Austin, TX
Hired as press secretary and speechwriter for Texas GOP gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams, a wealthy west-Texas oilman, running against Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards. This is by far my biggest, high-profile national contest, and provides extensive on-camera spokesperson, damage control and speech writing work.
Williams faces immediate crisis after winning GOP primary by likening rape to the weather: “If its inevitable, just sit back, relax and enjoy it,” he tells an off-the-record assemblage of reporters at his ranch. Due to the nature of comment, media breaks ‘off the record’ and national firestorm erupts.
Hensley arrives in Austin several weeks after the incident. Williams, after being ahead, now trails Richards by 10 points, and state/national media questions his ongoing viability.
Within six weeks, we pull the race back to even with a stark, negative — and in retrospect, shameless — focus on hot button cultural issues: flag burning, Jane Fonda financial contributions and state sodomy laws.
We pound Richards all summer with this troika of “issues” and press coverage now has Richards on the ropes facing daily, unanswered charges.
It wasn’t pretty, and retrospectively not proud of it. But it worked, and we pulled the race back to a 3-5 point Williams advantage.