Category Archives: Election 2002

Last week, BOR took a couple of looks back at how things were five years ago in the aftermath of the 2002 election (short answer: it sucked), and compares to how things are now. I’ll give you one way in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Received a link to this interesting study of Latino voting patterns in my mailbox the other day. Here are the highlights: * The Latino vote for GOP Senate candidates was similar to prior years, at about one-third; gubernatorial candidates fared … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Harris County Democrats selected Gerry Birnberg as their interim party chair to fill out Sue Schecter’s unexpired term. Birnberg will have to run for reelection in the 2004 primary. He promised to raise enough money to hire a full-time executive … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Seeing this article about the resignation of Harris County Democratic Party Chair Sue Schecter reminds me that I never did follow up on this post, which pointed to this article about the many things that the local party did wrong … Continue reading → Continue reading →

By the way, in case there weren’t enough depressing news to go around, our new Senator John Cornyn has a seat on the Judiciary Committee, which means that the renomination of Priscilla Owen to the federal bench is pretty much … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Forty-eight families donated $34 million to the Texas GOP this year, more than half of the $64 million total that the state party raised. I’m not going to act all shocked and indignant about this. “GOP gets big bucks from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Well, it’s official. We won’t have Al Gore to kick around in 2004, as he has announced that he is not a candidate for President. Part of me is sorry to see this, as I think he’s still the best … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Everyone who paid attention agrees that the Texas Governor’s race was very negative this year. A new poll suggests that Tony Sanchez got the brunt of the fallout from that: On a scale of one to five with five being … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Well, the good news is that the Chron finally addressed the David Rushing issue. The bad news is that they did so in a completely candy-assed way. What they did was print three letters to the editor which one assumes … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Four defeated state candidates in Texas are filing suit against the Texas Association of Business, claiming that money that the TAB spent in the campaigns constituted direct contributions, which are illegal under state law. Okay, this is a little complicated. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

No correction or letters-to-the-editor printed in the Chron as of today regarding David Rushing. I’ll be keeping an eye on it. On a slightly egotistical note, this site is higher result in a Google search for “David Rushing” than any … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Yesterday, after Mark Yzaguirre tipped me off to David Rushing’s more accurate byline, I sent the following email to the Chron: In Sunday’s edition, you printed an opinion piece called “How John Sharp Killed the Texas Democratic Party” (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/outlook/1674118). The … Continue reading → Continue reading →

While writing the article below critiquing David Rushing’s op-ed in today’s Chron, I was tempted to include a line saying something like “This article is so ridiculous and slanted, I’d almost swear it was written by a Republican posing as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

When I saw the above-the-fold headline in the Sunday op-ed section entitled How John Sharp Killed the Texas Democratic Party, I expected a discussion of things like how all three top ticket candidates ran as Rpublican Lites, how Sharp kept … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Before November 5, there was speculation that if the Republicans gained a 50-49-1 majority in the Senate that Lincoln Chafee would switch parties to leave the Senate in Democratic control. Switch talk is still alive, only now there are more … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Walter in Denver, a Libertarian Party member, has some thoughts on the recent election: So, why do I, a partisan Libertarian, see a positive in Republican victory? After all, gridlock is the next best thing to libertarian government. It’s because … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Jim Henley has some sharp words for libertarians regarding the Homeland Security Act and the Information Awareness Office. If you imagine yourselves as part of some coalition, ask yourself what you’re getting for your trouble. You lost HSD. You lost … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Tim Fleck has a pretty damning article about the haplessness of the Harris County Democratic Party, which is basically 0 for the last three elections. It’s pretty ugly. I’m up to my ass in alligators right now, but rest assured … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This AP article says Hispanics generally voted Democratic in 2002, but the GOP got a decent share of the votes in New York, Florida, and possibly Colorado. It’s also a reminder that Hispanic voters are not monolithic – those of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur is now in the running to be House Minority Leader. I’ll say it again: Whoever can best upgrade him or herself to be Majority Leader in 2004 is the one I want. Continue reading →

Ruy Teixera has a Prospect article that covers the familiar ground of why Election Day was carried by the GOP this year. He spends a few paragraphs on turnout, which should sound familiar: Looking inside some of the Senate states … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I have to tell you, I really thought turnout was going to carry at least some of the statewide Democratic ticket to victory this year. I just knew it. I made several bad assumptions. One, I believed my own hype. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As I alluded to yesterday, the state GOP realizes that it is taking control at a tough time: After years of good times and budget surpluses, the now GOP-controlled House, Senate and Governor’s Mansion will be forced to tackle multiple … Continue reading → Continue reading →

O-Dub has his doubts about Nancy Pelosi, the new House Minority Leader. He thinks she won’t be as effective as Martin Frost or Harold Ford would have been because she’s sufficiently in touch with American opinion. That may be, but … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas is a conservative state. That was the case when the Democrats ruled the land, and it’s the case now that the GOP is in control. That doesn’t mean that a progressive candidate can’t be successful at the state level. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is the first of several articles that will talk about how the Democrats can fight their way back to relevance in Texas. Though this is intended as being tailored for Texas, quite a bit of it will have relevance … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Nancy Pelosi appears to be the new House minority leader as Martin Frost has dropped out and announced his support for her. Harold Ford is still in the race, but Pelosi claims to have more than half the votes already. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Andrew Northrup has a long list of questions for Democrats to ask themselves. Matt Yglesias has a similar list. Both are worth looking at and thinking about. I’m working on my own pieces, concentrating more on Texas. How can Democrats … Continue reading → Continue reading →

They finally finished counting the votes in Bexar County, a mere 30 hours after polls closed. Looks like the local elections administrator there can say sayonara to his job as a result. I’m just mad that the delay caused me … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Well, damn. Not only was there no Fort Worth miracle for John Sharp, the late ballots in San Antonio wound up pushing Henry Bonilla over the top in the 23rd CD. Can’t even get a consolation prize around here. What … Continue reading → Continue reading →