The identification techniques in Herbert C. Kelman's schema of identification were used to analyze the near, and perhaps surprising, success of Rep. Frances (Sissy) Farenthold's bid for the Democratic Texas gubernatorial nomination in 1972. Opposing government corruption, Farenthold overcame the potential obstacles of being a politically liberal and a woman and won the vote of a diverse section of the Texas electorate. She conducted a grass roots campaign in which her main tool was the rhetoric of identification. She presented herself as one who fought corruption and who would identify with a new coalition of voters to represent a public government rather than a private government. Five strategies were used by Farenthold in her campaign speaking: identify a specific group of people; identify an enemy which causes that group's problems; show the moral inferiority of the enemy; infuse into the group a sense of urgency for change; and infuse into the group a sense of power. (MKM)