Just before Rep. Brian McCall publicly stabbed at history last month by trying to unseat the speaker of the Texas House, the Plano Republican quietly plowed gubernatorial history to earn a doctorate in humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas.

His dissertation, capping 18 months of research, traces the styles and achievements of seven governors, from John Connally in the 1960s through George W. Bush. The endeavor drew on McCall's conversations with more than 30 people, including Republican Gov. Rick Perry and former Democratic Govs. Ann Richards and Mark White.

"I felt an oral history project would be good because so many of these people are still in Texas and in Austin," McCall said. "Nobody had interviewed them."

Now McCall, 48, president of a venture capital group, hopes to convert "In the Shadow of John Connally: An Examination of Gubernatorial Power in Texas" into a book.

"There is so little written about Texas governors that I hope that this will fill a little bit of the void," McCall said.

Tony Champagne, a UT-Dallas political scientist who helped supervise McCall's project, said his student neatly demonstrated that Texas governors can be powerful despite weaknesses built into the office by the Texas Constitution and state law.

"If you read any of the textbooks on Texas government, they always say the governor is a weak, powerless office," Champagne said. "What he shows is that some governors — perhaps because of the economic situation in the state or perhaps because of their own personalities, or a combination of the two — are able to turn the office into an incredibly powerful office."

McCall did not rate the governors. But in an interview, he called Connally, a lawyer who had advised Lyndon Johnson and served as President Kennedy's secretary of the Navy, the most powerful. For starters, he said, Connally persuaded lawmakers to raise taxes in every regular legislative session while he was CEO of Texas.

Dennis Kratz, dean of the UT-Dallas School of Arts and Humanities, also supervised the dissertation. "If he redid it just a little bit, it could be a first-rate popular work of history," Kratz said.

McCall, who has a bachelor's degree from Baylor University and a master's degree from Southern Methodist University, reviewed speeches, newspaper articles and other documents on top of interviewing individuals close to the governors.

He talked with Richards last spring, shortly before she revealed her battle with esophageal cancer. McCall recalled his conversation with Richards, who died in September, as surprisingly serious given the joshing they had enjoyed since his election to the House in 1991.

Richards ruled out only one topic. "She would talk about anything, she would help me set up interviews with the people around her, but she would not talk about Bob Bullock," the late Democratic lieutenant governor with whom Richards had uneven times. "The relationship," McCall speculated, "had created scars that did not heal cleanly."

In his research, McCall said, he came to recognize Richards' significance in stoking the state's economy. "Richards is not known generally for being a very pro-business economic development governor," he said, though she helped save the General Motors plant in Arlington and bring Southwestern Bell's corporate headquarters to San Antonio.

"That's what she enjoyed most — the economic development aspects of her job," McCall said.

A surprise of his endeavor was learning that Bush's family tree includes the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce. A Bush great-grandfather was among a dozen advisers who coaxed New York Gov. Franklin Roosevelt into running for president, and another co-founded a major investment firm. Bush is a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth II of England, McCall said, another factor making his pedigree different from that of other governors. McCall described Preston Smith of Lubbock, who succeeded Connally, as unpretentious enough to answer his own Capitol telephone. The movie theater owner was less legislatively ambitious than Connally, though he successfully insisted on a pharmacy school and medical school at Texas Tech University.

Dolph Briscoe, the Uvalde rancher-banker who followed Smith, likewise expected little of government — aside from increased highway spending. Briscoe often stayed at his beloved Catarina Ranch, at one time not having a press conference for 61 days, McCall writes. While not as active as others, Briscoe was still rated by Bill Hobby, lieutenant governor from 1973 through 1990, as the "most humane — most understanding — most compassionate" governor he served with.

Bill Clements, a crusty Dallas oilman, upset Democrat John Hill in 1978 to become the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. If Clements "ever felt a need to be liked, he cleverly disguised it," McCall writes. (Hobby rated Clements the least humane, least understanding and least compassionate governor he worked with.)

Clements relied on a then-little-known strategist, Karl Rove, for advice and direct mail to voters. Clements also proved the first governor to keep his political campaign operating year-round. And he focused on recruiting Republican candidates for other state offices, including judgeships.

Clements, perhaps due to his business background, initially clashed with Democratic leaders at the Capitol, who did not appreciate attempts to instruct them. He told political writer Sam Attlesey of the Dallas Morning News after his first legislative session: "I wouldn't recommend it to anybody." He later compromised, however, on packages of proposals affecting the state's workers compensation system and public schools.

In 1982, Clements fell to Mark White, the Democratic attorney general. As governor, White presided over landmark education reforms, including mandates for smaller classes in elementary grades and the no-pass, no-play standard for high school athletics. White told McCall the reforms were rooted in what his mother told him. As a first-grade teacher, she had too many students. Many were unprepared and lacked school supplies.

Clements unseated White in 1986. Happy with the win, he was initially hindered by his role in a scandal involving the football team at Southern Methodist University. Clements had led the university's board of governors.

Clements, who did not seek a third term, was succeeded by Richards, who drew national raves for her spirited keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards, who defeated Republican Clayton Williams of Midland in 1990, presided over the start of the Texas lottery. She increased the share of women and minorities in appointed posts. But she struggled to divine an equitable and constitutional school finance method.

Bush, often cast as ever-confident in his abilities, didn't always believe he could overtake the popular Richards in 1994, McCall writes. Richards, though, knew early that the son of President George H.W. Bush could win.

She told a friend before the campaign warmed up: "You know . . . this boy could beat me."

Bush survived the only debate Richards agreed to and won the election by hammering issues without personally criticizing Richards. As governor, he reached affably across party lines — particularly to House Speaker Pete Laney and Bullock, who endorsed him for re-election against the Democratic nominee, Garry Mauro, in 1998.

Bush fell short in his push for restructuring taxes to bolster public-school funding in the 1997 legislative session, but he claimed victory in reduced property taxes. McCall carried the property tax bill, which at the time was the state's largest tax cut. It wasn't long before Rove and communications chief Karen Hughes were plotting Bush's White House bid.

Perry, governor since late 2000, often quotes his predecessor, saying governor of Texas is the best job in the world. He's been less voluble about what makes a successful governor.

McCall writes, "A collaborative governor who works with the Legislature can realize numerous goals, often defying the naysayers. On the other hand, a top-down governor soon realizes the limitations of the power he temporarily holds."

Laney said, "The power of the governor's office is dictated by how much the Legislature wants to put up with."

And the most important gubernatorial characteristics?

Thick skin, McCall writes, and a personal vision: "A good governor is interested in the welfare of the next generation."

McCall insisted his research did not spark an ambition to run for governor.

After his surprise challenge to Speaker Tom Craddick at the start of this session, McCall fared well when the Midland Republican made committee assignments last month. He was chosen vice chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education, a panel he requested.

"This is the only office I have ever run for or ever thought about running for," McCall said of the House. "You can do the public service and be a businessman; I like the mix."