Posts Tagged ‘David Dewhurst’
Thursday, February 27th, 2014
The Lt. Governor’s race presents plenty of irony, namely in that it features incumbent Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, whose lost the 2012 Senate race to Ted Cruz, and three statewide office holders, all running as staunch conservatives, who endorsed Dewhurst over Cruz in that race.
Dewhurst’s strengths and weaknesses are the same he displayed in that race. On the plus side, he’s run and won high-profile statewide races, he’s Independently wealthy and thus can self-fund to an extent others can’t, and he helped govern Texas during a time our prosperity, job creation and fiscal discipline have been the envy of most states. On the negative side, conservatives have long had numerous gripes about Dewhurst, complaining that he gives too much senate power to minority Democrats and gives them too many committee chairs, and that he thwarts conservatives in many ways great and small. As I wrote at the time, “Dewhurst occupies that vast gray area between a RINO (think Arlen Specter before he went The Full Benedict) and a real movement conservative.” The 2012 Senate race also showed that Dewhurst is a remarkably poor debater and off-the-cuff speaker who does not seem to think well on his feet, and losing to Cruz damaged his political reputation. His social media outreach was poor during the Senate run, but seems to have improved for this race. As in the Senate race, Dewhurst has garnered the lion’s share of business group endorsements (with Staples second), and the clear majority of newspaper endorsements (hardly a plus for most conservatives).
State Senator Dan Patrick has a solid conservative record, but also a bit of a reputation as both a hothead and (as a former sportscaster) a something of an intellectual lightweight who has been dinged by some for poor debate performances. (I did a phone interview with Patrick that may or may not see the light of day due to a technical malfunction; in my brief interview he seemed bright, articulate, and knowledgeable about the Lt. Governor’s role in managing the senate and staffing the Legislative Budget Board.) Patrick was widely seen as a foe of Dewhurst during the 2012 Senate race, but ended up endorsing him at the last minute. Patrick is widely perceived as the primary choice of many social conservatives, and was prominent in the fight for the anti-TSA groping bill (which he sponsored) and the anti-sanctuary cities bill. The fact that both Jerry Patterson and Todd Staples have been attacking him in ads suggests he is indeed in second place behind Dewhurst. He has has been endorsed by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Young Conservatives of Texas, several evangelical ministers, and the late Bum Philips (Patrick was a sportscaster during the Luv Ya Blue heyday of the Houston Oilers in the late 1970s and early 1980s).
Jerry Patterson, the incumbent Land Commissioner, came into the race with the most buzz among and support among Texas conservative insiders, but that doesn’t seem to have translated into sufficient polling popularity with voters, with Patterson sitting in fourth place in the latest poll. Patterson gets a lot of credit for having written the bill that became the Concealed Handgun License law, and received an A+ rating from the NRA (Dewhurst, Patrick and Staples all received As). Several Texas conservatives I respect are firmly in the Patterson camp. Patterson has been endorsed by Dick Armey and Ron Paul.
Todd Staples, the incumbent Agricultural Commissioner, comes in at third place in the most recent poll, well behind Dewhurst and Patrick, despite having raised the second most money in the race behind Dewhurst. Staples also has a reputation as a solid conservative, and as a state senator penned the state defense of marriage clause. At 50 he’s the youngest of the four candidates by a decade. He’s been stressing border security, on which he did some work from the Agriculture Department. Staples has been endorsed by Nolan Ryan. and some property rights groups.
Are the polls accurate? Hard to say. At this point in the 2012 Senate race, people were predicting a runoff between Paul Sadler and Sean Hubbard on the Democratic side, and Hubbard ended up coming in fourth behind Addie Allen and the Grady Yarbrough juggernaut.
Whoever wins the Republican runoff (which looks very likely at this point) will face Democratic State Senator Leticia Van de Putte in the general.
Here is a debate between all four candidates:
Now some video ads from all four candidates. Dewhurst:
Patrick:
Patterson:
Staples:
Now some race tidbits:
“Between Jan. 24 and Saturday, Dewhurst raised from others nearly $1.5 million — more than twice the amount drummed up in that period by the most successful of his competitors, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples. Staples raised $650,000.”
Some of Dewhurst’s trail lawyer fund are also kicking money into his anti-Dan Patrick PAC: “The anti-Patrick PAC, Texans for Accountability, received $45,000 from Beaumont’s Provost Umphrey law firm, and a combined $25,000 from two women who identified themselves as paralegals for the Houston-based Gallagher law firm, headed by Mike Gallagher, former president of the Texas Trial Lawyer’s Association.”
