AUSTIN - For veteran state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, it is a waiting game.

While her Republican colleagues David Dewhurst and Dan Patrick tear each other apart before the May 27 Republican primary runoff for lieutenant governor, the San Antonio Democrat waits on the sidelines.

Van de Putte, who is also seeking the post but ran unopposed in her party's primary, said she knows it'll be an uphill battle to defeat Dewhurst or Patrick in the Nov. 4 general election. But what gives her confidence of proving to the pundits and to the Republican Party that a Democrat can win in Texas is talking to voters throughout the state.

Van de Putte recently went on a 14-city bus tour that included stops in Lubbock, Midland and Wichita Falls. She also visited Amarillo in January.

"The questions that I get in listening to people, and these are not Democratic activists, just small -business people, veterans, ranchers and farmers, is this sentiment: 'In Austin, do they know we exist? Do they know how bad it is here without any water?' or, 'We haven't gotten anything for our roads,'" she said.

"The other thing is about their schools, their education and the classrooms, a lot of the classrooms have more students," Van de Putte said. "So, it is really just the core - transportation, water and education. That's it."

Those are issues neither Dewhurst nor Patrick are discussing because they are too busy attacking each other mercilessly and pandering to the right wing of their party with their toxic rhetoric on illegal immigration and border security, Van de Putte charged.

Van de Putte knows Dewhurst and Patrick better than most office-seekers know their opponents because she was already serving in the Senate when Dewhurst, the presiding officer of the chamber, and the Houston senator came on board in 2003 and 2007, respectively.

However, Austin watchers don't give her and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis - the party's best hopes for turning Texas blue, or at least purple - much of a chance because no Democrat has won statewide office since 1994.

But Van de Putte said she is not worried most Austin insiders have written her off.

"In every location, including Lubbock, people come up to me and say 'I never voted for a Democrat, but I am going to vote for you,'" she said. Many are business owners or chamber of commerce presidents.

"Some were even writing checks," she added. "This is the type of response we're getting."

Dewhurst, who is counting on coming from behind to defeat Patrick in the runoff - he finished a distant second in the four-candidate race on March 4 - said before the first round that if he is the nominee he'll remind Texas voters of Van de Putte's "pretty liberal views."

However, after last year's session Rice University professor Mark P. Jones - who ranks all members of the Legislature from most conservative to most liberal, or, the other way around - ranked Van de Putte as the fourth-most conservative Democratic senator.

National media outlets such as the Washington Post and CNN, have reported that if any Texas Democrat can turn Texas purple, it's Van de Putte and not Davis - a possibility Van de Putte dismissed with a smile.

"Van de Putte is quietly emerging as a favorite among some Democrats, who see the Hispanic businesswoman and mother of six as the more likely candidate who could help revive her party's chances," the Post reported on March 14.

Although Patrick hasn't said much about Van de Putte during his fight for his party's nomination, she said that if he becomes the GOP nominee she will remind voters of his rhetoric, especially if he tries to move to the center.

"There is enough video footage," she said in reference to televised debates, campaign ads and Senate floor speeches. "It is such a contrast in what I see as the vision for our state remaining strong economically and the divisiveness and politics of fear that Patrick uses."

In Potter County, early voting is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday at one location, the ticket office in the Santa Fe Building, 900 S. Polk St. Voters should use the Ninth Avenue entrance.