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Shaheen, facing Sununu, raising money in Austin
Jeanne Shaheen, the former Democratic governor of New Hampshire, intends an Austin fundraiser June 2. She’s polled well in her rematch with Republican U.S. Sen. John Sununu, the former governor who edged her for the seat by three percentage points in 2002.
To inquire into Shaheen’s noon event at the Headliners Club, call Guy Selden at (202) 543-5704 or send an e-mail to seldengu@gmail.com .
Her campaign site is here.
In a quick search, I couldn’t come up with Sununu’s campaign site, but here’s his Senate site.
Factoid of the fray: According to blogs on Sununu’s candidacy, he is the youngest U.S. senator.
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Texas gets federal OK to expand use of TIERS
The federal agency that oversees food stamps this week agreed to let Texas expand a new computer enrollment system in a limited way.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service had warned the state Health and Human Services Commission that it had concerns about the computer system known as TIERS, in part because the state has struggled to process food stamp cases as quickly as required. Processing time for cases in TIERS has lagged significantly behind cases processed in the state’s older computer system.
This week, William Ludwig of the Food and Nutrition Service told Hawkins in a letter that Texas may expand use of TIERS, but only to 22 percent of food stamp cases. About 13 percent are in TIERS now, according to commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman.
Ludwig wrote that although the state has made efforts to improve customer service, “far too many approvals remain untimely and call center performance needs to be more constant.”
The state has long planned to expand use of TIERS (Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System) statewide to enroll people in food stamps, Medicaid and other programs. That has been controversial.
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Taibbi’s Texas project, Hagee’s “apology”
I visited this week with Matt Taibbi, a Rolling Stone contributing editor whose book, “The Great Derangement,” taps research he conducted by posing as a member of San Antonio’s Cornerstone Church, whose pastor is John Hagee. Peek at the column here or a book excerpt here.
Hagee, who had no immediate comment on the book when I called, has been under scrutiny lately for what some consider his anti-Catholic remarks as a minister. They’re getting special attention because he’s endorsed U.S. Sen. John McCain for president. This week, Hagee issued a statement interpreted as an apology in media coverage, though the statement I found on the Cornerstone is more an explanatory statement than a mea culpa.
“I am not now, nor have I ever been anti-Catholic,” Hagee says. See his press release here.
While my column focused on Taibbi’s time in Texas, his book presents some pointed commentary on doings in Congress that bear recall.
In one aside, the author describes the drone of an isolationist Tennessee Republican rising to speak on the floor of the U.S. House. Turns out that that Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr., assumed his post on the death of his father, who had been elected a dozen consecutive times. “Three hundred years from now,” Taibbi goes on, “the city of Knoxville’s congressman will be a Duncan opposed to the extension of foreign aid to Pluto.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, gets a prime pasting in Taibbi’s recap of an effort by Barton after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans to say the disaster demonstrated an emergency need to lift longtime restrictions on air pollutants from plants built after 1970 as spelled out in the Clean Air Act.
After Barton mis-summarized the measure, Taibbi writes, a Massachusetts Democrat on the committee hearing the matter said that if he’d given a similar summary to his constituents at a Massachusetts gas station, they “wouldn’t leave me in one piece.”
“Well, what I do at a Texas gas station, when people ask if I’m Congressman Barton,” Barton replied, smiling, “is this… I just tell ‘em I’m his driver.” The comment drew laughs all around.
A couple more then-House members get mention: Tom DeLay, then the House majority leader, and Chris Bell, the Houston Democrat who raised ethics questions about DeLay in his lame-duck last months in the House.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Democratic politics, Elections, Journalism, Money, Presidential race, Republican politics, U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate
Perry to help raise money for Keel
Gov. Rick Perry, who expects to be campaigning for Texas Republicans this fall, is headlining a fund-raiser for Donna Keel, who’s opposing Rep. Valinda Bolton, D-Austin.
Keel is making her first race to reclaim the District 47 House seat once held by her brother-in-law, Terry Keel.
The fund-raiser is a luncheon affair at The Austin Club on May 20.
It won’t be the last for Perry, who says he’s a candidate for re-election in 2010.