Chart of advertising buys per candidate in statewide races.
The North Texas Tea Party issues no endorsement in the race.
All four candidates appear at a forum in Sugar Land.
KUHF panel thinks it’s a runoff between David Dewhurst and Dan Patrick.
David Bellow endorses Patrick.
Jerry Patterson’s attacks on Patrick are amounting to very little. I think the possibility that a sports bar Patrick owned in Houston in the early 1980s might have included illegal aliens among the staff is hardly going to come as a shock to just about any Texan.
Speaking of Patrick, an anti-Patrick PAC can’t even get its facts straight.
The New York Times weighs in on the race. It’s pretty much what you would expect
Patrick evidently had an amusing gay marriage typo on his Twitter account.
A look at Patterson’s support among Second Amendment supporters.
Waco Tribune interviews Patterson.
Staples campaigns in Plano.
The Austin American Statesman endorses Dewhurst.
Tags:2014 Election, 2014 Lt. Governor's Race, Dan Patrick, David Dewhurst, Elections, Jerry Patterson, Texas, Todd Staples, video
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas, video | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 7th, 2014
Remember the accusations that campaign consultant Kenneth “Buddy” Barfield embezzled over $1 million from David Dewhurst’s Lt. Governor and Senate campaigns over a number of years?
Well, the estimated total he’s accused of embezzling is now over $2 million, plus
Barfield has agreed to turn over his lavish West Austin home and various business assets to Dewhurst to settle a civil lawsuit filed by Dewhurst last year to recover the funds. A final judgment executing the settlement was signed by a state judge in November.
Sale proceeds from Barfield’s home, which has been listed at $2.8 million, will be pooled with the assets of Barfield’s businesses to repay Dewhurst’s campaign accounts for lieutenant governor and his 2012 U.S. Senate race. The home was valued at $1.37 million by the Travis County Appraisal District in 2013.
In all, the judgment states that the David Dewhurst Committee and Dewhurst for Texas campaign accounts should receive $3,750,000 from the Barfield properties. It lists seven Barfield companies, including Alexander Group Consulting, which conducted campaign work for Dewhurst and other candidates.
Evidently there is some fire behind all that smoke. (Also, it appears that Betsy Woodruff was right (and I was wrong) to describe Barfield as having embezzled “millions” plural rather than singular.) Also, this evidently doesn’t get him off the hook for possible criminal charges, which I understand are at both the state and federal levels (the latter for violating federal campaign finance laws for Dewhurst’s losing 2012 U.S. Senate race).
Still unanswered is just how bad is David Dewhurst’s oversight that someone managed to steal $2 million from his campaigns and he didn’t notice for years?
(Speaking of disorder in the Dewhurst campaign, according to this story I missed from last year, he evidently still owes vendors over $1 million from the Senate campaign. I sent out some queries Friday to the vendors named in the story to see if Dewhurst has paid those bills in the interim, but have yet to receive a reply from any of them.)
Tags:2012 Election, Crime, David Dewhurst, Elections, Kenneth Barfield, Texas Senate Race
Posted in Crime, Elections, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 31st, 2013
I thought I would do a better job of keeping tabs on Texas statewide races, but there are just too many for me to do a good job tracking all of them. Going into next year, I’ll try to do a decent job of keeping track of the Governor’s Race (Spoiler: Greg Abbot wallops Wendy Davis), the Lt. Governor’s race, and the Attorney General’s race, and tidbits on any other races will just be a bonus. (If you know of any sites doing extensive coverage of the Ag Commissioner or Comptroller races, let me know.)
Here’s a roundup that will include some oldish news.
The most hilarious liberal initiative in the Texas governor’s race has to be Lady Parts Justice PAC. No, this is not an Instapundit parody. Liberals have actually reduced half American citizens to their genitalia. “Ladies! Why think with your brain when you can think with your vagina?”
Wendy Davis hires out-of-state consultant to run her campaign. This is my shocked face.
On the Democratic side, Wendy Davis and a Reynaldo “Ray” Madŕigal have filed for governor (I’m assuming it’s the same Madrigal who pulled in 5.7% in a run for Corpus Christi Mayor in 2012) and outgoing El Paso Mayor John F. Cook is running for Land Commissioner.
Interview with Madrigal:
Greg Abbott pledges to keep Texas budgets small.
