After the filing, Dutrow and several supporters headed to the Rio Grande Valley to discuss the campaign with workers, farmers, and young people there. "Working people in the valley are facing a deepening social and economic crisis," the candidate explained. "Unemployment and plant closings such as the bosses at Levi-Strauss are carrying out at two plants in the area, a water shortage, lack of access to health-care facilities, cop brutality, and brownouts from poor maintenance of the power grid are all part of the daily reality of life in the Rio Grande Valley."

During the campaign swing through the Brownsville-San Benito area, socialist workers sold the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial at plant gates and in working-class neighborhoods, and they set up a literature table at the International Bridge connecting the United States and Mexico.

"They blame Mexico for everything," Jose Antonio Castro told Dutrow. "But it’s all the same land...it was all Mexico. Now there are 30 million Mexicans living here." To illustrate his point he picked up a handful of dirt and let it slowly fall to the ground through his fingers, "Look. It’s the same land, same water, same people. These conflicts don’t make any sense to us."

Gracie, also from the same neighborhood, is employed on the city’s waterfront where she works in the holds of ships hooking up loads. She told socialist workers that the bosses cut her wages from $17.50 to $9.50 per hour. New hires start at $7.50 and have to work 400 hours before they get a raise to the $9.50 rate. The trouble started when a union-busting company set up shop in the 1990s, giving unionized firms leverage to demand wage concessions from the union.

"My husband is also a longshoreman, but we have trouble making ends meet," she said. "We have no health insurance of any kind on the job. Without my mother-in-law’s house to live in, we would be out in the street."

In a discussion with young supporters of the campaign Dutrow explained what was behind the jobs crisis. "Contrary to what the bosses and capitalist politicians tell us, these plant closings have nothing to do with other countries stealing jobs," Dutrow said. "It has everything to do with corporate greed and the capitalist profit drive. The bosses and their government twist this to justify chauvinism and more protectionist legislation. For workers, however, the answer lies in a fight against the employers to defend our rights and living standards."

The campaigning in Austin and Brownsville capped off a week of petitioning efforts to go over the goal of 1,500 signatures. Supporters of the campaign targeted working-class districts near the local Pathfinder Bookstore, college campuses, and meatpacking factory gates as they wrapped up the signature drive.

Many people in the workers district expressed interest in the campaign’s program in defense of workers’ rights. One of these, a sewing machine operator, joined in the discussion at the campaign table, relaying her experiences in trying to form a union at the laundry where she worked.  
 
Sales of revolutionary books
Isabel, a worker in the same neighborhood, stopped by the campaign table as the socialists were setting up. After signing the petition she studied various revolutionary books and pamphlets published by Pathfinder Press that were part of the literature display. She invited the socialist workers to meet with her at home later in the afternoon and decided to purchase a subscription to Perspectiva Mundial along with Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, Socialism and Man in Cuba, and several other titles.

Another worker originally from Mexico joined with the socialist workers for a day of campaigning. He introduced the campaign to fellow Spanish-speaking workers. "This candidate is a worker running for office from a workers party," he would say. "And these books give you an idea of what we can do to get rid of capitalism and imperialism." He signed up for a subscription to Perspectiva Mundial and stocked up on books, including Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, The Revolution Betrayed, and In Defense of Marxism, the latter two by Leon Trotsky, while he was encouraging others to do likewise.

Dozens of people bought copies of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial during the petition drive. Nine bought subscriptions to the socialist publications and eight bought copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution at campaign tables and at Militant Labor Forum discussions during the drive.  
 
Interest among GIs
During the last weeks of petitioning, campaigners reported that a number of GIs were beginning to discuss the politics of the campaign and add their names to the petition. One member of the armed forces told a supporter, "Let me sign that. I know all about it. I just got back from Kuwait." Another young reservist approached by a petitioner asked to take a campaign flyer to read before he would decide if he wanted to sign.. He returned about two hours later and asked the petitioner, "OK, this is nice, but how are you going to do it?" After the petitioner explained the campaigns views about the need for a revolutionary struggle to fight for a workers and farmers government he decided to sign.

"People signed for different reasons," explained Stephanie Taylor, a member of the Young Socialists in Texas. "A lot of students I talked with thought that Dutrow ought to have a ‘fair chance’ to be on the ballot. Others told me they were familiar with the Socialist Workers Party and had signed to get them on the ballot before. Many people were interested in the campaign’s views on voting rights for noncitizens. I met a lot of people from other countries. I gave them campaign flyers and invited them to the Militant Labor Forum."

Jacquie Henderson contributed to this article.  
 
 
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