“We’ve probably got a dozen invitations” to headline fund-raisers, said Robert Black, Perry’s press secretary. “He always says, in campaign season, he’ll be working for his team.”
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Remember Tom DeLay?
In a story this week about how members of Congress cope with scandal (the latest being Rep. Vito Fossella, R-New York, whose recent arrest on drunk-driving charges led to the revelation that he has a secret child with someone who’s not his wife), Politico updated us on the status of the former Republican majority leader from Sugar Land.
He’s said to be persona non grata among Republican leaders.
“No one will touch DeLay now,” a veteran Democrat who served for years with DeLay told the newspaper. “DeLay should stand as a lesson to everyone: When it’s time to go, you gotta go.”
Of course we don’t know what sort of history the anonymous Democrat had with DeLay, so it’s hard to put that assessment in its proper context. It appears that in Washington, quoting people by name is considered totally lame.
DeLay is trying to build what’s been described as a conservative version of moveon.org.
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Obama chief taking job with Travis County Democrats
Ian Davis of Austin, a Democratic activist who’s been busy in the presidential race as a coordinator of Texans for (Sen. Barack) Obama, plans to leave his paid post with the Texas Freedom Network to steer voter registration and turnout for the Travis County Democratic Party.
Davis assumes the role Saturday, said Andy Brown, the county party’s chairman.
Davis and Brown declared a goal of adding 50,000 voters to the county’s roll of registered voters, which now numbers about 450,000.
Brown said: “We’ve got a ton of excitement generated in the primary” with new volunteers expected to pitch in this summer. “I see the primary as a springboard.”
Davis said: “We obviously can’t turn Texas blue by ourselves, but Travis (County) can and should do its part. We’re going to combine the latest innovative technology with all the grass-roots energy stirred up in the primary, and we’ll have some fun. Hopefully we’ll create a successful model that can build upon as we march into 2010.”
Austin-area Democrats are invited to the kickoff of the county party’s coordinated campaign, which is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Nuevo Leon, 1501 E. Sixth St. That’ll be preceded by a gathering of Travis County delegates and alternates to the party’s June state convention from noon to 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Mary E. Branch Gymnasium at Huston-Tillotson University, 900 Chicon.
I’m checking on GOP plans to knock on doors this Saturday; word is that Roger Williams, who heads the Republican Party’s statewide coordinated campaign, is leading a “walk to win” intended to reach 100,000 households that day.
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Shapiro joining White House trip to Israel
State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, has been chosen to join the White House delegation to Israel to celebrate the nation’s 60th anniversary.
The honorary delegation of about 80 people includes a bevy of big names from the religious, political, academic and business worlds. Among the other delegates are former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle and Mort Zuckerman, chairman and editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report.
The celebration will be held in Jerusalem this week.
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Surplus talk unrealistic, report says
The Center for Public Policy Priorities on Monday threw some cold water on the recent overheated talk of a state surplus.
It is “wishful thinking,” according to the policy statement, that the state will raise enough money to cover its costs in the 2010-2011 budget and also produce some extra for tax cuts or rebates, as Gov. Rick Perry has suggested.
Whether the “surplus” is $15 billion — as House Speaker Tom Craddick suggested it could be — or the comptroller’s estimate of $10.7 billion, most of that money is already spoken for. The Rainy Day Fund takes up $5.7 billion and $3 billion is set aside for school property reductions.
That leaves $2 billion to cover any new costs.
Neither Craddick nor Comptroller Susan Combs are “using the term ‘surplus’ in its ordinary sense,” according to the policy statement.
That money is not extra or unneeded, said Eva DeLuna Castro, a budget analyst for the group. It will be necessary to cover cost increases such as fuel and health care, which are bound to demand more from the state coffers. But those needs are not being figured into the baseline of the future budget.
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Perry heading to California to help San Diego GOP
Gov. Rick Perry, who made a splash with a let-conservatives-be-conservatives speech to California Republicans in September, is returning to the Golden State on Tuesday to raise money for the San Diego Republican Party, his office announced Monday.
His stop at a noon fundraiser is to be followed by a roundtable discussion featuring a candidate for the California Assembly, Nathan Fletcher. Fletcher may be best known in Texas circles as the husband of Mindy Tucker, former press aide in George W. Bush’s campaign office.
