Bush called 5 Texas Repubs on bailout vote, but only one voted 'yes'

WASHINGTON — On the morning of the $700 billion bailout vote, President Bush spoke by telephone with five Texas Republicans — Joe Barton, Kenny Marchant, Randy Neugebauer, Mike Conaway and Kevin Brady — to secure their votes. His score: one for five.

Only Brady, R-The Woodlands, decided to vote for the bill, reflecting a lame-duck president's limited clout, even in his home state. Of the 19 Texas Republicans, four voted for the bailout.

Conaway, a long-time Bush friend and former business partner from Midland, was undecided until the last moment when he pushed the voting card into the machine.

"I didn’t make up my mind up until my finger was hovering over the red or green button," Conaway said. "It was that close. I could have gone either way. I understood the risk to the system but in the final analysis, I believed there was a better way to do it."

Bush's call early Monday morning was a factor in his thinking. "He said 'we need to do this,' and I said, 'Mr. President, I don't know what I'm going to do.'"
As it happens, Bush called Conaway again Tuesday, to postpone a fundraiser at the Texan's Midland home scheduled for Thursday. "He said two things, 'we've got to do something' and 'what are your ideas.'"

Bush did not bring up Conaway's "no" vote. "He's a really forward-looking guy," said the Midland lawmaker. "He doesn’t spend a lot of time looking in the rear view mirror."

Brady, said spokeswoman Bonnie Buchanan, spoke to Bush for three or four minutes. "He really appreciated the call, and was glad to speak with him again since Brady served in the state legislature while Bush was governor."

Brady, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, issued a terse statement after the vote.
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