Texas Time
We've been waiting for y'all.
Like the great big kid in the back of the classroom who has gotten used to being overlooked, Texas has not had a chance to make a difference in the presidential primaries for decades. This year, suddenly, we're hot stuff. Our primary on March 4th is going to mean something -- maybe everything -- in the Democratic race.
And in a campaign where voters are already defying some of the old demographic breakdowns, Texas promises to give the pundits and campaign planners a run for their money, beginning with the most basic characterizations.
Texas is not the South. It is not the West. It is not the Southwest.
Texas is all those things, a heady blend of magnolia blossoms and masa harina; a place big enough and complicated enough to treasure both the Alamo and the dreams of millions whose lives began in Mexico. It has memorials to Civil War heroes and civil rights legends, border towns without running water and the latest thing from Barney's.
Texas is home to both big oil and big hair; sometimes to big, oily hair.
It is a warm, fun-loving, forgiving state, the kind of place where the vice-president can shoot someone in the face and the victim apologizes.
Clearly, it isn't easy to embarrass Texas. But it appears George W. Bush has finally done it. In a stark change from the public's attitude here a few years ago, now there are bumper stickers on family cars in grocery store parking lots that proclaim "Bush wasn't born here" and "George W. Bush is a failure."
The rest of the country may figuratively turn disgraced politicians into piñatas, but in Texas, the transformation is literal. In fact, a party store in Austin will custom-make a George W. Bush piñata for you for only 23 dollars. Don't ask how I know this.
For Republican candidates in Texas, the president's precipitous fall from favor has made a particularly big splat. In 2006, voters in Dallas rejected every contested Republican officeholder on the ballot.
And if the GOP primary turnout on March 4th is low, it will be due to a combination of this Bush fatigue and the fact that the race is, as usual for Texans, already decided. It won't be because Rush Limbaugh doesn't like the leading candidate or because Romney decided to take his wallet and go home. It's that this year is not much fun for former Bush voters. Many Texas Republicans are no longer enjoying the party.
For those who hang around and actually vote in the primary, Huckabee will be attractive. He is witty and engaging, relatively gentle on immigration and religious as hell. I don't want to be accused of hitting below the Bible Belt on this, but the creation of the earth is still a source of argument among some Texans. The ground here may have given up some of the world's best specimens of dinosaur fossils, but state school officials are still under siege by parents who believe that the earth is only a few thousand years old and that carbon dating means taking a girlfriend to the Texas A and M bonfire.
McCain will probably do better in Texas than in other conservative parts of the country. The very elements of McCain's candidacy and personality that have conservatives and the religious right so righteously peeved at him will actually play well for him here. Most Texans, including the Republican governor, don't want a wall separating us from Mexico. And any hothead who uses the "F" word not only won't be rejected, he is gonna fit right in.
While the state's favorite (step)son Ron Paul probably won't be much of a factor in the primary, many Texans feel a perverse pride in his success. Paul is a natural outgrowth of Texas's deep libertarian streak, the only person in the Republican party with the guts to stand on stage in every debate and in a nasal twang commit a kind of blasphemy by constantly and eloquently criticizing the war and the president who put us there.
The Democratic race is going to be more complicated and more unpredictable because both candidates have huge built-in constituencies, good organizations and giddy support. Texas Democrats are almost hysterical at the heart-pounding possibility that the rest of the country will at long last pay attention to what they think. In addition to all that, no one knows how the hell the delegate count is actually going to work.
In typical Texas contrarian fashion, the primary rules read like a DNA chart. On the Democratic side, 228 delegates are up for grabs. But it's not that simple.
The state has both a primary and a caucus -- on the same day. And you can't caucus unless you voted in the primary. On primary night, 126 delegates will be determined based on voting results in each Senate district.
The number of delegates in each district is based on how many Democrats voted in the last two general elections in that district. Got that? Well, there's more.
