DALLAS MORNING NEWS| MONDAY, OCTOBER 20
Pete Sessions for 32nd Congressional District
Considering the distaste many conservatives had for the recent financial rescue plan passed by Congress, it's admirable that Rep. Pete Sessions grasped the seriousness of the problem, bucked pressure from many of his allies and voted for the $700 billion package. The 53-year-old Republican from Dallas could have played the hard-liner, but instead he got on the phone, consulted business leaders, did his due diligence and saw merit in the moderate approach.
That's one reason we recommend Mr. Sessions for another term – despite some appealing positions advocated by his Democratic opponent, Eric Roberson, 43, of Plano.
Mr. Roberson takes thoughtful and well-researched stances on key issues like health care, illegal immigration and global warming. But he's disturbingly vague when it comes to entitlement reform and that, combined with his lack of political experience, poses too big an obstacle.
Mr. Sessions has shown other signs of moving from hard-liner toward the political center. He endorsed Rudy Giuliani for the Republican presidential nomination, for example. And he now says he wants to press ahead soon with immigration reform, including a guest-worker program and legalization provisions similar to those we found attractive in a measure co-sponsored in 2006 by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Mr. Sessions could bolster his appeal by abandoning some of the polarizing slogans and exaggerated characterizations that occasionally pop into his rhetoric. But all in all, we see progress here.
Also running is Libertarian Alex Bischoff, 31, a Dallas Web developer.