His California swing is set to end with an evening speech at the 2008 San Diego GOP Lincoln / Reagan Day Dinner.
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Mark Sanders wins council seat in Eustace
By drawing 69 votes, longtime Capitol campaign consultant Mark Sanders has landed on the city council in the East Texas town of Eustace.
The way it played out, he says, 93 voters cast ballots Saturday to fill three council seats. Under Eustace’s approach, voters could vote for up to three candidates on their ballots and then election officials tallied the number of total votes for each candidate. The top three finishers—Sanders says he ran second in the group—are due to be sworn into office Friday.
(Eustace, turns out, is easy to find, according to the city’s Web site. It’s 12 miles east of Mabank and 11 miles west of Athens.)
Sanders, 45, whose past clients included Carole Keeton Strayhorn, David Dewhurst, Jerry Patterson and Rob Mosbacher Jr., said Monday he’s intent on introducing a code of conduct for council members and the mayor that would require any one of them charged with a felony to resign immediately.
Sanders had made the plunge into life as a candidate after failing to persuade Mayor Laura Ward to resign; she was arrested in September after striking a woman outside a bar in Gun Barrel City.
The code of conduct, Sanders said, “is designed entirely to get rid of the mayor.”
So much for a honeymoon period.
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LULAC sues Texas Democrats over delegates
Making a stab at changing how Texas Democrats allocate delegates to the party’s national convention, two groups representing Latinos sued the state party on Friday saying the system short-changes Latino voters in violation of federal voting rights.
Hector Nieto, spokesman for the party, had no immediate comment except to say that the method of allocating delegates has been approved at past state conventions.
The suit, fetchable here, was filed in San Antonio by LULAC of Texas, the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston and six voters described as Democrats upset by the party’s method of rewarding delegates.
Luis Vera, LULAC’s general counsel, said LULAC wants a judge to toss the results of the March 4 primary because it believes delegates weren’t allocated fairly, considering Latinos invariably support the party’s nominees. The party bases the delegates awarded within each state senatorial district on the percentage of voters who turned out and voted for the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the most recent previous general election.
A key factoid: Latino-heavy districts end up fielding fewer delegates to the national convention. Why? Turnout in those districts often drops in general elections partly because Democratic candidates in those districts face fewer serious fall races.
Vera, set to be a delegate to the state convention pledged to Sen. Hillary Clinton, said it’s possible Clinton would benefit from a change in delegate allocations. Clinton, after all, bested Sen. Barack Obama across the Texas-Mexico border region.
“Of course, it’s possible,” Vera said. “That’s inconsequential. I could care less. This is not about Hillary Clinton and this is not about Barack Obama. My loyalty is to the Latino community.”
It’s going to be up to U.S. District Judge Fred Biery whether to take this suit seriously. He hadn’t acted as of the close of business Friday.
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Romney raises Austin money for Cornyn
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, juiced his already-bulging campaign kitty Friday with a fund-raiser in Austin featuring Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who might prove to be Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential choice.
Word is that Romney has a reunion of Texas donors in Houston on Friday night, to be followed by an event raising money for McCain’s campaign on Saturday.
U.S. Reps. John Carter, R-Round Rock, and Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, were among the 45 people at the event at Austin’s Headliners Club, helping the campaign raise about $50,000.
Kevin McLaughlin, Cornyn’s campaign spokesman, said: “We’re always looking for creative ways to raise money. We are not shy about asking people for money.”
I wondered if former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Republican who outlasted Romney in the presidential race, is next up for a private shindig with Cornyn. He’s not.
Tony Gray, a spokesman for the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, state Rep. Rick Noriega, was unaware of Romney pausing to help Cornyn. “More evidence that his machine is out there moving and working,” Gray said.
Gray said the blogosphere has gone nuts over a new poll suggesting Cornyn is barely ahead of Noriega. Peek at it here.
McLaughlin said he was “flummoxed/dumbfounded/perplexed” by some of the poll results including an indication that Noriega is better known in Texas than Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
“I find it hard to take a poll seriously conducted by Daily Kos that finds a state representative in Texas is better known than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton,” McLaughlin said.
