McALLEN -- With Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at his side, Rick Noriega glimpsed the political limelight a Democratic Senate candidate would traditionally expect in South Texas a month before the election.

But as the pair stepped before a phalanx of television cameras at the McAllen International Airport last week for Clinton's heavy hitter endorsement, local Democratic leaders were in short supply. Several had endorsed GOP Sen. John Cornyn. Others remained on the sidelines or didn't hear about the event in time to attend.

Taking on an incumbent senator isn't supposed to be easy, especially for Democrats in Texas. But the one thing any Democratic candidate can count on is strong support in the Rio Grande Valley. Add to that the fact that Noriega is Hispanic and a veteran of the Afghan war in a region dominated by Hispanics and veterans, and he should have been able to count on solid support from the region.

But with only four weeks before the Nov. 4 election, it appears Cornyn has made some inroads with the Valley's political establishment. Whether that has weakened Noriega with rank-and-file voters will be tested on Election Day.

Cornyn has outraised and outspent Noriega and has been running television ads; he has visited the Valley six times since March, according to his campaign, sewing up endorsements from influential local leaders. And despite his vote in favor of the locally dreaded border fence, Cornyn has helped officials win concessions from the Department of Homeland Security.

Noriega, by contrast, has little advertising, and his campaign has made crucial missteps by not responding to South Texas kingmakers' offers of help, bruising some egos in the process.

Still, Noriega is expected to carry the Valley. But anything but an overwhelming win in the region would be embarrassing.

"I want to see the senator win," said Cornyn's South Texas campaign adviser, Anie Garcia, who's been lining up Cornyn backers. "Obviously the hope is if we don't take South Texas, we would definitely gain percentage-wise compared to 2002."

In his first Senate race that year, Cornyn defeated Democrat Ron Kirk but pulled in a third or less of the vote in Rio Grande Valley counties.

Noriega brushes off suggestions that his efforts are falling short.

He characterized the 70 mayors, law enforcement officials and business leaders in the Valley who are backing Cornyn as Republicans or Democrats with "Republican leanings."

"It is no indication of what's going to happen in South Texas. I think that is an attempt at a backstop of the tsunami that we'll have in South Texas," Noriega said.

Noriega is an Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who trained Afghan troops and later patrolled the U.S.-Mexico border under Operation Jumpstart. As a state representative he regularly battles Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick.

But Noriega hasn't been able to tell his story adequately, said Jerry Polinard, a political science professor at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg.

"Obviously Noriega doesn't have the money to compete with Senator Cornyn," Polinard said.

Assertive maneuvers by Cornyn and missed opportunities by Noriega contributed to the current scenario.

For example, Noriega has not sewn up support from the 14 Rio Grande Valley mayors who supported his early primary opponent Mikal Watts, a wealthy South Texas lawyer who bowed out a year ago.

Notably absent from Noriega's airport rally with Clinton was J.D. Salinas, the young Democratic county judge in Hidalgo County. Salinas was one of the local leaders who supported Watts.

He says he's willing to back Noriega, but the candidate has to work for it.

"I don't want to be taken for granted," Salinas said. He said he wants to sit down with Noriega to discuss the priorities of the region's largest county.

Salinas said he had not spoken to Noriega about the Clinton event last week until about an hour before she arrived, and by then it was too late to drop everything and head to the airport.

La Joya Mayor Billy Leo, a Valley Democratic sage who rattles off precinct numbers and voting breakouts for recent elections, backs Noriega and was at the Clinton rally for him along with state Rep. Aaron Pena of Edinburg.

Leo said he had lined up another seven or eight Valley endorsements for Noriega, but that Noriega's campaign didn't follow up.

Asked this week about Leo's attempts to help, Noriega didn't answer directly, saying only he had a good relationship with Leo.

Leo discounts Cornyn's endorsements. He identified the Republicans on Cornyn's list and dismissed the rest as Democratic "switch hitters" who would follow the incumbent to avoid losing federal funding for local projects.

Pharr Mayor Leopoldo "Polo" Palacios, a Democrat backing Cornyn, explains his support in the simplest terms.

"I support the man because he has produced," he said. "They might say I'm a turncoat; that doesn't help my community with paving, policing and parks."

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