The selection of another 67 delegates will begin at the caucuses that night and culminate at the state convention in June. The remaining 35 delegates are some kind of unique political life form that will evolve into actual delegates at the National Convention later that summer.
With rules like this, we may not know the division of Texas delegates until sometime after the new President is sworn in. Now that the state finally has its moment in the spotlight, it appears we will slowly drag our rear ends across the stage and reveal our delegate counts only when we are good and ready.
But as Democratic campaign workers and organizers flood the state in the next few weeks, they will find a pool of voters ready to rumble. Texans are ready for their close-up.
The candidates are already familiar faces. Barack Obama has been here raising money and making friends since long before he announced his candidacy. Hillary Clinton actually lived in Austin in 1972 while working for George McGovern. She knows the state and has racked up an impressive series of endorsements.
Hillary seems to be ahead in early polling. Texans, despite the state's conservative reputation, have never had any discomfort with women taking the reins. Texas women have been changing the world for a long time.
That creates a special challenge for Hillary Clinton.
Down here, she will have to live with the ghosts of Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, Molly Ivins and Lady Bird Johnson. She will have to prove to voters that she has more in common with these iconic Texas political figures than with Ma Ferguson, the state's first female governor. Ferguson took over in 1925, several years after her husband was run out of office.
Actually, Hillary Clinton is nothing like Ma Ferguson. They have nothing but body parts in common. Still, by making that comparison, I get the chance to use a hilarious quote attributed to Ferguson during a debate on the use of Spanish in Texas public schools. She exhorted the state to require English, saying, "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, then it is good enough for the children of Texas."
Which brings up another point. Texans expect candidates to be entertaining. They can be funny like Ann Richards, a charming rogue like Charlie Wilson, or personable like George W. Bush used to be.
Obama has that -- and something more. For Texans old enough to remember, he recalls Barbara Jordan -- not because of race, but because of the power of the spoken word. Decades ago in her campaigns for Congress, in small towns and large cities, in front of crowds who gathered at courthouses and on street corners, she became a political legend by reminding people of why they loved their country. She led old men in sweat-stained cowboy hats to weep openly at the beauty of the Constitution, the power of the American people, the depth of our belief in our own inherent decency.
Texans are still like that. They still like good speeches. They still like to cry in public. And they will always love politics.
To win in Texas, Democrat or Republican, there is really only one rule. Don't be dull. We certainly won't.
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I don't how you live in the same state as DubYa after the National Guard fiasco - I read your book and liked it. It's too bad the networks didn't have the stones to air the follow up story and all the meshing documents - but money truly is the root of all evil.
It's refreshing to see folks take a look at the candidates through a new frame - and a rare one in historical terms.
The author has been kind to both candidates, and that happens to be one of the traits I've encountered whenever I've traveled through Texas.
I support Barack Obama, because I'm ready to let go of all the . . .
You know.
Either way, though, I'm happy Texas is gonna be in the middle of it this year.
PS - Been watching poll data - broadcast variety AND other, and gotta say that, with Hillary tied or beaten by McCain and Obama consistently eight points up in a national head-to-head, you guys might wanna take a real good look at him.
Let go of all the ... Yes, I know what you mean. And if you think you're being refined by not saying the word, you're mistaken. Everyone knows what you are calling Mrs. Clinton. It's another example of how Obama and his supporters have brought republican smear tactics into the democratic party. Thanks a bunch.
We could do very well without any more "help" from Texas politicians or elections.
Thanks, Ms Mapes. With Molly gone and Jim Hightower coy on the subject, I was looking for the Texas take on the Democratic candidates, knowing Hillary ahead in polls.
Given what you said about delegate apportionment, it will be fun to see what the networks, under pressure to come up with instant results, will do the night of March 4.
Let the good times roll!
And how I miss Molly Ivins and Barbara Jordan. Now SHE (BJ) was an orator. It is a state that also gave us Tom DeLay and that bush family. And yes, I know..the bush bunch are transplants, however..t
Texas has certainly done enough for national politics since 2000, thank you.
Penn and Wolfson make the contributions from Texas look like boyscouts. (TurDBlossom included)
130 Million dollar Uranium Deal in Kazakhstan
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Mark "Blackwater" Penn
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Mark Penn Anti Union, Pro Big Tobacco, Pro Big Oil
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BM- Mark Penn represents Chinese and Central American, Mexican Governments lobbying Clinton's Admin
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Mark Penn's conflict of interests
http://tpm
Howard Wolfson is big part of pro Dubai Ports deal lobbying
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Clintons WalMart ties on ABC news
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Wolfson's Group Undermines OpenNet and works with Murdoch's FOX
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Wolfson fights against asbestos claims, for Microsoft and Abramoff. Fights for Rupert Murdoch.
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More of Penn's greatest hit jobs
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I could go on and on and on.
Don't worry Clinton Clones, all that puking will help you lose weight.
NoMoreDrama, you have to keep reprinting these articles throughout all threads. If you can separate the Wolfson Group article about the OpenNet and Fox it would be helpful to educate all people on this site and others!!!!
Thank you, very interesting!!!
Amen to that sethrp. When I think Texas I think George bush jr. and it aint pretty. Please texas secede from the union and do every one a favor. two texan pres two illegal wars.
I don't quite know where you live, lady, but, here in Houston, the W stickers are still proudly displayed and the governor wants a wall between us and Mexico-so much so he's pledged state money to build it. Tom DeLay has jerrymandered the districts so badly around here that I would need about 1300 of my neighbors to suddenly vote Democratic for my vote to matter and it ain't happening. Ron Paul was NOT even once interviewed by the local, his local, Fox affiliate.
The great and late Texan Molly Ivins wrote:
"I Will Not Support Hillary Clinton for President"
Excerpt:
"Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges."
Full text:
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Great article... thanks for sharing!
Samantha--get a grip. As a Latina and Democrat from San Antonio, trust me, Molly Ivins doesn't affect me and my community's vote for Hillary one iota. Obama was not in the Senate in 2002, plain and simple and the way that he can't even stand on conviction by voting "present" or pressing the wrong buttom, what a wimp.
Terri Schiavo? Spoken like a true Republican. You can work yourself up into a frenzy all you want, but we get to have our say on March 4, and the say reality for you is this -- Mex/Am will vote in record numbers for Hillary because we have a history and relationship with the Clintons and BO will NOT be able to break that -- no matter how many attended his rally.
Rallies + fluffy speeches do not = Votes.
Ginamc -- your Latina Democratic friends need to get a grip. Go on and vote for Hillary and if she wins the presidential nomination, she will lose against McCAin and you know what McCain will do -- don't ya?
It's an issue of cause and effect -- put two and two together.
Blind loyalty is foolish.
ginamc,
My wife and I are Latinos for Obama in Dallas. We don't see any campaigning at all for either side: no bumper stickers, yard signs or rallies. All of the "W" stickers are gone. It's eerie. I have heard from others at work that my Obama bumpersticker is the only one they've seen on the roads for any candidate. I work downtown and my wife works in North Dallas. We live in East Dallas. We don't see any fervor for either side. But even though Dallas went Democratic in 2006, it is not anti-Black like the Latinos we heard on TV and on the radio in California. We had a Black mayor. In North Texas, we are more conservative and affluent than South Texas. So, even though many here are remorseful for supporting the worst president in history, there is still a lot of anti-Clinton sentiment that will be backed up by money and votes now that the Republican race has been decided. When talking with other Latinos, I hear good things about Obama. We have friends who are illegal immigrants, and the drivers license issue is big in the Dallas Latino community. We had a huge march in 2006 that was supported by local Black politicians. The Clinton name is recognized more than Obama, but I'm not sure there will be huge support for her or him, frankly. To be honest, I doubt if most of the poorer Latinos are registered or intend on voting. In general, there isn't much interest in the election yet.
Ginamc,
I'm Costa Rican/Texan, and I will be supporting Obama 100%. Not only that, I will be encouraging other Hispanics to get their collective heads out of their collective behinds and support Obama. No matter how Hillary might attempt to bury her head in the sand about her icy miscalculation with regards to her Iraq vote, it should be made clear the devestating impact her rubber stamping of the war has made on Texas' Hispanic community.
Enough from Clinton's apologists; ultimately, all one has is one's record, specially if you're a politician.
Not only has Hillary's hubris not allowed her to recognize or apologize for her vote, but she has further enboldened herself with "hawks;" by yet again, rubber stamping potentially agressive legislation in the form of Kyle/Leiberman.
For one, I'm tired of Texas/Hispanic young men and women being used as bullet catchers, and we should make Hillary pay at the ballot for acquiescing to the neo-cowards. Any right minded Hispanic should do the same, unless you find nothing objectionable in having our brothers and sisters returning in body bags.
"Spoken like a true Republican
Not sure what you mean by that. But I was just quoting a highly respected liberal voice. Obviously, you can take it for what it's worth.
Obama will shut down Guantanamo, restore habeas corpus (arresting and holding with cause), end torture, end illegal wiretapping, provide $5000 per year to college students who then give some of their time back in community service, withdraw from Iraq as he proposed in early 2007 in a Senate bill, provide affordable healthcare to every American who wants it, create teacher training programs that target high-need areas, cap-and-trade greenhouse emissions, speak directly to world leaders in order to avert war, rebuild our infrastructure, treat immigrants with dignity through a humane immigration policy, tie trade agreements to human rights and environmental standards, increase veterans benefits, provide pre-K education, eliminate tax loops for corporations who ship jobs overseas, repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%, maintain his 100% NARAL pro-choice record, respect and uphold the Constitution, which he taught, invest in green technology.
@ginamc - what does 2002 have to do with anything? And I'm sadden to think that you're making the claim that the entire Latino community will vote simply based on what Bill Clinton (after all HRC wasn't president when the relationship was built...) did for the community at some point in the past.
You're honestly telling me that based solely on past actions, Latinos will completely ignore Obama and instead vote based solely on history?
That's sad. I hope you're wrong, for all of our sake.
Yeah, just entertain us and we'll vote for you. You really don't have to stand for anything, we just want some entertainment. Just get up on the stage and daince(pronounce it as it is written). That's all we need to get our votes. If you can sing and tell jokes so much the better. We're simple folk and don't really understand all those issue things. We just want the war to keep goin' so we can keep our jobs with Lockheed and Halliburton and KBR. We just want oil prices to keep goin' up soes we can afford to pay our state university presidents millions a year. So dance Obama, dance Hillary, dance John, and dance Mike. And whoever dainces the best gets our vote. Yeeeeee Ha!
That is not what she was saying. You are mischaracterizing her essay. her point is that Texas is stranger and more diverse than most people think. Texans appreciate a sharp wit.(pleas
I'm getting EMail from Texans for Obama. People are excited about him. Twenty thousand rallied for him in Austin last spring. Also, alot of these emails are from Latinos.
redmom-- don't get too excited, just goes to show how little you know about Texas Latinos, especially from San Antonio on South -- a few exceptions to the rule, but overwhelmingly will vote for Hillary.
Can your crystal ball also reveal when my boss will promote me or when I might win the lottery?
We are rooting for you Texas... please bring this home for Obama. We on the outside will be cheering you on, and helping where we can!
You're kiddos are funny. Rallies do not = votes. Haven't y'all figured that one out by now. If that were case those rallies that the media hyper-focused on in California should've equaled a wipeout by BO-- NOT.
YEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWW! Great post that hits the nail right on the head (with wonderful shades of Molly Ivins (rip)). Austin gets plenty of lefty love, but Dallas went entirely democrat in the last election, even elected an Hispanic lesbian sheriff! Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth -- full of solid progressives who have been overshadowed by the Bushes and ignored by Yankee high brows. Now we get some say in this primary, and maybe we'll even get some love from our brethren up north. I have a feeling Obama fever is going to sweep across the state.
By the way, its sad to see so many misguided posters out there hating on the Lone Star State. Don't judge us by the Bushes; and we won't judge you by whatever right wing idiots claim to be from your state. Mary Mapes named just a few of our great ones (go see Charlie Wilson's War if you want a little taste of that). So cut us some slack. And if you won't, check out some Ray Wylie Hubbard tunes and then you'll catch my drift...
Hook em!
IIRC Shrub merely moved to Texas and adopted the Southern drawl. Guess he liked the stereotype of the irresponsible good ole' boy redneck who doesn't need ta reads no book when a shotgun will do for all occasions.
Texas is changing, as more and more people come to the state from every direction of the country, and the planet. The DFW metroplex is still growing and changing before our eyes. Despite the despicable gerrymandering efforts of the Texas Legislature "Repedophiles," and Govenor "Pontius Pilate" Perry, the sheer numbers will tell if enough people demand paper ballots and shun the electronic voting machines in the coming elections.
I do so as a matter of routine, despite the funny looks the nice voting station volunteers give me for not blindly trusting in the wonders of Diebold technology.
Leland R. Erickson
Citizen
What do Texans use to fill a George W. Bush pinata?
Blood.
Shit, because that's what he's full of.
Texas will come out fine as long as older and Latino women vote for Obama. Why would any woman vote for warmonger Clinton? Peace
Imhotep-- You and people like with that nasty anti-Hillary attitude are precisely the main reason that Latinos will NOT vote for Obama. I'm from San Antonio, a 30something Latina/MexAm, and if you youngsters weren't so pathetic, you might actually be comical.
Just because there was a rally in Austin doesn't mean a whole helluva a lot in places where Clinton is widely supported like where I am from -- San Antonio, and where friends and relatives are from -- Houston, Laredo and McAllen. There are MILLIONS of supporters for Hillary. And, fortunately for her, we know all about politics and organizing--we have been doing it for many years. I realize that this is your first time at the Party's party, but that is NOT the case for us.
Most of us greatly resent the gross disrespect and attacks upon Hillary. BTW-- The Clintons have a HISTORY AND A RELATIONSHIP with Mex/Am, especially in S. Texas that Obama can NOT make in a few, short weeks. One crucial mistake was his disgusting Spanish-language ads against Hillary in Nevada. So, y'all should NOT delude yourselves into thinking that it is going to be an easy time-- IT WILL NOT. I just attended a HUGE organizing meeting with Henry Cisneros night before last, and people are on fire for Hillary.
Hillary is a strong advocate for those that are truly disenfranchised -- the poor, working-class -- you know, the ones that are sorely lacking from Obama's bogus, bourgeoise, supposed all-inclusive, campaign.
monirod:
WTF r u talking about? Imhotep said: "Why would any woman vote for warmonger Clinton?" And then you said that's a "nasty anti-Hillary attitude"??? How is that nasty?
Ms. Clinton IS a warmonger. She supported the Iraq war, won't apologize for it, voted for Kyle-Lieberman, and is stubbornly pro-AIPAC in their 25-year plus war in Palestine.
And if you think I'm making this up, these are her own words just 2 months ago: "The next president will be the first to inherit two wars, a long-term campaign against global terrorist networks, and growing tension with Iran as it seeks to acquire nuclear weapons. The United States will face a resurgent Russia whose future orientation is uncertain and a rapidly growing China that must be integrated into the international system. Moreover, the next administration will have to confront an unpredictable and dangerous situation in the Middle East that threatens Israel and could potentially bring down the global economy by disrupting oil supplies."
- Hillary Clinton, 11-12/2007.
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You Clintonistas need to inform yourselves more on foreign policy. But I know you won't, since you already think Ms. Clinton is the First Coming for American Women, and most of you don't want to know anything uncomfortable about your candidate.
-----Hillary is a strong advocate for those that are truly disenfranchised -- the poor, working-class -- you know, the ones that are sorely lacking from Obama's bogus, bourgeoise, supposed all-inclusive, campaign. -----
Somebody explain what she means by this . . . because the majority of the contributions for Obama are $200 or under and the majority of Hillary's are $2,300 that makes Obama supporters what? bogus, bourgeoise. Golly, Obama doesn't have $5,000,000 to lend himself, but Hillary does.
Obama's entire campaign is about empowering the little guy. Instead Hillary tells us what she is going to do for us . . . and she gets to choose.
By the way, I'm 75-years-old, married to my Mexican-American husband for 52 years and voted for Bill Clinton twice. I'm just not ready for Clintons or Bushes in the White House again.
Disenfranchised? You mean those young Hispanic men and women she sent out to bullet catch in IRAQ? Who joined the military with the promise of citizenship and came back in body bags. How highminded of her, and how great her work for the disenfranchised. And how considerate of her loyal cattle wagon in TX to not consider the "abuelitas" whose grandchildren came back from the war maimed, scarred emotionally for life, or dead.
Hopefully, Barack can pile up the wins before TX, because the Hispanic (Mex/AM) vote here is majoritarily based on bogus name recognition, and dubious loyalty.
P.S. Thank you Mary Mapes, and Dan Rather, for your courageous reporting!
Mary Mapes has written a witty and optimistic essay on politics in Texas. Recalling LBJ's election to the Senate when the dead voted for him in Duvall County, the so-called "cemetery votes", I wonder what steps are being taken there to assure an honest election takes place?
As for the whole delegate thing, what is wrong with tallying the popular vote and going with that?
But letting the people vote and accepting the decision would be democracy - one person, one vote. The Washington insiders and profiteering corporate billionaires will never allow that.
Mary: Thanks for your wonderful post. Made my day. One thing worth mentioning to all the Texans (and others) voting in the upcoming primaries: Pay attention to who is up for re-election in the Senate and House!
The Texas primary is significant not only to the Hillary/Obama fight. Bush cronies Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Joe Barton, and Rep. Sam Johnson, to name a few, are all up for re-election this year, and it is important that the Democrats, significantly underfunded in Texas, nominate candidates who can outwit, outlast, and win, in November. Rove, Cheney and Bush are already fundraising here, and the impact that single issue evangelical voters have here is mindboggling (just look at what they did to Ann Richards!). I am attaching a link to a Dallas News candidate comparison, for those interested in making intelligent choices in March. Not everyone running as a Democrat in Texas are as even on the issues as Hillary and Obama. Some Texas Democrats running don't believe Global Warming is being accelerated by man! Some judicial candidates, and others, are party swapping so that they don't meet the same fate as those who ran in 2006. There is much more than meets the eye.
In Ohio, there is a campaign to kick Dennis Kucinich out of Congress. Be aware!
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sorry, above link incorrect. Try here:
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I'll sure be here in Spring, Texas pulling the lever for Obama. As far as Cornyn et al, the idea that Texas will elect anyone other than a Republican to the Senate is laughable. In Texas, the Baptist Church rules politics, and the Baptist Church is solidly Republican.
So, is the Baptist Church voting Obama too? Does that mean that Obama is Baptist, or Republican? You're conclusions are baffling. To just give up on the Senate or Representative seats with no effort is EXACTLY what Bush and Rove want us to do. I for one am not falling for it. If you want Obama, Clinton, or whoever makes it into the Whitehouse in November to have ANY ability to CHANGE the direction is going, you better HOPE, PRAY, DREAM, or whatever, that CONGRESS goes progressive too! Otherwise, change will only mean gender or race, nothing else.
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