Gray said there was no intent to cut the Texas press out of a national conference call Noriega’s campaign did to tout the poll at midday Friday. The campaign’s new strategic communications firm sent out notice of the call from a national press list, he said.
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Abbott helping candidate for governor of Virginia
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott plans to host a June 4 fundraising reception for Bob McDonnell — who has not declared his candidacy for office in Texas or any place yet, though that’s evidently a technicality.
Abbott writes: “My friend Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell is coming to Austin to help raise support for his campaign for Virginia Governor. … I need your help to ensure he ends up in the Virginia Governor’s Mansion.”
Abbott’s pitch says that for a contribution of $5,000 or more, donors will be admitted to a private reception before the main event that day at the Austin Club.
Unsaid: He and McDonnell have a sore point in common. They each endorsed former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson for president last year, before Thompson’s candidacy flamed out.
According to news reports, McDonnell, elected Virginia’s AG in 2005, looks likely to be his party’s nominee for governor should he formalize his candidacy. The state’s lieutenant governor, Bill Bolling, decided not to run for governor in March, saying he’ll seek re-election instead.
McDonnell told The Washington Post that he and Bolling will spend much of this year “building the party to make sure Virginia stays red in the presidential race.”
In 2009, Virginia Republicans hope to end what looms as the Democrats’ eight-year hold on the governorship.
The Democrats do not have a clear front-runner for their nomination. State Sen. Creigh Deeds, who lost to McDonnell by less than 400 votes in 2005, and state Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria are contenders.
To pony up for McDonnell, as Abbott urges, send an e-mail to Janet Polarek, janet@remedy-consulting.net .
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Shapiro’s interest in U.S. Senate is growing
Talk picked up on Thursday surrounding state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and a possible run for the U.S. Senate if Kay Bailey Hutchison comes home to run for governor.
Bryan Eppstein, a consultant to Shapiro, says, “At this time it’s just an interest in running and it’s a growing interest.” Eppstein also threw in the obligatory “she’s getting encouraged to run” bit.
Here’s how the scenario might play out: Hutchison leaves the Senate in 2009 to run for governor. Gov. Rick Perry then appoints someone to fill her seat, but there is an election in 2010 (some say it might be sooner than that) in which the voters would decide who the next senator is. Shapiro, assuming she’s not the person appointed by Perry (or even if she is) would jump into that race.
Texas Weekly reporteded Thursday that she’s planning to form an exploratory committee. Eppstein wouldn’t directly answer whether she has such plans.
Shapiro’s move could materialize about a year after she told the American-Statesman’s Gardner Selby that she’d welcome a chance to be in the U.S. Senate.
“It is a position obviously that anybody that’s an elected official would covet,” she said in April 2007. “It’s not something I’ve even been planning at all to date … I haven’t really thought about it very much.”
At the time she had just lunched with Roger Staubach in Dallas and he had urged her to run.
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‘The Big Sort’
Is there really a way to know whether a neighborhood leans Republican or Democratic without studying voting records?
Author Bill Bishop says there are signs. He means that literally.
Speaking today at an event hosted by the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Bishop showed a photo of a sign in his heavily Democratic Travis Heights neighborhood that said, “Impeach.” He also showed a sign at BookPeople advertising a Darwin Day event. Not the kind of signs you see in heavily Republican areas.
In his new book, “The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing us Apart,” the former Statesman reporter writes that for the past three decades, Americans have been sorting themselves into homogeneous communities, churches and clubs.
“The middle has dropped out of everything,” Bishop said.
There’s been a big focus on red states and blue states, but Bishop and co-author Robert Cushing, a retired UT sociology professor, looked at a smaller area: the county. They found that Americans are much more likely than they were 30 years ago to live in counties where one party won by a large margin, 20 percentage points or more. Even though the presidential election in 2004 was very close, nearly half of voters lived in communities where the election was not at all close, the book says.
“As Americans have moved over the past three decades, they have clustered in communities of sameness, among people with similar ways of life, beliefs, and in the end, politics,” Bishop wrote.
Bishop plans to talk about “The Big Sort” at BookPeople on May 28 at 7 p.m.