Abbot and Davis wrangle over redistricting lawyers fees.
Davis is not ready for prime time. “All this leaves me seriously wondering whether Davis’ campaign has any chance of winning in 2014. Or worse: whether Davis didn’t take the Valley seriously enough to come here polished and ready and with her A-team. Surely this type of poor venue and repetitive shallow non-statements and unprofessional media handling wouldn’t play, in say, a Dallas crowd.” And that’s from a liberal Democrat.
There was a Lt. Governor’s debate:
kcentv.com – KCEN HD – Waco, Temple, and Killeen
Todd Staples releases a good list of heavy hitting donors.
David Dewhurst releases a better one. Harlan Crow, Jerry Jones, Red McCombs and Drayton MacLane all stick out as particularly heavy hitters. (Another name, Kevin Eltife, is probably best know as a Republican state senator who wants to raise taxes.)
David Dewhurst has a campaign video out:
Jerry Patterson touts his 2nd Amendment credentials:
Dan Patrick touts the endorsement of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.
A closer look at how Michael Quinn Sullivan and TFR do endorsements.
Democratic State Senator Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio makes her Lt. Governor’s run official.
Attorney General candidate Ken Paxton racks up over 220 East Texas endorsements for his Attorney General bid.
Paxton also campaigned in East Texas.
He also announced the endorsement of Ted Cruz for Senate chairman Kelly Shackelford:
As well as state senator Brian Birdwell
The Texas Tribune does a roundup of the AG race, noting Paxton had won 6 out of 6 straw polls, while Dan Branch raised the most money (including a check from George W. Bush).
Meanwhile, AG candidate Barry Smitherman touts his right to life endorsements.
AG candidate Dan Branch vowed to defend Texas Voter ID Laws. I doubt that’s a differentiator among GOP candidate…
Branch also picked up a lot of business endorsements, including Texas Association of Builders’ HOMEPAC, the Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND, and the Texas Apartment Association. It was always pretty clear Branch was going to get the lion’s share of “moneybags PACs” endorsements…
Susan Combs endorses Glenn Hegar for Comptroller.
Sid Miller is running for Agricultural Commissioner, and he’s already wrapped up endorsements from Young Conservatives of Texas, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, and Ted Nugent.
Tags:2014 Attorney General's Race, 2014 Election, 2014 Governor's Race, 2014 Lt. Governor's Race, Dan Branch, Dan Patrick, David Dewhurst, Democrats, Elections, Glenn Hegar, Greg Abbott, Jerry Patterson, Ken Paxton, Leticia Van de Putte, Michael Quinn Sullivan, Ray Madrigal, Republicans, Sid Miller, Susan Combs, Texas, Todd Staples, video, Wendy Davis
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas, unions | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013
Time for another (no doubt incomplete) roundup of statewide race news:
Holly Hansen interviews Greg Abbott.
Wendy Davis expresses enthusiasm for gun control, because that will go over so well in Texas. Next up: Wendy David calls for banning BBQ, Tex-Mex, football and Christmas.
Davis is expected to announce for Governor tomorrow.
Politico previews the Abbott-Davis fight as “bruising.” Well, yeah. It’s going to bruise Democratic egos and wallets to accomplish very little. Also contains this gem: “Republicans control more than 60 percent of statewide offices.” Well, yes, 100% is indeed more than 60%…
Left-leaning Texas Monthly just goes ahead and says Abbott will be the next governor. And here’s an excerpt of their cover profile of Abbott.
Unless Debra Medina runs as an Independent. Is she trying to elect Wendy Davis? Also, “I couldn’t raise money for a Comptroller race, so I’m going to run for governor” doesn’t make a lot of sense.
A roundup of Abbott vs. Davis fundraising between June 17 and August 5.
There was a Lt. Governor candidates forum in Houston.
There’s another one in Houston tomorrow, October 3, from 5-8 PM at Grace Community Church, 14505 Gulf Freeway.
PJ TV Interviews Todd Staples:
Also Jerry Patterson:
And David Dewhurst (but I’m not seeing one for Dan Patrick):
Jerry Patterson slams his rivals as soft:
Three Attorney General candidates (Ken Paxton, Barry Smitherman, and Dan Branch) also had a debate.
They also clashed over who had endorsed who.
Paxton unveils a list of 100 important Texas Tea Party supporters.
Smitherman picks up a Right-to-Life endorsement.
George P. Bush visits Seguin and San Angelo.
