THUMB AWARD TIGER BILL VS. TEDDYISM

Thumbs Down to former Gov. Bill Clements for opening his campaign with the most worn-out strategy of modern Texas Republicans: When in doubt, don’t talk about issues or your own merits. Just run against Ted Kennedy. Clements raised the spectre of Teddyism by saying that Gov. Mark White wants to be Kennedy’s running mate in 1988. He called White “a junior-sized LBJ” lusting for the White House. The anti-Teddy tactics are boring, illogical (after the Mondale massacre, are the Democrats likely to nominate a more liberal candidate?) and insulting to the voters’ intelligence. If Clements wants another shot at White, he should sock it to his real opponents, Rep. Tom Loeffler and Kent Hance, then be ready to demonstrate why voters who rejected him last time should change their minds. The Civil War is over, Bill. A whole bunch of us have been up there to Boston and New York. We know it snows a lot, but that doesn’t make it Moscow.