State Sen. Steve Ogden, the conservative Republican from Bryan, just doesn't think enough votes exist to his right. Don't tell that to Huntsville businessman Ben Bius, the incumbent's challenger in the March 2 Republican primary election.
Ogden, who as chair of the Senate Finance Committee is one of Texas' most powerful legislators, is running on his 13-year Senate record and his budget-writing experience, saying these times demand experience.
Bius' platform is largely anti-Ogden, who, Bius said, has lost touch and served too long. He said Ogden's support for the Trans-Texas Corridor and opposing legislation that would allow concealed handguns on college campuses -- among other votes -- show he should not be the conservative choice.
"There comes a time for every man to move on," said Bius, who was the unsuccessful Republican candidate in 1998 and 2000 state representative races.
Ogden agrees. But, he said, now's not that time, given that he has helped craft five state budgets and the upcoming one is expected to be the toughest yet. He also said Bius' strategy of attacking him from the right won't work.
"It's a silly strategy because there aren't that many votes to the right of me," he said. "A strategy to out-conservative me is going to appear pretty silly when the election is over."
Ogden touts budget experience
The state budget will be the key concern of the next legislative session, Ogden said. The state's rainy day fund will need to be used to balance it, he said, because of declining sales tax revenue and lack of federal stimulus money that helped balance the current budget.
"I am best qualified to represent this district and protect it in Austin," Ogden said. "I know how to write a state budget and I can do it in these times."
He also raised concerns about the federal budget deficit, which is expected to top $13 trillion this year. He said Texas should lead the charge calling for a constitutional convention to propose a national balanced budget amendment.
"I want to push the federal government to get its fiscal house in order," he said.
Bius has criticized Ogden for balancing the current budget with the help of the "Obama money" -- $12 billion in stimulus funds.
Bius aims at welfare reform
The centerpiece of Bius' platform is ending what he calls generational welfare, the continual support of generations of families on welfare. But it's also personal.
"My son was killed by a product of generational welfare," he said. William Bius was shot at age 19 in 2008 after celebrating a friend's birthday in Houston.
Bius said he wants to require drug testing before cash payments are given out and would not give money to immigrants here illegally. He also said he wants to require welfare recipients to show proof of the ability to do simple reading, writing and arithmetic.
He said this would help reduce the 33 percent of the state budget spent for health and human services so that reductions don't have to be made in corrections and education.
"It's pretty much common sense," Bius said. "If we cut the money off, it's a step in the right direction. It's not an end-all, but we have to begin to end generational welfare."
Ogden said drug testing would tie up the state in court with unreasonable search and seizure challenges, as it did in Michigan, the only state that has had such legislation. He also said requiring skills tests for welfare recipients is not rational.
"Let's do [literacy tests] on 3-year-olds, since children are the biggest recipients of welfare in Texas," Ogden said. "Literacy tests went out with the poll tax. The guy's nuts."
To run or not to run
The tone of the race has gotten increasingly ugly, but it started out far from pretty. Bius said Ogden broke his word when he decided to run after announcing in September he wouldn't.
After Odgen said he wouldn't run, Bius said, he prayed, and came to the conclusion that he would. A few months later, in late November, State Rep. Dan Gattis of Georgetown -- who also had been running for Ogden's seat -- also prayed, and concluded that he wasn't going to run.
Ogden said he changed his mind when it became clear Bius would have won the nomination by default and that he wanted to give the district a choice. Ogden also said that, given the budget challenges ahead, he always had felt uneasy about not running, like he was bailing out before a crash.
"There was a little part of me that felt queasy," he said.
Bius said that he would likely not have entered the race if Ogden didn't make the initial announcement that he wasn't going to run.
A challenge from the right
In the final days before the primary, Bius is zeroing in on how he believes his conservative credentials trump Ogden's. His Web site prominently displays a "news flash" linking to a letter from the National Rifle Association giving him an A rating, meaning he solidly supports gun rights.
Ogden has a B+ rating, which means he is "generally a pro-gun candidate." The downgrade from the top rating may be the result of his vote last year against legislation that would have allowed those with permits to carry concealed handguns on college campuses.
Texas A&M faculty -- and faculty statewide -- voiced strong opposition to the legislation.
"I voted against taking away the privilege that Texas A&M has [to] determine for themselves," Ogden said. "It ought to be up to their discretion."
Gary Halter, a Texas A&M political science professor who focuses on Texas politics, said the tea party movement -- the loose organization of anti-tax activists -- could influence close races.
"I don't think the Ogden race is going to be close at all," he said. "Too many years being there. Too strong a record. Too many relationships ...too hard to beat."
The winner of the Senate District 5 race will face Democrat Stephen Wyman in the November general election to represent the 14-county region.
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