Rick Perry vs World

12 December 2005

Supreme Court to review Texas redistricting

In a surprise move, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal by Democrats on Texas redistricting.

The hearing will likely be on March 1, by which time Judge Samuel Alito will likely be Justice Sam Alito. Depending on when he is confirmed, it could be one of Alito's first hearings.

Posted by Evan @ 12/12/05 07:22 PM | Comments (0)

Kinky is on the air

AP:

A Kinky Friedman talking action figure stars in the independent gubernatorial hopeful's first round of campaign T-V ads.

Those ads began airing today in Texas.

The musician and writer plans to run spots in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin and El Paso markets.

The ads feature a 13-inch figure at a podium -- answering questions from reporters.

"Can you get the Republicans and Democrats to work together," one reporter asks.

The doll responds: "I'm running for governor, not God."

Supporters can buy the talking action figure online or at Friedman's Austin headquarters for about 30 bucks.

Posted by Evan @ 12/12/05 07:09 PM | Comments (0)

11 December 2005

Houston City Council runoffs

Today, we had three run-off city council elections in Houston.

Anne Clutterbuck beat George Hittner in District C with 58% of the vote. A battle of two Republicans that turned nasty at the very end. Apparently, Clutterbuck got the better of it, because Hittner won the absentee ballots, trailed slightly on the early voting, and then got beat by 20% on election day. There's a maxim among political consultants: tread carefully when you have a male candidate against a woman candidate. Driving to my polling place today (I live in district C), I thought this maxim would come into play for a Clutterbuck victory in the high 50's.

In at large 2, Sue Lovell barely edged Jay Aiyer by less than 600 votes. A close battle between two Democrats for a city-wide slot. I expected Aiyer to win with about 55%, but city council elections are tough to follow, and I wasn't very confident of my prediction. Because of the very visible runoff in District C, District C ended up casting about 30% of the ballots in this race, even though it's only about 11% of the city.

In district B, Jarvis Johnson beat Felicia Galloway-Hall 60-40%. I don't live in this district; I didn't really follow the race in the slightest.

UPDATE: Here is the Houston Chronicle's take.

Posted by Evan @ 12/11/05 12:05 AM | Comments (1)

10 December 2005

House district 118

State Rep. Carlos Uresti's decision to challenge state Sen. Frank Madla has created an open house seat in San Antonio. So far, no Democrats are in the race. On the Republican side, the race includes 2004 Uresti challenger Steve Salyer and it looks like there's soon to be another Republican in the race.

Republican George Antuna, a staffer for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, is "seriously considering" a run for Texas House District 118 — a seat historically represented by Democrats.

"It's winnable by the appropriate (Republican) candidate," said Antuna, the regional director for Texas' senior senator. "Someone with deep roots in the southern sector and someone who can garner votes in the northern sector, which is the fastest-growing area."

...

Antuna graduated from South San Antonio High School, San Antonio College and the University of Texas at San Antonio. He lives in the Mission Del Lago neighborhood.

He has been Hutchison's regional director for nearly five years. Prior to that, he was director of protocol to Gov. Rick Perry and then-Secretary of State Henry Cuellar.

But he said his Republican ties don't preclude him from working with both parties.

"I've been able to cultivate strong relationships with Democrats in my current position since the majority of my region is Democrat," he said.

Antuna's middle-of-the-road politics should help him in a race for that district, said Harold Oliver, a former aide to state Sen. Frank Madla with roots on the South Side.

This is a winnable seat for the right Republican. In 2004, Bush defeated Kerry by almost 55-45%, after being edged out by Al Gore in 2000. In the '04 Railroad Commissioner race, Republican Victor Carrillo lost 49-51%. The statewide judicial races leaned a little to the Democrats, but this is definitely a winnable seat. Including the presidential race, the composite number for this was 50.3% Republican (though only 45% in 2000). (data link)

The Bexar County district is also 31% Anglo, 3% black, and 65% Hispanic (35% Anglo and 61% Hispanic among the voting age population), making Antuna's surname a valuable asset for a Republican.

If Republicans want to maintain their majority in Texas in the coming decades, the time to start grooming a farm team for future statewide office is now. It's probably a slightly uphill climb for a Republican in this district, but someone like Antuna, if willing to outwork his opponent, could definitely win.

Posted by Evan @ 12/10/05 01:34 AM | Comments (0)

09 December 2005

Friedman files for office

Yesterday, Kinky Friedman filed his paperwork to run as an independent for governor:

Humorist Kinky Friedman took his first formal step toward the governor's office today, promising, on a bitterly cold day, to work hard at putting "a chill up the spine of every politician."

The musician-turned-mystery writer officially filed his declaration of intent to run as an independent candidate for governor with the secretary of state.

But to get on the ballot next November, he needs to collect at least 45,540 voters' signatures — or 1 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election — from people next spring who don't cast ballots in any party primary or runoff.

Friedman told a few dozen supporters and reporters huddled for a brief, sidewalk announcement that his real opponent was not Gov. Rick Perry, but voter apathy.

Only 29 percent of Texas' voting age population cast ballots in the 2002 gubernatorial general election.

"If we can get the 29 percent who voted last time up to 39 percent, it'll all be over, and there will be a whole new spirit blowing through Texas," he said. "There will be a smile on everybody's face and a chill up the spine of every politician."