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Justice Wainwright’s remarks on patriotism-plus
My column in Thursday’s paper, posted here, brushed on remarks by Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright at an event at the University of Texas last month.
Wainwright was part of a panel speaking to the future of the Republican Party, which is viewable by clicking here. Or fetch the audio only here.
Pasted below is my transcript of what Wainwright said at the event about Texas Republicans understanding the political fundamentals of religious faith, patriotism and a belief in equal opportunity for all. This passage was preceded by Wainwright saying, without specifics, that the Republican Party has made some missteps over the years in Texas and nationally.
Then he said: “I think perhaps the saving grace is that the Democrats I don’t think understand and perhaps don’t believe as strongly as Republicans, at least here in Texas, that three fundamentals as I see it are our faith, patriotism—you’ve got to love this country without question, and if Americans have a question about that, they are going to start questioning your candidacy. You’ve got to believe that there is a greater being that created us all and that guides things ultimately. And you’ve got to believe that there is outstanding opportunity in this country for everybody, regardless of race, color or gender.
“And the person that espouses that vision and backs it up with execution, and a plan to execute that, even if it’s not perfect, is going to be the person that our state, I’m confident of, will get behind and I believe our nation will get behind and elect.”
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Bullock bio stirs Jan Bullock and longtime aides
My story in Wednesday’s editions about the Bob Bullock biography by Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson—peek here—yields the first post-publication comments by Bullock’s widow, Jan Bullock, on the book, which is in its third printing and has drawn favorable reviews. It is viewable here.
Several longtime aides to the late lieutenant governor are similarly disappointed in “Bob Bullock: God Bless Texas,” with some saying the authors made an insufficient effort to tap their knowledge and experiences of Bullock. McNeely told me they deliberately did not do so partly because they didn’t want to cause one of the Bullock-ites to hurry their own book into print.
Glen Castlebury, who worked for Bullock for 20 years starting in 1974, said the authors could have started their research by querying people closest to Bullock.
“I would have thought they would have gone to the Bullock loyalists probably first (for interviews); it would have been most obvious (approach),” Castlebury said. “Then you would have gone out to talk to all the other turkeys walking the street to see if they had something to say.”
My sense is that Henderson was permitted to listen to a few oral histories given by Bullock friends and associates, as reported, because librarians at Baylor University didn’t initially know he was teamed with McNeely, who had a testy relationship with Bob Bullock.
Jan Bullock cut off public access to the histories until the year 2009, she told me, because she figured McNeely wanted to finish his book before President Bush left office that same year.
Bullock and Ben Rogers, director of Baylor’s W.R. Poage Legislative Library, said the authors did not delve into thousands of available pages of materials in the Bullock collection including newspaper clippings and “opposition research” Bullock’s campaign put together that put him in a vulnerable light.
McNeely and Henderson said they were told by Rogers in 2004 that bound newspaper clippings were not available. The library said it has no record of the request; Rogers initially said he didn’t remember the authors visiting together in 2004, later insisting they did not visit together.
The authors did not interview Jan Bullock, but they contacted her.
Henderson called her in 2006, saying he tried again later, without leaving messages. He said he expected she would call him if she wanted to visit.
McNeely delivered a draft manuscript to Bullock in February 2007. She shortly e-mailed Henderson, saying: “I can tell you two certainly did your research.”
McNeely then solicited her corrections, suggesting they get together.
If “there are things that are inaccurate, we want to get them corrected,” McNeely said in a March 30, 2007 e-mail. “…So let’s do get together as soon as possible.”
On May 4, 2007, Bullock wrote him to say she couldn’t help. She made her decision after sharing the manuscript with aides to Bob Bullock. Her letter states that she found mistakes, urban legends, gossip and distortions.
Henderson, speaking to the negative reactions, said in a recent e-mail to me: “Jan wanted to write her own book about Bullock. Didn’t happen. Get over it. Then she did her best to obstruct the writing of this book. Didn’t happen. Get over it. Then she did her best to block publication. Didn’t happen. Get over it. She apparently wanted to control everything written about her late husband. Didn’t happen. Ain’t gonna happen. Get over it.”
Bullock earlier told me: “I would have loved to see a grand book about Bob. He certainly was not an angel. And he was difficult, temperamental - my god, he was every adjective in the book… I mean, I have great stories. I have love letters that he’s written me that people wouldn’t even believe.”
