Comments on: So Where’s Fred Wertheimer on McCain?

By: Crosstimbers

Crosstimbers — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:02:04 +0000

Phil Graham: “We’re going to keep on building the party (the Texas Republican Party) until we’re hunting Democrats with dogs.”

Unfortunately, he wasn’t far wrong. I think old Phil is McCain’s main economics guy. Thrilled he would be coming back. They would probably dig Dick Armey out also.

By: cinnamonape

cinnamonape — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:52:15 +0000

Found some things from there. Forget the Governor’s Race as there were 4 candidates splitting the vote (but the Republican won about 40%). For Senate, the state re-elected Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison over Barbara Ann Radnofsky, with 62% of the ballot in Bexar. Bexar County supported George W. Bush in the last two presidential elections. According to unofficial vote totals for 2004, Bush received 259,762 votes and Kerry received 210,354 votes. Ciro Rodriguez (a Clinton supporter) won a closely contested race with the Republican incumbent in Congress in a run-off 54-46%. His district covers only part of Bexar, though. Republican sections have been gerrymandered off, and there are parts that are pretty Republican. But overall it seems to lean strongly Republican as suggested above.

So those early figures are quite good!

By: Helen

Helen — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:51:16 +0000

Hi LHP - you still here? Good to see you. Two threads back Christy and I were hoping for your insight. Came up when discussing Seligman. The question was: given that there is very little hope that DOJ will do anything about this blatantly political prosecution, can the state bar interveve? Are AUSA subject to those rules? I told Christy that I remember Fitz, druring the Lynn Stewart trial testifying that the was only a bar member in NY. As a federal prosecutor he was not required to join the bar in Illinois.

Any light you can shine on this would be greatly apprecaited.

By: dakine01

dakine01 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:46:23 +0000

Redrawn AFTER the 2010 election to become effective for the 2012 election.

By: BobbyG

BobbyG — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:45:16 +0000

Terminology is important. Goopers invariably now refer to the Democratic party with the slur “democrat party.” Consequently, I now always refer to these smarmy peeps as the “rebu’ublicist party” they most certainly have become.

Also, I now will always refer to Sheik bin al BaraBlackHusseinOsamBama.

By: stratocruiser

stratocruiser — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:44:40 +0000

That would be my guess. This was, after all, the war that gave us “frag” as a verb meaning to have a pointed disagreement with an officer.

By: Badwater

Badwater — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:43:37 +0000

The only number you can trust is the number of Bush family members serving in Iraq. That number is permanently fixed at zero. The warrior traditions of our royal family stopped in 1945.

By: rwcole

rwcole — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:42:08 +0000

Elections in 08- new census and congressional districts redrawn in 2010. Could be a major event if dems take control of some state legislatures this time around.

By: Crosstimbers

Crosstimbers — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:39:26 +0000

Sorry, I hadn’t seen your reply and thought you might have gone out.

By: ckls

ckls — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:39:00 +0000

TPM Election Central Headlines –

Gallup: Obama Holds Double-Digit National Lead For First Time

Rasmussen: Texas Primary A Dead Heat

Poll: Hillary Only Up 4 Points In Ohio

Anecdotal news from Texas — via TPM Election Central comment thread

Down here in Texas, I can assure you that if any hard core Republicans are voting in the Democratic primary, it will be for Clinton. Particularly in some already close contests and among State house races, Republicans were counting on waving the red meat of a Clinton candidacy in front of their constituents.

However, with Democratic early voting turnout at roughly three times that of the Republicans, and the Obama machine cranking up here, the Redcoats are starting to really get nervous.

None other than the “Dean of Texas political reporting,” Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka, concludes tonight that:

“Barack Obama’s personality and his message are dominating politics nationwide. The last candidate to stir this kind of feeling was Ronald Reagan in 1980 and before him Bobby Kennedy in 1968. Veteran political observers like me can roll our eyes over someone running for president on a platform of “Hope” and “Change,” but nothing is so powerful as an idea, even a vague one, whose time has come.

Obama is riding the whirlwind, and if he can make the moment last until November, it is going to sweep out the Republicans, even in Texas. These numbers are so overwhelming, and the fifteen counties have such a large fraction of the state’s registered voters — 7,815,906 of 12,607,466, or 62% — that what happens in other 239 counties is unlikely to alter the trend. These numbers have made me a believer. Rick Noriega could defeat John Cornyn. The Democrats can win a majority in the Texas House of Representatives. The consummate irony is that George W. Bush, who made Texas a Republican state on his way in to the presidency, may make it a Democratic state on his way out.”

Burka is a McCain supporter and up until now has been very dismissive of Democratic chances in Texas this year.