Category Archives: Election 2008

Last week, I said you could lend a painless hand to Rick Noriega‘s fundraising efforts by voting in Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Choose a Challenger contest. PAC for a Change is kicking off our 2008 “Choose a Challenger” contest — an … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sheriff Tommy Thomas comes out of his bunker long enough to answer a few questions about all that nasty news about himself and his office. Looking at what he’s got to say for himself, I’m thinking he’d have been better … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Rep. John Culberson is not a fan of wind energy. In a video chat with constituents from his Capitol Hill office, Culberson said on June 10: These people in the wind … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Earlier this year, I noted that San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger, in his second and final two-year term, announced in his State of the City address that he wanted to change San Antonio’s restrictive term limits law. He has now … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The bad poll news for Republicans keeps on coming. Houston Republican insiders are buzzing — with worry — about an election poll conducted privately for their local party. Funded and designed by GOPers, the poll by Baselice and Associates essentially … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We’ve got a couple of polls in the SD10 race between Wendy Davis and Sen. Kim Brimer. From Politex: In a poll conducted for Davis’ campaign by Washington, D.C.-based Democratic pollsters Bennett, Petts & Normington, Brimer nabs 39 percent of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Just a reminder about the TexBlog PAC fundraiser for next Thursday: Please join host Mustafa Tameez and sponsors: and sponsors: State Representatives Ellen Cohen, Jessica Farrar, Armando Walle, and Ana Hernandez Houston Controller Annise Parker Democratic Candidate for U.S. Congress … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s Friday, right? That means it’s the perfect day for stuff like this. Today, Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill issued a statement taunting Democrat David Mincberg for having nothing under the “Issues” section of the Web site for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Want to lend a painless hand to Rick Noriega‘s fundraising efforts? Go vote in Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Choose a Challenger contest. PAC for a Change is kicking off our 2008 “Choose a Challenger” contest — an opportunity for you and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Concluding my series of interviews from the convention in Austin is a short chat I had with State Rep. Juan Garcia. I hadn’t made a prior arrangement with Rep. Garcia for this, and was fortunate to run into him in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas Monthly writer John Spong spent some time with the Rick Noriega campaign around the primary, and writes a report that I’ve heard described as “tough love”, a term Houtopia also uses. It’s a pretty accurate description. It’s also a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

After you put the TexBlog PAC fundraiser on your calendar, put this one on next: Houston Votes! Benefitting voter registration in Houston July 1, 2008 The Continental Club 3700 Main Street 6-8 p.m. $20 Catering: Ragin’ Cajun Entertainment: Zydeco Joseph … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Next up on the interview list is Ernie Casbeer, who came out of nowhere to get 44.5% of the vote in a district (PDF) where no other Democrat topped 40% – Bill Moody scored 39.7% in HD59, with most other … Continue reading → Continue reading →

CD10 candidate Larry Joe Doherty has released a poll memo (PDF) with some good and interesting news. This district may have been gerrymandered to be a safe Republican seat, but it certainly does not look like one any longer. In … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is a heads up to mark Thursday, June 26 on your calendar for the next TexBlog PAC fundraiser in Houston. Please join host Mustafa Tameez and sponsors: State Representatives Ellen Cohen, Jessica Farrar, Armando Walle, and Ana Hernandez Democratic … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Next up in my convention interview series is Joe Moody, running for the now-open HD78 seat in El Paso, which was held by Rep. Pat Haggerty until he was knocked out in a nasty GOP primary fight against Dee Margo, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Texas Politics, the Harris County Coordinated Campaign Lone Star Project has launched a new website called Texas Republican Rap Sheet, which lists the transgressions of various local Republican officeholders, plus the recently resigned former DA Chuck Rosenthal. It’s pretty … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We have another contender for the SD17 special election. Republican Joan Huffman, a former felony court judge in Harris County, announced her candidacy in the Nov. 4 election to fill the vacant District 17 state Senate seat once held by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Next up in my series of convention interviews is yet another Tarrant County candidate, Chris Turner, who is running against the egregious Rep. Bill Zedler in HD96. This is another purple district (the list of such district in the Metroplex … Continue reading → Continue reading →

BOR has an invitation for those of you in Austin tonight. Bill Dingus is in town tomorrow at the historic Scholz Beer Garten, and this is a chance to talk to the man with the guts to take on Tom … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Continuing with my series of candidate interviews from the convention, next up is Robert Miklos, who is running for HD101 in Dallas County. Miklos is a former prosecutor with the Harris County DA’s office (he worked under Johnnie Holmes) and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

June is always a busy time for political fundraising, since there’s a June 30 quarterly reporting deadline looming, and everyone wants to max out their totals for the quarter. Sometimes there’s a little extra incentive to donate to a particular … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Along with their Presidential poll, Rasmussen has a result for June that shows Sen. John Cornyn with a 17-point lead over Rick Noriega. As they note, this is a huge swing from last month, where they had Cornyn up by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Next up on the interview list is Wendy Davis, who is running for State Senate in Tarrant County, in SD10. Hers is one of two – hopefully three – high profile Senate races this year, which is something we don’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Austin Political report says that Chris Bell is set to officially enter the special election race for SD17. Several sources report that former congressman and gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell is telling Houston lawmakers that he will run in the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

While I wasn’t in Austin for long during the convention, I did manage to achieve my goal of doing a bunch of interviews with various candidates and officeholders. I’ll be publishing them over the next two weeks, and will continue … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Today is Olivia’s fourth birthday, so as pretty much everyone at the convention I talked to knows, I headed back to Houston early today, and thus missed much of the action, including Chelsea Clinton’s keynote address and Rick Noriega’s speech … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m afraid I’ll have to miss this event. Build a Republican campaign for Tom DeLay’s old congressional seat and Dick Cheney will come. The vice president is scheduled to visit Houston billionaire Dan Duncan’s home in River Oaks on Friday … Continue reading → Continue reading →

While we’re enjoying the Democratic convention in Austin this weekend, Rick Noriega is doing his annual two week duty with the National Guard. While he’s busy with that, he could use a little help. From an email sent out from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As expected. Gov. Rick Perry today set the Nov. 4 general election day as the date for the special election to replace retiring state Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, in Senate District 17. The winner will serve until Janek’s current term … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Colin has an excellent BOR diary advocating Chris Bell as a candidate for the now-open SD17 seat. It’s a bit hard to believe, but with some luck, we could pick up three Senate seats this fall, and that’s without a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve hit on the theme of budgetary priorities and choices many times in recent weeks, and I see that Rick Noriega has given me a nice opportunity to hit it again. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega lashed Republican incumbent … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Since the release of the Texas Observer poll of new and crossover voters in this year’s Democratic primary, a somewhat strange narrative has taken hold. Here’s Burka: The voting pattern-a huge spike in turnout combined with little interest in downballot … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Leland Beatty takes a look at all those new folks who voted in the Democratic primary. [W]e surveyed 2,500 voters, half of whom had never participated in a primary until 2008 and the other half voters who participated in previous … Continue reading → Continue reading →