A longtime Bullock aide, Mary Jane Wardlow, identified factual errors in the book including a reference to one senator serving in 1991 who took office in 1993.
In another part, Bullock is described as introducing senators to his forceful leadership style by rushing through measures. It’s placed in 1991 though it occurred in 1995. And, Wardlow said, the book mischaracterizes the late action in a legislative session catching the Senate up after the death of its parliamentarian.
Wardlow also said the book incorrectly describes Bullock’s funeral. Bullock did not repose on a floral altar; his body was in his coffin next to sprays of flowers.
Carolene English, another longtime aide, inquired last year into the UT Press’s method of fact-checking as the book approached publication. The UT Press said the book was vetted by two outside experts it did not identify and cleared by its Faculty Advisory Committee, which unanimously approved publication.
English said this year that details were muffed such as the fact that Bullock had surgery to remove one third of a lung (not most of it), and that he had deeper Texas roots than stated. She said the authors also missed Bullock intervening in the 1980s to ensure that Democrats created legislative districts winnable by black and Hispanic candidates.
McNeely said the record isn’t so simple. And, he noted, Bullock is credited in the book with hiring and promoting minorities.
Castlebury and John Moore, a longtime Bullock aide, told McNeely last year that he mistold episodes from the years during which Bullock was a heavy drinker. The two also did not specify what was incorrect.
Their stance, Castlebury said, amounted to “don’t feed the snake.”
John Keel, a Bullock protégé, presented McNeely with letters from individuals last year saying incidents in the manuscript didn’t happen; two stories were removed before publication.
McNeely informed Jan Bullock—who knew Bullock for 22 years and married him in 1985—of the excisions with a comment she did not appreciate, writing: “I might remind you that all of these things happened before you and Bob were married and before he quit drinking, and do not involve you.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Agencies, Comings and goings, Democratic politics, Senate, Texas Senate
State surplus a squishy number
House Speaker Tom Craddick’s statement last week that the state could have a nearly $15 billion surplus heading into the 2009 session might be a bit optimistic, according to the state comptroller.
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said at a press conference Tuesday that her office is projecting a $10.7 billion surplus, including the $5.7 billion set aside in the rainy day fund and $3 billion designated to reduce school property taxes.
The comptroller’s estimate is correct as it stands today, Craddick spokeswoman Alexis DeLee said. But the speaker believes the surplus could be significantly higher by the time the session rolls around in January because the state’s economy is strong, she said.
Craddick told a group of Hidalgo County Republicans last week that the hefty surplus was the work of rising oil prices as well as Republican policies, the Rio Grande Guardian reported.
“Now, I didn’t create the price of oil and I know that’s helped a little but let me tell you right now, so did cutting spending, so did consolidating agencies, so did saying the word ‘no’,” Craddick said, according to the news service.
Independent of the surplus size, the state is not looking to greatly expand spending, according to a budget memo sent this week to state agencies.
The agencies were told to keep their 2010-2011 general revenue budgets at the same level as their current budgets. They must also submit a plan for reducing their budgets by 10 percent.
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Noriega in striking distance of Cornyn, poll says
A Rasmussen poll of Texas households — could be likely voters answering the automated telephone calls or rapscallions just causing trouble — shows state Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, in striking distance of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The outfit also divines a close fall presidential race in Texas.
Cut to the available Senate overview with a question on Gov. Rick Perry’s performance here. Or peek at the presidential poll—suggesting Sen. John McCain leads Sen. Hillary Clinton by 6 percentage points and Sen. Barack Obama by 5 — here.
Tony Gray, spokesman for Noriega’s campaign, said Monday: “It’s certainly good news and it’s reflective of what we’ve been finding in a handful of focus groups around the state. “Take Cornyn’s lack of strong name identification on top of the negative associations with the president, and Noriega also getting traction,” Gray said, adding that another factor could be excitement among Texans in the Democratic presidential candidates.
“It’s a dangerous time for incumbents,” Gray said.
Kevin McLaughlin, spokesman for Cornyn’s campaign, said the senator has always expected a serious November race. “People are going to have a clear choice come November,” he said, forecasting that Noriega favors higher taxes and bigger government while Cornyn does not.
