By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter.
Dallas, TX – Weekend Edition host: Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidates Tony Sanchez and Dan Morales made history last night. They were the nation's first gubernatorial candidates in any state to debate in Spanish. But in both forums, they also acted like most politicians by attacking each other's integrity and record. In between their meetings, the three major Democratic candidates for Senate also debated. More from 90.1's Bill Zeeble.
Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: Businessman Tony Sanchez and former Attorney General Dan Morales not only went down in the record books for their Spanish language debate, which followed an hour-long face-off in English. They're also the first Latinos to challenge each other in a Texas primary for governor. The Hispanic pride Morales and Sanchez both claimed may be about the only item they agree on, however. Almost from the start, they disagreed on the emphasis placed on the Spanish language debate.
Dan Morales, Democratic candidate for Texas governor: I've been troubled by the tone and tenor of my opponents campaign, particularly with regard to issues of race and ethnicity, now most recently with my opponent's insistence that we elevate Spanish basically to a status equal with English. That would have an effect of driving a wedge among our people based on language. This is Texas, and in Texas we speak English as our primary language.
Zeeble: Sanchez responded, saying he's proud to be both a Texan and an American.
Tony Sanchez, Democrat candidate for Texas governor: I think it's a slap in the face to the 7 million Latinos that live in Texas when you tell them you don't want to communicate in the language they prefer. The question is this: we must respect the 35% of our population. To not respect all the 7 million people from something they really want, I think it's shameful conduct.
Zeeble: A few times during the debate, Sanchez accused Morales of being a professional politician, who'd raise taxes and irresponsibly spend voters' money.
Sanchez: The worst thing we can possibly do...is go out and raise taxes and give money to professional politicians like Mr. Morales and Mr. Perry and let them spend it. 'Cause they'll spend it before they take out the inefficiencies and find the waste in our budgets.
Zeeble: Morales countered by saying Sanchez also knows something about politics.
Morales: You want to talk about politics. You know what politics is? It's Mr. Sanchez spending more than $10 million of his own money attempting to buy this election. You want to know what politics is? An individual with no qualification or experience or record in a public service job.
Zeeble: The candidates disagreed on a number of other issues, including the TAAS test, and affirmative action. Dan Morales again asked for more debates, especially one in Houston. Tony Sanchez reiterated he's happy with the two just concluded. For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.