Tag Archives: Barack Obama

What the Trib’s pollsters miss about their own polls

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Having published their poll results, Jim Henson goes back and analyzes their gubernatorial poll, pronouncing it all a big success. The partisan responses to the poll results have been similarly predictable. The Republican chorus is singing I-told-you-so, chalking up Davis’ … Continue reading →

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Perry schools Abbott

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This is how it’s done, son. Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday condemned inflammatory remarks by Ted Nugent that resurfaced when the outspoken rocker this week joined Republican Greg Abbott’s gubernatorial campaign. Nugent was quoted in an interview with Guns.com … Continue reading →

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What the ACA does, Texas has long done

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

By now you’ve surely heard about the CBO report on the Affordable Care Act and the workforce, which despite some terribly botched reporting does have a lot of political considerations. There’s something I’d like to point out about this before … Continue reading →

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Perry and pot

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Haul out your blind squirrels and acorns cliches. Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday that he favors decriminalizing marijuana use and lessening punishment for minor offenders as the nation moves toward a more moderate approach to pot use and two … Continue reading →

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On pot and prosecutions

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure you’ve heard about President Obama’s remarks that marijuana isn’t really more harmful than alcohol. There’s plenty of evidence to back that assertion, but Harris County DA Devon Anderson strongly disagreed with him anyway. President Barack Obama’s recently published … Continue reading →

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VRA 2.0

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Redistricting: [Thursday] morning, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) introduced proposed amendments to the Voting Rights Act that would rework the section 5 coverage formula invalidated by the Supreme Court in Shelby … Continue reading →

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Empty benches

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It would be nice to have some more federal judges here in Texas. Saying that Texas has more vacant federal judgeships than any other state, leaders from state and national liberal advocacy organizations on Monday called on U.S. Sens. Ted … Continue reading →

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Election Day today

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

For the however many of you that haven’t voted yet, here’s a message from County Clerk Stan Stanart: 4,500 Election Judges and Clerks are prepared to receive voters on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5, at the 775 locations throughout Harris … Continue reading →

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Have you gotten your text from the Ben Hall campaign?

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Ben Hall campaign sent out this press release on Tuesday: The Ben Hall for Mayor campaign has launched a new initiative to reach Houston voters and communicate with them on a platform where they already spend a lot of … Continue reading →

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Why the Affordable Care Act will make a real difference to many people

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is what it’s all about. The following was written by a good friend of mine, who has been eagerly awaiting October 1 and the opening of the insurance exchanges. I asked him to write about his experience with getting … Continue reading →

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Lyceum poll: Abbott over Davis, 29-21

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Make of this what you will. Republican Greg Abbott is leading Democrat Wendy Davis by 8 points in a hypothetical matchup for Texas governor, but it’s a statistical dead heat among women, according to a Texas Lyceum Poll of registered … Continue reading →

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Yet another wacky poll about Latino voting in Texas

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in. Sen. Ted Cruz lost the Hispanic vote in Texas by about 20 percentage points, but out-performed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, according to post-2012 election polling shared with the … Continue reading →

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Obama pledges to keep fighting for the Voting Rights Act

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s hold him to that. President Barack Obama assured civil rights leaders Monday that he will aggressively protect minority voters in Texas and other states, a month after the Supreme Court ended decades of federal election scrutiny. “The Supreme Court … Continue reading →

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SJL for DHS?

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

That sound you heard Monday was a bunch of heads exploding. Conservative bloggers went wild Monday when they got wind of the Congressional Black Caucus’ suggestion that President Obama pick Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston for the post of … Continue reading →

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BGTX and Anglo women voters

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The San Antonio Current has a great story on what Battleground Texas is up to, and why more than just increasing turnout is needed to turn Texas blue. The Democrats can take Texas in 2016 if they can tap into … Continue reading →

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From the “Wooing Latino Voters: You’re Doing It Wrong” department

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Greg Abbott visits McAllen and gives the locals his best reason why they should vote for him. Gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott called for unity between Republican candidates and Hispanics in McAllen on Monday, with the promise of being in South … Continue reading →

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NPR’s odd claim about Latino voting in Texas

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

NPR takes its turn with the obligatory “can Texas turn blue” story, and in doing some provides a number I had not heard before. A new group called Battleground Texas is planning to spend tens of millions of dollars trying … Continue reading →

