Debra Medina was campaigning again Thursday.
But not for governor. This time, the Wharton Republican was campaigning for Texas voters to show up for city council, school board and other local elections Saturday.
For the first time since she drew 275,693 votes in a losing gubernatorial campaign, she said, she spent the morning e-mailing supporters, asking them to vote for lower spending and smaller government.
"So many folks are railing about what's going on in Washington," she said by phone from Wharton. "We've got local officials whose spending habits are just as egregious. But we tend to ignore what's happening right under our nose."
Medina had her flaws as a candidate, mostly because of inexperience.
But she's right on this: We spend way too much time watching cable TV news and not enough time watching local government.
"Some of our local governments have taken on too much debt, and the growth in spending far outpaces inflation and the growth of per capita income," she said, sounding again like the policy-geek Ron Paul supporter who debated toe-to-toe with Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
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