Ann Richards, ex-Texas governor

AUSTIN, Texas — Former Gov. Ann Richards, 73, the witty and flamboyant Democrat who went from homemaker to national political celebrity, died Wednesday night of esophageal cancer, a family spokeswoman said.

The silver-haired, silver-tongued Ms. Richards said she entered politics to help others, especially women and minorities who were often ignored by Texas' male-dominated establishment.

"I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone,' " Ms. Richards said shortly before leaving office in January 1995.

She was governor for one term, losing her re-election bid to Republican George W. Bush.

Ms. Richards grabbed the national spotlight with her keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, when she was the Texas state treasurer. She won cheers when she reminded delegates that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, "only backwards and in high heels."

Ms. Richards sealed her partisan reputation with a blast at George H.W. Bush, a fellow Texan who was vice president at the time: "Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

Four years later, she was chairwoman of the Democratic convention that nominated Bill Clinton for president.

Ms. Richards rose to the governorship with a come-from-behind victory over millionaire cowboy Clayton Williams in 1990.

In four years as governor, Ms. Richards championed what she called the "New Texas," appointing more women and more minorities to state posts than any of her predecessors.

She polished Texas' image, courted movie producers, championed the North American Free Trade Agreement, oversaw an expansion of the state prison system and presided over rising student achievement scores and plunging dropout rates.

Born in Lakeview, Texas, in 1933, Ms. Richards grew up near Waco, married civil-rights lawyer David Richards and spent her early adulthood volunteering in campaigns and raising four children. She often said the hardest job she ever had was as a public-school teacher at Fulmore Junior High School in Austin.

Ms. Richards served on the Travis County Commissioners Court in Austin for six years before jumping to a bigger arena in 1982. Her election as state treasurer made her the first woman elected statewide in nearly 50 years.

But politics took a toll, contributing to the breakup of her marriage. And public life forced her to be remarkably candid about her 1980 treatment for alcoholism.

"I had seen the very bottom of life," she once recalled. "I was so afraid I wouldn't be funny anymore. I just knew that I would lose my zaniness and my sense of humor. But I didn't. Recovery turned out to be a wonderful thing."

Asked once what she might have done differently had she known she was going to be a one-term governor, Ms. Richards grinned: "Oh, I would probably have raised more hell."

Survivors include her children, Cecile Richards, Daniel Richards, Clark Richards and Ellen Richards; their spouses; and eight grandchildren.