Jason Gibson, who briefly competed in the 2012 Senate race, is considering running against John Cornyn in 2014, presumably (as in 2012) as a Democrat.
Dem State Rep. Mike Villarreal prefers not to lose a statewide race for Comptroller.
Three Joe Straus allies (Bill Callegari, Rob Orr and Tryon Lewis) decide that now is a good time to retire.
Tags:2014 Attorney General's Race, 2014 Election, 2014 Governor's Race, 2014 Lt. Governor's Race, 2014 Senate Race, Barry Smitherman, Dan Branch, Dan Patrick, David Dewhurst, Debra Medina, Elections, George P. Bush, Greg Abbott, Jason Gibson, Joe Straus, Ken Paxton, Mike Villarreal, Texas, Todd Staples, Wendy Davis
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Friday, August 23rd, 2013
It seems that David Dewhurst’s relative Ellen Bevers was arrested for (allegedly) shoplifting in a Kroger in Allen (a Metroplex suburb between Plano and McKinney). That’s not really news. It’s, at most, 3-line wire service filler everyone forgets about the next day.
It’s what happened next that was news.
Lt. Governor Dewhurst called the Allen police to lean on them to let her out of jail.
And, of course, the call was tape-recorded, and released:
Dew, Dew, Dew: A desire to help a relative out is a laudable impulse, but 800-pound gorillas personally throwing their weight around to intimidate police officers (even in the polite manner Dewhurst did) is an abuse of office and incredibly stupid to boot. This is not the way things are done, and I’m surprised the Lt. Governor of Texas hasn’t managed to figure that out after 68 years.
No, what you do is you make a phone call to the sharpest, best connected lawyer in that neck of the woods, one who probably owes you a favor or two anyway (since you’re the Lt. Freaking Governor), you ask him to take care of it, he calls the appropriate judge (the one he probably plays poker or golf with on alternate weekends), the judge calls the police chief (you know, the one whose wife is on the same charity board as the judge’s wife), the Kroger manager receives a call from his regional supervisor (who really doesn’t want a few store opening schedules to be hit with unforeseen permitting snags), and before you know it, it’s all a big misunderstanding, charges are dropped, and Ms. Beavers walks away with a story tell at her next PTA meeting about that silly mistake where she ended up spending a night in jail.
All clean, all quiet, no headlines, no fingerprints, no one gets their dander up, and a nice little state grant for extra training for the Allen police department shows up in the 2014-2015 budget.
This charging in like a bull elephant to throw his weight around is just pure mule-headed stupidity. (It also displays amazing naivete about how technology works in the 21st century. If you’re Joe Cop and the Lt. Governor calls you, of course you’re going to record the call, if only for your own protection. Hell, it may even be department policy to record all calls.)
Dewhurst should have known better.
Tags:Allen, Crime, David Dewhurst, Ellen Bevers, Texas
Posted in Crime, Texas | No Comments »
Friday, August 9th, 2013
Time for another quick roundup of statewide race news:
Even left-wing PolitiFact admits that Democrats are lying about Greg Abbott improperly moving funds.
They’re a lot tougher on Lt. Governor candidate Sen. Dan Patrick’s claims that funding for border security was cut in the latest budget.
The Texas Tribune looks at Abbott’s consultant spending.
Abbott, running for a statewide office, refuses to opine on national legislative tactics to defund ObamaCare. Stop the freaking presses!
The Washington Post offers up five facts about Abbott. For a change, they’re even accurate.
Abbot takes south Texas votes seriously.
Lt. Governor David Dewhurst shakes up his re-election team with new hires, including Ryan Hecker of FreedomWorks and Eliza Vielma (AKA Twitter’s @misslizaface) will be handling social media. Given how poorly Dewhurst performed in social media in the Senate race, that’s probably a good move.
Lt. Governor candidate and Agricultural Commissioner Todd Staples takes a swing at Dewhurst’s leadership in a fundraising letter.
But Staples, like all three of Dewhurst’s challengers in the Lt. Governor’s race, endorsed Dewhurst over Ted Cruz in last year’s Senate runoff.
Patrick has a new ad out. He looks sleepy. He may need to consider ptosis surgery.
Attorney General candidate Dan Branch defends defense of marriage. Unlike Tom Leppert, Branch doesn’t seem to have played footsie with Dallas’ gay rights community, and indeed was an (unsuccessful) target for them to defeat in 2008.
