Perry didn't — and couldn't — dispute Medina's reminder that he was once a Democrat. Perry, whose father was repeatedly elected as a Democrat to the Haskell County Commission, won his first election, to the Texas House in 1984, as a Democrat. He won re-election in 1986 and 1988 before switching parties to challenge Democratic Agricultural Commissioner Jim Hightower in 1990 — a race that Perry won in an upset.
In the debate, Perry didn't answer Medina's charge that he was Gore's campaign manager.
In fact, according to news accounts and Perry's campaign, Perry served as Gore's Texas campaign chairman in 1988.
What brought Perry to pitch in for Gore, whose candidacy washed out after he failed to do well outside his native South?
According to news reports at the time, many conservative Texas Democrats put stock in GoreÂ’s campaign, among them former Gov. Dolph Briscoe and then-House Speaker Gib Lewis, who flew to Washington to endorse Gore.