Is Texas Republican governor primary candidate Debra Medina continuing to tread outside the Republican primary main stream with these latest comments at a Texas Tea Party rally this weekend on who’s to blame for Joe Stack’s flying a single engine plane into the Austin IRS building? Is she appealing to new voters who she’ll need to make the GOP runoff, or is she talking herself onto an island?
Posts Tagged texas
Not looking good Dems in TX
Dec 21
Though national Democrats are doing their level best to make the appearance of trying to change the red state tendencies of the state. Barack Obama’s Organizing for America is making a big play in the state – though not on policy grounds. Texas stands to gain at least 3 seats in the U.S. House as result of population increases after the 2010 census. That’s the biggest prize in the nation, and not one Democrats will let go with out a fight to Republicans. The AP writes:
Organizing for America, an arm of the Democratic Party that was established this year and is a successor to President Barack Obama’s campaign, has a staff in Texas as large as any of its other state operations, including California and Ohio. It is seizing on the opportunity presented by the 3.5 million Texans, mostly from urban areas, who voted for Obama in the contest with McCain.
Although its immediate purpose is to build support in all 50 states for a federal health care package and other legislation on Obama’s agenda, Organizing for America is also looking to help Democrats regain their footing in Texas for the 2010 election.
“We are going to make sure that we have volunteers ready to go at a moment’s notice,” said Hector Nieto, Texas spokesman for the organization. Nieto and state director Luke Hayes are not divulging details of their election year strategy.
While that might be solid spin coming from the Democrat side, the “on the ground” truth is a wholly different matter. The RNC’s Alan Philp sums up the current reality for Democrats in Texas, and in most other states this way:
Philp said the benefits that Democrats enjoyed from their staff members across the country in 2008 won’t be as helpful to them in 2010 because of the current voter mood, which he says is against Democratic health care proposals and economic stimulus spending.
“If the Democrats want to run a Washington-centric effort to expand the size and scope and intrusion of the federal government, that’s a contrast that we look forward to,” he said.
And that’s not quite the worst news yet for the Democrat efforts in Texas. Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka writes on his Burka Blog that Democrats are in a hefty world of hurt when it comes to fielding strong statewide candidates. Not only is it a consistently Republican state, but the current statewide officeholders (Gov. Rick Perry or Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, L.G. David Dewhurst, A.G. Greg Abbott, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, AG Commissioner Todd Staples, and Comptroller Susan Combs) are all solid, proven winners with rock solid records who are free of any Blagojevich like issues.
Never mind the strong position Republican now hold in both state legislative chambers – it’s not going to be a good year for Democrats in Texas. But, if they insist on spending millions of dollars in the state…that means a few other states get cheated.
Ken Herman down at the Austin American Statesman has this kiss of a piece on Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright. It’s well written, with lots of statements from Herman that Wainwright is not formally a candidate for anything (you’ll have to read the piece to see why that’s important). Herman lays out that there are a slew of politicians in Texas waiting for Kay Bailey Hutchison to decide if she’s going to resign or not as part of her primary run for governor of Texas – and one of the new names included is Wainwright. Herman even comes up with a novel strategy on who should be chosen to replace Senator Hutchison.
Under most versions of the trickle-down impact, GOP Attorney General Greg Abbott winds up running for something else. And that means there may be no Republican more eager for Hutchison to get on with getting out of the Senate than Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright, who is considering running for attorney general if Abbott seeks a new job.
Unlike others looking at that race, Wainwright has to be very, very careful about what he says about it. Canon 5 of the the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct — Refraining from Inappropriate Political Activity — says “A judge shall resign from judicial office upon becoming a candidate in a contested election for a non-judicial office … ”
Judges are the only elected officials in Texas who have to quit to run for something else. Everyone else is canon-free. That would include Republican Ted Cruz, who has declared for attorney general (but only if Abbott does not seek re-election) and state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, who is looking at the race.
That leaves Wainwright, re-elected last year to a six-year term on the high court, dancing as close to a candidacy as possible without saying or doing anything that would force him to resign.
“I am seriously considering seeking the attorney general’s office if it’s open, that is if General Abbott vacates it,” he told me this week.
Read the rest and see what Ken’s grand plan on Senator Hutchison’s replace really is all about.
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison says she doesn’t flap her arms, she won’t talk about secession, and she won’t embarrass Texas on the national stage if she’s elected Governor. Sounds like somebody’s warming up a Texas can do better message to close those poll numbers.
Holy Tags Batman!
Jul 30
The Austin American Statesman’s Gardner Selby just Tweeted this:
gardnerselby Hutchison’s site’s 2,200-plus hidden phrases: http://bit.ly/3h5yA #txlege
It’s 2,200 plus hidden phrases, tagged for search engine optimization(SEO) which gets panned by and SEO expert, or 6,592 words all hidden to the naked eye, to attract the attention of search engines that may use any combination of those words or phrases.
See all the words in all their glory here. Or go here and right click and select view page source.
Dallas radio talk show host Mark Davis posted on his Twitter feed that U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will leave the U.S. Senate in October or November ‘09 to focus fully on her primary challenge for Governor of Texas against incumbent Governor Rick Perry. The Hotline picked up the story and sets out an early time line for a special election in May to fill the vacated Senate seat. Of course a good place to get even more info on a possible time line is the Austin American Statesman’s Gardner Selby’s piece on the subject from July 23rd.
UPDATE: You can read the transcript of Senator Hutchison’s comments here.
Campaigns are not telethons
Jul 14
Republican Governor Rick Perry had a good news day a few days ago, and now Republican senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, his opponent for the GOP nomination for Governor in Texas, had her good news today and yesterday. The Austin American Statesman’s Gardner Selby reports that Hutchison currently has $12.5 million cash on hand – which is a touch more than Governor Perry’s $9.3 million on hand today. Those numbers being said, it’s a bit premature to tell either team to start warming up the bus.
Both sides advocates, and opponents, will spin these numbers every which way. There are arguments and spin flying back forth online that claim and spin one thing or the other about the two candidate’s current cash on hand numbers – which are all wonderful to read, but at the end of the day don’t mean much since the primary is next March and there’s a lot that’s going to happen for and to both campaigns in the months ahead. You see, campaigns aren’t about who has the most amount of money – just ask Phil Gramm, or any other number of well funded blowouts – but about who does what with the money they’ve got. The real story of the campaign will be told using elements that the public hasn’t seen yet and is truthfully still being developed. That’s why campaigns are campaigns, and not telethons.
Courtesy of the Texas Politics blog, Texas U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s campaign for governor has released the first of what will be numerous web based “contrast” videos between her campaign and Governor Rick Perry’s campaign in the Texas gubernatorial primary. See the video below…see Texas Politics coverage here. We imagine that there will be so many sanctioned, and unsanctioned videos flying around that it’ll be hard to keep track – and we’re not going to try. So here’s a taste.