Posted by Evan @ 12/09/05 03:56 PM | Comments (0)

This amused me

NYTimes on Vince Young:

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said Young was like "the second coming of Secretariat in a football sense."

"We're obviously all pulling for him," Perry said. "He probably means a thousand things to Texas in that we have one of the top three football players in America. It's probably a million things or more."

The first Aggie governor is rooting for the 'Horns?

Perry must be up for election or something.

Posted by Evan @ 12/09/05 03:54 PM | Comments (0)

Houston legislative races

I thought I'd note that Dan Patrick is circulating a poll in state senate district 7 showing him at nearly 40%, with his opponents Mark Ellis, Peggy Hamric, and Joe Nixon stuck in the single digit range.

That seems a little overstated, but since Dan Patrick is still on the air everyday as a radio talk show host with KSEV, it's probable that he's leading on the basis of name ID alone. He's also been advertising his Chuck Norris endorsement.

Hamric and Nixon are currently state reps, while Ellis is a Houston City Councilman. City Council historically hasn't been a good steppingstone to higher office for Republicans in Houston. Hamric has certain advantages, being the only woman and she currently represents more of the district that Nixon. On the other hand, Nixon should have the edge in fundraising.

There are rumors that one of the candidates will file a lawsuit or complain to the ethics commission about Patrick being on the air while running for the seat (he hasn't filed yet, and when he does, he'll go off the air). Whether successful or not, it'll raise the decibel-level of the campaign.

SD7 is heavily Republican (about 73% Republican), so whomever wins the primary will be in the legislature. It'll be an interesting primary to watch.

* Hamric has opened up HD126, where Patricia Harless and John Devine are both running. Devine should have some name ID left over from his Congressional bid in 2004, where he took 39% of the vote in Harris County [Streusand took 28% and eventual runoff winner Mike McCaul took 13% -- Harris County makes up about 1/3 of CD 10.] With that name ID, you'd probably consider Devine the frontrunner.

* Nixon left behind HD133, where Mike Schofield, Jim Murphy, and Barbara Larson are all in the race. I have a guess as to who might be the frontrunner, but I'll ask around more first.

Both house seats are Republican districts; 133 is about 56% Republican and 126 is about 67% GOP. So whoever wins the Republican primary in each district has a very good chance to win the general election as well.

* Meanwhile, former state Rep. Talmadge Heflin says he's planning to challenge current state Rep. Vo. Vo beat Heflin in 2004 by a few votes in a district (HD149) that leans to the GOP by about 52-48 or so. Of course, Heflin has also applied for a job at the Lottery Commission, and he can't do both.

Posted by Evan @ 12/09/05 02:27 PM | Comments (2)

The Texas ATM *

Texas Weekly (subscription required) writes that state Rep. Joe Strauss (who won the HD121 special election when Elizabeth Ames Jones was appointed to the Railroad Commission) had a special guest at his fundraiser: Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani wasn't advertised as a special guest, but was a surprise to the folks at the funder.

So, you think he's running for president? Sure sounds like he might be thinking about how to meet donors who might give him money.

Of course, Rudy is presumably spending more time in Texas lately, having become a name partner in the Bracewell and Giuliani law firm. B&G, while headquartered in Houston, has offices in both Austin and San Antonio, so it also makes good business sense for Giuliani to be meeting with political donors from San Antonio.

*The Texas ATM is a reference to complaints by Texas Democrats that national Democrats use Texas to fundraise, but don't campaign here. It doesn't really apply here, I just found it humorous.

Posted by Evan @ 12/09/05 01:22 PM | Comments (0)

Bells and Clocks

Selby reports over at the Statesman's Postcards from the Trail that Chris Bell was nearly struck by a falling clock when he filed for governor at the Democrat's hq in Austin.

He didn't spell out fresh proposals, though he made it clear he'd favor expanding business taxes both to pay for reductions in local school property taxes and to spend more on education. He said he favors higher teacher salaries and smaller class sizes.

Headline: Democrat advocates expanded business taxes to lower school taxes and bolster education.

That alone could distinguish Bell from Republican leaders, who have appeared wary of saying they want any additional taxes to pay for educational spending hikes.

Bell said that Perry "has basically tried to tell people that state government can meet all their needs and do everything that they want state government to do and they don't have to pay a penny more. And I think people are waking up to the fact that that is completely false."

Posted by Evan @ 12/09/05 12:39 PM | Comments (0)

08 December 2005

Questions, hypotheticals

Who would be most likely to win a top-of-the-ticket statewide (Governor, Senator) race in Texas as an independent? If it helps you ponder potential candidates, then you can simply use the 2006 election cycle (without Kinky Friedman, as that'd complicate the analysis).

How high on that list is Kinky Friedman?

Thoughts without revealing my answers: the candidate would have to be well known, be famous for being a Texan (that is, someone like Roger Clemens still isn't particularly known around the state as a Texan), be able to raise money, and able to inspire deep enough support to get on the ballot.

[I wonder if I'd get more participation if I tagged certain other bloggers. Probably, but that's too pro-active for me.]

Posted by Evan @ 12/08/05 04:16 PM | Comments (7)

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