Austin American-Statesman

Hutchison, Krueger call on celebrities for campaign help
Michael Holmes
Publication Date: May 22, 1993  Page: B5  Section: City/State  Edition: FINAL 

The U.S. Senate campaign turned into "star wars'' Friday, with both candidates signing up celebrity help.
State Treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican, visited Dallas and College Station accompanied by actor Charlton Heston.
Interim Sen. Bob Krueger, a Democrat, was joined at a Dallas early voting rally by author and political activist Gloria Steinem. Steinem's group Voters for Choice had made pro-Krueger ads featuring actresses Cybill Shepherd and Annie Potts.
Krueger, who was appointed by Gov. Ann Richards, and Hutchison meet in a June 5 runoff to complete the final 1 1/2 years of Democrat Lloyd Bentsen's Senate term. Bentsen resigned to become U.S. treasury secretary.
Steinem said she was endorsing Krueger because of his support for abortion rights. She said Hutchison "has vacillated between a pro-choice and an anti-choice position for the last three years, after having been solidly anti-choice for 20 years."
Hutchison has said she favors abortion rights but would allow states to impose some restrictions, such as requiring minors to get parental consent.
In a television commercial, Shepherd says, "Look, it is important to elect women to the United States Senate, but it is much more important to elect a person who will fight for women and families."
In a radio ad, Potts pokes fun at Hutchison for calling herself a different kind of politician. "Don't believe it. The record shows she's just the same old thing in a skirt," the ad says.
Hutchison and Heston appeared at the Studios of Las Colinas, and the candidate touted the state's growing film industry as something "good for tourism, and it's good for business in Texas."
She said the stop was another in her series of visits to small businesses, which she said hold the key to creating new jobs.
"It is very important for us to understand that if we are going to get this economy going again, it is going to be by taking the mandates and the regulations off our small businesses so they can grow and expand," Hutchison said.
Heston said he wasn't sure how many minds his appearance might change, but he added, "I have a very valid interest in seeing someone like Kay Bailey Hutchison in the U.S. Senate. It's a free country. I get to come and shoot my mouth off. That's what I'm doing."