Speaking of Branch, Facebook briefly yanked, then restored, one of his campaign videos. This one I think:
Which strikes me as well-produced, but pretty generic. Can’t see why any reasonable person would find it even remotely objectionable.
Sources tell me that Rep. Brandon Creighton gets into the Agricultural Commissioner’s race today.
And speaking of the Agricultural Commissioner’s race, Eric Opiela is evidently not only Joe Straus’ lawyer, but also managed (through some ill-advised emails) to hurt Republican redistricting efforts by making them easier to challenge in 2012.
On the Democratic side, Abortion Barbie inches closer to declaring her intention to lose to Abbott.
Tags:2014 Attorney General's Race, 2014 Election, 2014 Governor's Race, 2014 Lt. Governor's Race, Border Controls, Brandon Creighton, Dan Branch, Dan Patrick, David Dewhurst, Elections, Eliza Vielma, Eric Opiela, Greg Abbott, Joe Straus, Media Watch, Republicans, Ryan Hecker, Texas, Todd Staples, video, Wendy Davis
Posted in Border Control, Elections, Media Watch, Republicans, Texas, video | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 31st, 2013
Travis McCormick notes that exactly one year ago, Ted Cruz beat David Dewhurst in the 2012 Republican Senate runoff. (He also demolished a number of myths in the process.) And pretty much every day Ted Cruz has been in Washington, he’s confirmed that Texas voters made the right decision.
Can anyone imagine Dewhurst leading the fight against illegal alien amnesty? Or schooling Dianne Feinstein on gun control? (I can imagine Dewhurst voting against gun control, but not leading the fight against it.) Or holding the feet of other Republicans to the fire on conservative principles? (As I said then, “We sent Cruz to Washington to shame Republicans into acting like Republicans.”)
No wonder Cruz is getting buzz as a 2016 Presidential candidate. I don’t see anyone else better on the horizon…
Tags:2012 Election, David Dewhurst, Elections, Republicans, runoff, Ted Cruz, Texas, Texas Senate Race, Travis McCormick
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 15th, 2013
When you’re a domain expert in something, sometimes you agree with the central point of an article, but enough details ring false that you wonder how closely the reporter has been following the story. For example, this Betsy Woodruff piece in National Review gets the big picture right (David Dewhurst’s loss to Ted Cruz has weakened him politically), but gets numerous details wrong.
“Only one person has ever lost an election to Ted Cruz, and he’s not doing so well right now. Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst,”
No. The proper way to start that sentence is “Only one person has ever lost a runoff to Ted Cruz.” Paul Sadler lost an election to Ted Cruz, and a whole bunch of other candidates (Tom Leppert, Craig James, Glenn Addison, etc.) lost a primary to Cruz.
“But things went from bad to worse for him when the news broke, shortly after his defeat, that his former campaign manager, Kenneth Barfield, appeared to have stolen millions from the lieutenant governor’s campaign coffers over the previous five years.”
Last I checked, Barfield was accused of stealing a maximum of just over one million (singular), not millions (plural).
“Further, [Dan] Patrick used to be a vocal champion of Dewhurst’s. During the contest for the senatorial nomination, Patrick strongly defended the lieutenant governor on his radio show.”
This is not how I remember things. Patrick contemplated a run against Dewhurst himself, criticizing Dewhurst at length over his handling of the anti-TSA groping bill. He did finally come down on Dewhurst’s side against Cruz very late in the game, i.e., only a week before the runoff, but I don’t recall him being particularly vocal. (Granted, I don’t listen to Patrick’s radio show. Maybe he was far more vocal in support there in that last week.)
The piece is otherwise fairly reasonable, but I found it just wrong enough to merit correction…
Tags:2012 Election, 2014 Election, Betsy Woodruff, Dan Patrick, David Dewhurst, Elections, Kenneth Barfield, National Review, Republicans, Ted Cruz, Texas, Texas Senate Race
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 9th, 2013
With Rick Perry declining to run for reelection as Governor, we finally have the crystallizing event that will set the 2014 field. So here’s an early look at how the next year’s statewide races are shaping up in Texas:
Governor
Attorney General Greg Abbott and his $18 million warchest is going to be the overwhelming favorite almost no matter who else jumps into the race; he has all Perry’s strength’s without Perry’s disadvantages. If David Dewhurst jumps into the Governor’s race, Abbott will still be the prohibitive favorite. Tom Pauken will be hard-pressed to match Glenn Addison’s 2012 senate race total of 1.6%. On the Democrats’ side, instant abortion celebrity Wendy Davis might be the favorite, but there’s no reason to expect Abbott won’t cream her by 20 points, and as a politician since 1999, there’s no indication she can self-fund. Neither of the Castro brothers strike me as stupid enough to want to tarnish their national office chances by losing a governor’s race. Beyond that it’s random state senators and reps (reportedly Rep. Mike Villarreal and Sen. Kirk Watson are considering runs), or retreads from the 2012 senate race.
