for example, that Caroline Kennedy wanted to be a senator?

She knows Camelot when she sees it, and so it shouldn't surprise us that the knight White would want to join her.

Besides, there is that little problem of the woman who says she's ready to leave Washington. Bill White may believe he could beat Kay Bailey Hutchison, but he's smart enough to know it would be very, very difficult.

What's more, his financial supporters run heavily to the business community, and he's reportedly been hearing from them that they'd find it hard to bet on him rather than her.

If history is a guide, the special election for the Senate will be a free-for-all. Two dozen candidates ran in 1993 to replace Sen. Lloyd Bentsen after he became President Bill Clinton's secretary of the treasury.

In 1961, when John Tower was elected in a special election to replace new Vice President Lyndon Johnson, 71 candidates were on the ballot.

Hutchison says she's not likely to resign from the Senate for a year. Even so, at least six candidates are already in the race to replace her.

Former Comptroller John Sharp is the only other Democrat.

Republicans include Railroad Commissioners Michael Williams and Elizabeth Ames Jones, state Sen. Florence Shapiro of Plano and former Secretary of State Roger Williams.

Many more can be expected to file later, and a few may be names you recognize. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is the biggest question mark.

Most, however, will be guaranteed footnotes.

But while Hutchison may be very popular now, her performance in the 1993 election should serve as a caution to the Republicans who have announced. It is evidence that holding a statewide office (or the lower office of state senator) guarantees neither name recognition nor widespread support.

She garnered only 29 percent of the vote, just 99 votes ahead of Democrat Bob Krueger, a former congressman who had been appointed interim U.S. senator by Gov. Ann Richards.

No other statewide officeholders were on the ballot.

As mayor of the state's largest city during a time when several hurricanes put him in the spotlight, White may well have greater name recognition than any of the currently announced Republicans.

He will also be at least as well funded as any of them, and better than Sharp.

Assuming no financial disasters hit Houston, White is likely to get into a runoff, and there is an outside chance that it could be with Sharp.

That would involve the two of them splitting about 40 percent of the vote while at least four or five major Republicans split 55 percent of the vote, with 5 percent going to various candidates representing "none of the above."

In a runoff against a Republican, much might depend on how the public rates Obama's performance at the time.

If White is seen as having a chance, national money will pour in as Democrats attempt to move toward a 60th Senate seat.

It was a special election that in 1961 sent our first Republican senator to Washington in the 20th century.

It could be a special election that sends our first Democrat in the 21st.

White, a Democrat, has been mayor of Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, for the past five years. Williams, a Republican, oversees the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry.

Hutchison has formed an exploratory committee to run for governor in 2010. If she leaves her Senate seat before her term ends in 2012, the governor would appoint a replacement until a special election is held.

White, a former chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, made his announcement Tuesday on a short video on his campaign Web site.

White earned national prominence in 2005 when he welcomed the evacuees of Hurricane Katrina into Houston and then a few weeks later had to order the evacuation of the city when Hurricane Rita threatened to hit. He was back in the spotlight in September when Hurricane Ike came ashore near Galveston and damaged homes and knocked out power to thousands in the Houston area.

Williams began his work at the Railroad Commission in 1999 after he was appointed to fill a vacant seat by then-Gov. George W. Bush. Williams was elected the following year to the unexpired term. He was re-elected to a full six-year term in 2002 and again this year.

A former prosecutor, Williams has served in the Departments of Education, Justice and Treasury.

Others who have announced plans to run for Hutchison's seat in 2012 or sooner are former state comptroller John Sharp, a Democrat, and Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones and GOP fundraiser Roger Williams, both Republicans.

Mayor Bill White officially jumped into the increasingly crowded field of candidates vying for a U.S. Senate seat Tuesday, touting his grasp on energy issues and his experience running the nation's fourth largest city.

The race to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is expected to relinquish the seat to run for governor, is shaping up as a dynamic, unpredictable contest featuring a host of prominent elected officials from both parties, many who have long had their eyes on the post.

So far, the list of candidates who have said they plan to run includes at least one other prominent Democrat -- former Texas Comptroller John Sharp.

The list of Republicans is growing by the day. Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams threw his hat in Tuesday, joining former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, insurance sales manager Scott Nichol and state Sen. Florence Shapiro, of Plano.

