In the summer of 1988 leaders of the Democratic party invited Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards to deliver a prime-time address at the Democratic National Convention.

Richards delivered. all right, in a big way, targeting Republican presidential nominee George H.W. Bush, who had just spent eight years as Ronald Reagan's vice president.  Richards delivered a takedown line that has lived forever: "He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

I met Ann Richards in the fall of 1989 when she had just launched her campaign for governor of Texas.