Presidential candidate announces in Odessa

The Republican hopeful in the narrow black suit wore the presidential bold red tie against a starch-stiff, white dress shirt Friday.

He had a soft hint of gray, slick-backed bangs on top and conservative cap-toed shoes on bottom.

His stately trappings screamed chief executive, but he is a relative political unknown announcing a campaign in a far-off place.

William Koenig quietly started his Oval Office pursuit Friday at the Presidential Museum some five hours from the closest major media market and in front of 20 people and three local television cameras.

The Arizona native and Washington-area resident with 22 years living in Dallas and White House press credentials chose the Permian Basin to kick off his push.

Odessa?

Naturally.

West Texas can claim two former presidents in the Bushes, he said, and he has friends here also with a keen interest in Middle East politics.

And it was the Presidential Museum after all, Koenig said.

“It was symbolic in some way,” said Bubba Saulsbury, whose father, Dick, is a good friend of Koenig and encouraged him to come to Odessa.

Koenig — a conservative online newsman and former commercial real estate agent — shared his conservative platform in a 10-minute speech that briskly hit all the policy high spots: immigration reform, tax code control, out-of-control health care costs, national security, abortion, energy, education and Social Security.

Koenig has formed a presidential exploratory committee, and he expects to declare his candidacy in the next 45 days.

He hasn’t shown up in the polls for top 2008 candidates. He’s never run for a political office before, and he’s in a race without a household name like Rudy Giuliani or an acting career like former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a chance, he said.

Koenig has a plan, he said, and a “very important and significant message to put out.” And if even that message isn’t being heard as loudly as it should right now, the forces of the Internet and a solid grassroots following through his website will get his name out there.

“Once people have a chance to look at the platform and see the depth of thinking …” he said, “I think we’ll have more and more interest in the campaign.”