Other rumored GOP possibilities are Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Attorney General Greg Abbott and U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, of Fort Worth.

White's announcement, made officially in an online video Tuesday afternoon, ended months of speculation about the next step for White, an attorney and former deputy energy secretary whom many Democrats had grown to see as their party's best chance for taking back the governor's mansion.

The popular three-term mayor, barred from re-election by term limits, said he wanted to continue as a public servant.

"I think I can make a contribution. I love this state," White told reporters in the basement of City Hall, shortly after the video release.

"Right now, a lot of our issues in Texas and in the city of Houston, for that matter, involve federal issues, like how do we deal with uninsured people who have health care needs ... essentially, it has to do with a broken federal health care system. Higher education throughout the country is suffering because states don't have enough revenue to finance all of the scholarships they need."

Plans state tour in January
White will take questions again today after visiting supporters Tuesday night in the Rio Grande Valley. Aides said White, 54, plans a statewide tour in January to introduce himself to voters.

Hutchison, who formed a state campaign committee and put $1 million into it earlier this month, has indicated she will resign from office late next year if she ultimately decides to run for governor. Gov. Rick Perry, who already has said he intends to run for re-election, would appoint a temporary successor to her seat. Voters likely would choose her replacement in a multi-candidate special election in November 2009 or May 2010, depending on when she steps aside.

That could eliminate the bruising primary seasons that often focus on party dogma, potentially elevate the importance of fundraising and name recognition and possibly minimize the built-in GOP advantage in Texas. Republicans still carry statewide office by six to eight percentage points, strategists said.

Geography also will play a key role, sources said. Since special elections often feature a gaggle of candidates, anyone with a strong advantage in one area has a greater ability to win enough votes to make a runoff. For White, who was re-elected in 2007 with more than 86 percent of the vote, Harris County could be that base. And because a handful of candidates who have expressed interest in running are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the strength of any one of them could be diluted, political operatives said.

Other factors include President-elect Barack Obama's performance during his first year, the turbulent economy, and, in Texas, an unusually long period of political jockeying while candidates across the state position themselves for the special race.

"It's the Wild West out there, and I think that's particularly true in the next few months," said James Henson, who directs the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. "A lot of the normal rules don't apply. ... It's gonna be nuts."

In the Web video, White spoke simply and directly to the camera. He touted Houston's job growth and "fiscal discipline" during his time leading the city and emphasized his passion for national energy policy, claiming he knew how to move the nation toward energy independence.

"We know that decisions made in Washington will affect our lives in a major way," he said, citing turbulent economic times, a rising federal deficit and high unemployment rates. "But this may be an opportunity for our nation to do things it has only dreamed of before."

White also characterized himself as the son of modest schoolteachers from San Antonio who "didn't have a lot of money" but stressed the importance of "love, faith and honesty and belief in hard work and public service."

The brief online introduction carried echoes of the recently concluded presidential race, in which use of the Internet revolutionized the ability of candidates to speak to voters directly and raise vast amounts of money in relatively short periods of time.

Stressing domestic issues
Speaking with reporters at City Hall, White indicated his Senate agenda would address domestic issues rather than international problems such as the Iraq war: "A lot of our citizens, they're more concerned about just being safe in their houses and free from gangs and narcotics than they are in trying to make a city safe halfway around the world. We are asking ourselves what 'homeland security' really means."

White also alluded to his experience with federal bureaucracies after guiding the city through Hurricane Ike.

"We have citizens right now who can't get FEMA reimbursement for roofs that were blown off, you know, months ago. I think I can have an impact on that based on what I've learned," he said.

Many had speculated that White would run for governor because it is a better fit for his results-oriented executive personality. Behind the scenes at City Hall, White is known for high expectations and brooks no excuses from underlings.

"I don't think it was his initial ideal," said Councilman Ron Green of the choice for Senate. "He is an executive, and I think it's going to be an adjustment for him. But he can be a good team player."

If White had run for governor, it would have been harder to win because both he and Hutchison have bipartisan "crossover" appeal, Green said. "In the Senate (race), he's up against a weaker opponent."

Councilwoman Sue Lovell said White's cooperative skills play out behind the scenes, and he would do fine in a legislative capacity.

"He really insists on having consensus before ever bringing anything on to the (council) agenda. And that's why the council gets along so well ... ," she said.