Lt. Governor
His humiliating senate race defeat proved that David Dewhurst is vulnerable to a challenge from the right, but I remain unconvinced that any of the three currently declared candidates (Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, Agricultural Commissioner Todd Staples, and State Senator Dan Patrick) are the ones to do it. Dewhurst and Perry both moved up from the Land and Agricultural Commissioner positions (respectively), but neither ran against an incumbent, much less a well-heeled, entrenched one. Patrick tested the waters for the 2012 senate race, but found the groundswell for him non-existent. Moreover, Patrick’s candidacy appeals most to social conservatives, but after the abortion dustup, they would seem among the least likely to desert Dewhurst. Presumably U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul (the only man currently in Texas politics richer than Dewhurst) could defeat Dewhurst were he to get in, but so far he hasn’t made any moves to get into the race. In this, and all lower statewide races, whoever runs for the Democrats is whatever random candidates decided to skip the governor’s race.
Attorney General
With Abbott running for governor, this race is wide open. With Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman’s website already touting him as a potential candidate, his entry is pretty much a foregone conclusion. State Rep. Dan Branch is also said to be considering a run. Someone on Abbott’s staff could also get in, or a state legislator with a law degree who has been blessed by Texans for Lawsuit Reform. (Maybe Ken Paxton?)
Comptroller
Incumbent Susan Combs has said she’s not running for reelection. Early word was she was eying the Lt. Governor’s race, but I don’t see her getting any traction there. Losing 2010 Tea Party/Ron Paulite gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina is rumored to be considering a run (and the previous link goes to a webpage for an exploratory committee for that race). State Senator Glenn Hegar is also said to be considering a run, as is state Ways and Means chairman Harvey Hilderbran. (State Senator Tommy Williams has preemptively bowed out.)
Land Commissioner
With incumbent Jerry Patterson gunning for Dewhurst’s job, George P. Bush, son of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, nephew of Bush43, and grandson of Bush 41, is considered a lock for the race. Though nothing about George P. Bush’s limited public appearances suggests he’s invulnerable, it’s doubtful he’ll draw a serious challenger this far down the ballot who’s willing to take on the Bush Machine’s renowned fundraising prowess.
Agricultural Commissioner
State Rep. Brandon Creighton is rumored to be interested in a run. Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt is passing on the race
Railroad Commission
When Smitherman runs for AG, his position will open up. State Rep. Stefani Carter will be running, along with “Dallas businessman Malachi Boyuls and geologist Becky Berger of Schulenburg.” Greg Parker, who made it into the runoff with Smitherman in 2012, is another possibility.
And don’t forget all those wildcard Texas millionaires and billionaires who might suddenly decide to run for office…
Tags:2014 Election, Barry Smitherman, Brandon Creighton, Dan Branch, Dan Patrick, David Dewhurst, Debra Medina, George P. Bush, Glenn Hegar, Greg Abbott, Harvey Hilderbran, Jerry Patterson, Ken Paxton, Kirk Watson, Mike Villarreal, Republicans, Rick Perry, Stefani Carter, Susan Combs, Texas, Tim Kleinschmidt, Todd Staples, Tom Pauken, Wendy Davis
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, March 12th, 2013
“George Prescott Bush filed the official paperwork Tuesday to run for Texas land commissioner next year.”
That would be Jeb Bush’s son, Bush43’s nephew, and Bush41’s grandson, one of the “little brown ones.” The Bush name alone is probably enough to win him the office, but add to that the fact that the Bush family has one of the most powerful money machines in all politics and you have a prohibitive favorite. Jerry Patterson was probably right to think he’d have an easier time defeating a post-Senate-race-meltdown David Dewhurst for Lt. Governor.
Deeper analysis of a continuing Bush dynasty, and of how Democrats and the press react to facing a Bush scion who happens to be Hispanic, will have to wait until (at least) tomorrow.
Tags:2014 Election, Bush41, Bush43, David Dewhurst, Elections, George P. Bush, Jeb Bush, Jerry Patterson, Land Commissioner, Republicans, Texas
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »