Rick Perry vs World

04 January 2007

Pena predicts Craddick to remain speaker

Democratic Rep. Aaron Pena predicts Craddick will remain speaker.

Posted by Evan @ 01/04/07 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

03 January 2007

Dems backing Weber in HD29?

Via Charles Kuffner, I find that Democratic candidate Dr. Anthony DiNovo and his campaign manager have both endorsed Republican Randy Weber over Republican Mike O'Day.

Fascinating, considering that O'Day picked Democrat Shane Sklar over Dr. Ron Paul in the recent election. Also, most reports put Weber more to the right than O'Day

Posted by Evan @ 01/03/07 12:28 PM | Comments (0)

02 January 2007

Texas native Dempsey to join Premiership

Nacogdoches product Clint Dempsey has a deal to join English club Fulham.

Major League Soccer has agreed to send Clint Dempsey to Fulham of the English Premier League for what would be the largest transfer free in MLS history -- if the New England Revolution midfielder can obtain a British work permit.

Dempsey has played three seasons with the Revolution and has six goals for the national team. He would be the third American player to join the south London team, following defender Carlos Bocanegra and striker Brian McBride, who both arrived at Craven Cottage in January 2004.

The US has had players denied work permits before, such as Bobby Convey's 2003 deal.

Dempsey is a dangerous attacker from the flank, but I have doubts that his defense is good enough right now to play in the English Premier League. But his best days are certainly ahead of him. Plus, it'll be good for him to have a few friendly faces around, on a team where Americans are respected: McBride was Fulham's player of the year last year.

Posted by Evan @ 01/02/07 07:39 PM | Comments (2)

Post-election spinnage

The Washington Times editorial board must've gotten spun pretty hard by 2006 NRSC Chairwoman Elizabeth Dole.

More than 50 days after Democrats defeated six Republican incumbents to capture a de facto 51-49 majority in the Senate . . . when numerous Republican senators ignored calls to transfer a portion of their own bulging war chests to a handful of pivotal states.

...

Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison won her 2006 election (62-36) and finished her campaign with $7.3 million in the bank. All she gave the NRSC was a $115,000 donation. Fellow Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who had $2.8 million in the bank on Sept. 30 in preparation for his likely cakewalk in 2008, gave the NRSC $50,000 in 2006.

...

In the end, Mr. Talent lost in Missouri by fewer than 50,000 votes among the more than two million cast (49.6 percent to 47.3 percent); Mr. Allen lost in Virginia by fewer than 10,000 votes among the nearly 2.5 million cast (49.6-49.2); and Mr. Burns lost by fewer than 3,000 votes among the nearly 400,000 cast (49.1-48.4).

I've got a few problems with this.

1. The NRSC did not do a good job this election cycle. It didn't raise enough money, failed to recruit good candidates in a few races ( Florida anyone?), and then wasted money. For an example of the latter, see the horribly misleading ads they ran against Steve Laffey. While I would've likely voted for Chafee since Laffey had no chance to win, some of those ads were thoroughly inexcusable.

2. Senators are accountable to their donors. If I'd given money to a senator, and he/she turned around and sent too much to the NRSC, it'd be the last dollar of my money they'd ever get. People raise money for their own careers and for future races. They shouldn't get overly pressured into giving it away to people who should've raised more money.

3. Spending more money wouldn't necessarily have helped. The law of diminishing returns definitely kicks in. The TV markets were probably so saturated in Missouri, Virginia, and especially Montana that I doubt any more NRSC ads would've been the proximal factor in changing election results. Besides, good campaigns (Virginia and Montana would not qualify) have closing strategies which can get sidetracked by outside ads.

What is also amusing about the WashTimes op-ed is that it specifically lauds Thad Cochran of Mississippi for giving $225k -- only $110k more than Hutchison -- because he didn't have much cash on hand. Well, WashTimes editorial board, riddle me this: why wasn't Senator Cochran out raising money to help his colleagues? He's the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee! Chairman. Of. Appropriations. Raise some money, Senator, if you want to stay one of the most powerful people inside the Beltway.

So, given that Hutchison was actually up for re-election, it seems to me that Senator Cochran should be more of a target for criticism than Senator Hutchison.

Posted by Evan @ 01/02/07 06:27 PM | Comments (0)

The ones we won't hear from

Peggy Fikac has an article on the gubernatorial race losers:

[Kinky] Friedman, mindful of the difficulty of seeking public office as a relatively underfunded independent, doesn't know if he'll run again.

"I think if I did, I would be a Republican or a Democrat," he said, adding he first wants to see "a large amount of dead presidents" — meaning, "If you can get enough money at the beginning, then it makes sense."

Doesn't that kind of undermine the central message of his 2006 campaign? I'm confused.

Democrat Chris Bell, a Houston lawyer trying to decide what's next professionally, also is writing a book about the race and his outlook on Texas after that experience. Its working title is (again, what else?) "From Behind the Rock," taken from a Texas Monthly reference to him as Sisyphus, who in Greek mythology was doomed to forever roll an enormous rock uphill.

I hate to be catty, but I have a question: was Chris Bell more deluded to think people might read his book or to think he had a shot at being governor? I mean, he's a losing candidate for governor. By his own admission, he did worse than a corpse would do on the ballot. I find it hard to believe that he's going to produce a book that will get published.

Posted by Evan @ 01/02/07 12:19 AM | Comments (0)

31 December 2006

Guv swearing in Carlos Cascos

Perry to swear in new Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos tomorrow:

"I don't recall any governor coming in to swear in a Cameron County judge," said judge-elect Carlos Cascos. "What bigger honor can I have than have the governor" preside over the ceremony?

Cascos said he asked Perry if he would perform the ceremony a few days after winning the Nov. 7 general election.

"He said he would be honored to fly down" and perform the ceremony, Cascos said.

A Republican head of Cameron County....sounds pretty good. Cameron County is home to Brownsville, Harlingen, and South Padre.

Posted by Evan @ 12/31/06 08:24 PM | Comments (1)

28 December 2006

The Montgomery poll

To quote Harvey:

In another indicator of the shifting political climate, a poll released today by Montgomery & Associates shows that more Texans identify with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.

In the poll, 45.1 percent of the respondents called themselves Democrats while 42.6 percent called themselves Republicans. This marks the first time in the poll's three-year history that more people identified themselves as Democrats than as Republicans. Last year, the spread was 49.2 percent to 37.2 percent in favor of the Republicans. The year before that, the spread was 54.7 percent to 33.9 percent.

The number of Texans who identified themselves as Independents dropped significantly from 2005 – from 10.5 percent to 6.4 percent. The drop in the Independent column is curious because of the attention given this year to the independent gubernatorial candidacies of Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn.

I'm more than skeptical, even beyond the obvious fact that the sample is of Texans, not Texans who vote.

Posted by Evan @ 12/28/06 05:06 PM | Comments (1)

Race for the Speakership

The main thing that is happening in Texas politics these days is the speaker's race. Harvey Kronberg and Paul Burka are the main sources of info.

Internal races like these are entirely a matter of perception. Who wins is who people think will win. The battle to be perceived as the likely winner is well underway.

Democratic Rep. Senfronia Thompson released her pledges, presumably votes that will go to non-Craddick candidates. In response, current Speaker Craddick released a list of 84 names, including 17 Democrats, who he says re-confirmed support for him.

McCall is claiming that he has 16 of the 84 people on Craddick's list.

Meanwhile, Appropriations Cmte Chair Jim Pitts has filed to run as speaker and is holding a press conference as I type. Burka reports some rumor (odd, given that he's tried to stay out of the rumor mill so far on the Speaker's race) that Pitts is with McCall, but that seems like an odd tactic for Pitts. Why would he put his credibility on the line by holding a press conference if he's only doing it as a way to help McCall?

Right now, if Craddick can't halt the news cycle, then momentum is going to shift, and then the perception will solidify.

It will also be interesting to see whether the vote for the Speaker remains a public vote, or whether the House decides to change the rules and make it a secret vote.

Posted by Evan @ 12/28/06 05:01 PM | Comments (0)

24 December 2006

Speaker's race

[I'm on the road, so I don't have real internet access. Instead, I'm on the Blackberry, so this'll be short.]

Paul Burka has a series of posts up on his blog about the Speaker's race...to be Speaker. Plano state rep. Brian McCall has long been thought to be an ABC (Anybody But Craddick)

(In progress)

Posted by Evan @ 12/24/06 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

20 December 2006

Two good ideas

Hopefully some substantive legislator will pick up the ball, and include nanotechnology as required science education for our kids. Texas -- particularly Houston -- has the chance to be a leader in nanotech. This certainly wouldn't hurt. It'd also help us keep up with our southern neighbors: Mexico has already added nanotech education to its curriculum. (Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds)

While we're at it, economics should also really be required in high school.

Posted by Evan @ 12/20/06 04:51 PM | Comments (1)

[Previous 10 Entries] [Next 10 Entries]

SITE MENU

+ Rick Perry vs World
+ About Me

+ Archives

+ Email:
perryvsworld* at *gmail dot com

ADVERTISING

SYNDICATION

DISCLAIMER

Rick Perry vs. World is powered by Nucleus.

Site design and Nucleus customization by Kevin Whited.