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Eva Longoria

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

She’s much more than an actor. Over the past five years of the Obama presidency, the 38-year-old Corpus Christi native who rocketed to fame in Hollywood has slowly but surely made her mark in Washington as a serious student of … Continue reading →

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What the future may hold for Wendy Davis

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Patricia Kilday Hart has her take on the Wendy Davis phenomenon, including the reaction of some Republicans to it. For both proponents and opponents of SB 5, the legislation that would have banned abortions past 20 weeks of pregnancy and … Continue reading →

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The trend matters as much as the average

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I would characterize this Politifact analysis as basically accurate but not particularly meaningful. Republican consultant Karl Rove thinks Georgia Republicans need to be more like their Texas counterparts. In a May 18 speech at Georgia’s GOP state convention, Rove said … Continue reading →

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Taking back the Texas Senate

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Colin Strother says the Democrats should not overlook opportunities to make gains in the upper chamber of the Legislature. The conventional wisdom is that Democrats need a miracle to pick up any single seat, much less turn the chamber Blue. … Continue reading →

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From the “It could happen, but it won’t” department

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose it could be the case that Texas could get federal pre-K funds, but nobody really expects that to happen, right? Texas could get an estimated $308 million in grants to fund one year of early childhood education if … Continue reading →

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Complaints filed against federal judge Edith Jones

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is a potential blockbuster. A broad coalition of groups — including an agency funded by the Mexican government (the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program), various civil rights organizations, legal ethics experts, and law professors — filed the complaint against … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

PAC Plus polls Latinos in Texas

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

BOR reported last week on a poll of Texas Latinos conducted by PAC Plus. They zeroed in on the questions that had to do with Latinos’ impressions of Republicans and Democrats. For the survey PAC+ interviewed 2,685 randomly selected registered … Continue reading →

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Not just Austin, dammit

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

What Flavia Isabel says: The single purpose of this post is to eradicate the phrase “Oh yeah, Austin is a blue dot in a sea of red” from the vocabulary of anybody who cares about turning Texas blue. I am … Continue reading →

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News flash: Ted Cruz is not KBH

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I know, I’m as shocked as you are. For nearly two decades, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison delivered thousands of federal projects to Texas that added billions of dollars to the state’s economy. The leader of a bipartisan approach known as … Continue reading →

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Nate Silver takes another look at Texas

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s always about the numbers. Since President Obama’s re-election in 2012, Republicans have worried about what an increasingly diverse electorate will mean for their future as a national party. Democrats, meanwhile, have started talking about turning ruby red states like … Continue reading →

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Battlegound Texas officially launches

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

You have probably heard by now that Battleground Texas has officially launched. Spearheaded by organizers of Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012 — when Republican nominee Mitt Romney handily carried the Lone Star State — a new push, called “Battleground Texas,” … Continue reading →

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We could do something to make voting easier if we wanted to

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

With all the negative news about voting rights in the news these days – voter ID, electoral college gerrymandering, challenges to the Voting Rights Act – it’s good to remember that positive change is still possible. On two major occasions—during … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: Comparing 2012 and 2008

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Though the data isn’t yet posted on individual members’ webpages, I have gotten a copy of the 2012 election results by State Rep district, for which there was much rejoicing. The first question of interest is how much the 2008 … Continue reading →

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Yet another report saying we should expand Medicaid in Texas

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s the fiscally responsible thing to do, in addition to being the morally correct thing to do. Expanding Medicaid is a “smart, affordable and fair” decision for Texas, according to a report issued by Billy Hamilton, a non-partisan consultant commissioned … Continue reading →

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Is there a way forward on expanding Medicaid in Texas?

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a little hard to know what to make of this. The Affordable Care Act is the federal law that Texas Republicans love to hate, but one top lawmaker says expanding health care for the working poor could happen if … Continue reading →

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Friday random ten: Inauguration 2

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s Inauguration 2 Weekend for President Obama. Here are a few suggested songs for the party playlist. 1. Back Where You Started – Tina Turner 2. Starting All Over Again – Mel & Tim 3. Serious Business – John Mellencamp … Continue reading →

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Julian 2016?

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I have five things to say about this. Texas Democratic powerbrokers are quietly promoting rising star Julian Castro as a consensus building leader with bipartisan support as they position the charismatic San Antonio mayor for the party’s 2016 presidential ticket. … Continue reading →

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