Rasmussen Reports summarized its Texas poll this way:
“It’s time to add United States Senator John Cornyn to the list of potentially vulnerable Republican incumbents in Election 2008. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state find Cornyn leading Democratic state legislator Rick Noriega by just 4 percentage points, 47 percent to 43 percent.
“Any incumbent who polls below 50 percent is considered potentially vulnerable. That is especially true when a little known challenger is so competitive in an early general election match-up. The race for President in Texas is also fairly competitive early in Election 2008.
“Noriega leads among voters earning less than $40,000 a year. Cornyn leads among those with higher incomes. Cornyn leads among evangelical Christian voters and other Protestants. Noreiga leads among those with a different faith background. Both candidates do well within their own party and are fairly evenly matched among unaffiliated voters.
“Democrats are likely to expand their majority in the Senate this year by picking up several Senate seats currently held by the GOP. Early polling indicates that many states offer potential Democratic gains including Virginia, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, and Alaska.
“Cornyn is viewed favorably by 50 percent of the state’s likely voters, unfavorably by 37 percent. Noriega earns positive reviews from 45 percent and negative assessments from 39 percent. Thirty-four percent (34 percent) of voters say the state’s Republican governor, Rick Perry, is doing a good or excellent job. Twenty-eight percent (28 percent) say he is doing a poor job.
“President George W. Bush doesn’t do as well. Just 39 percent of voters in his adopted home state say that the president has done a good or an excellent job. Forty-five percent (45 percent) rate his performance as poor.”
An at-first-glance oddity: Rasmussen’s posted question and answer on Perry’s performance says that the pollster asked people how they thought Perry was performing in his role — as president. Who knew?
Rasmussen Reports said Monday morning said the Perry question was just mistyped in the posted results; the actual question was about Perry’s performance as governor. It was going to be fixed in the posting, according to Mike Boniello, vice president of finance and operations.
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Benkiser in a hole, or does it just look that way?
In launching an online TV project, the Republican Party of Texas presents its chairman, Tina Benkiser, speaking from what looks a little bit like a hole in the ground. Surely that’s not so; in fact, unless I hear otherwise, I’ll stipulate that Benkiser is not making the case for Republicans from a hole in the earth.
Before you poke fun, note the top factoids in the vid—Republicans hold every statewide elected office and voters have lifted more than 1,400 Texas Republicans to local offices around the state.
Watch Benkiser here—along with three GOP Texas House candidates:
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Commissioner offers more info about sect children’s impact on foster system
State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, said yesterday she wasn’t satisfied with testimony about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints provided by Commissioner Carey Cockerell of the Department of Family and Protective Services.
Specifically, she wanted him to more thoroughly explain the impact of putting hundreds of the sect children into the foster care system and what policy changes may be needed.
Per her request, Cockerell last night gave her this written response.
The highlights:
• “Even with the addition of the FLDS children to our foster care system, there are thousands fewer children in foster care than there were 18 months ago,” Cockerell wrote. “The addition of 463 children represents an increase of less than three percent in the number of children in Texas foster care.”
• Though many of the staff members who were sent to San Angelo have returned to their normal duties, others will be needed to handle the needs of the sect children, including 42 caseworkers who will track their progress in foster care.
• Cockerell does not yet have any suggestions on policy changes or legislation needed.
Is Nelson satisfied with Cockerell’s written response? An aide said this morning she’s still reviewing it.
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Hey Big Tex, great name!
First things first; it was the other guy who called Delay a liberal. In the finest tradition of politics, I am distancing myself from that statement.
Second, you are probably right about the relative number of
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There were a total of 127 votes, 93 election day and 34 early vote. He did not win the early vote at all but did pull it through in the end. I guess that is what counts!
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Sounds like Larrywp and big rob are engaging in some historical revisionism. Corruption is most decidedly not evenly distributed throughout the political landscape, Repubs have been much worse over the last few years than Democrats. And calling Tom Delay
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Everyone who is all hot and bothered about Nurse Nancy’s comments should definitely take a look at the following link. A little realism can sometimes shed immense light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOs-KqFq5Pc
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