Posts Tagged ‘2012 Election’
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
I attended the Texas Tribune Republican Senate Candidate Forum tonight, and thought I would post a few quick impressions before I have to walk my dog.
Three of the four candidates came across as prepared, articulate, polished and effective speakers, and all four tried to portray themselves as tea party conservatives:
Ted Cruz was the most polished of the four, as you would expect of the former Texas Solicitor General. He was very good not only at making his points, but also expertly tying highlights of his career and life-story (like his work on 10th Amendment issues for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and his father fleeing Castro’s Cuba [see here for correction]) into answers without it seeming forced. His only drawbacks were that every now and then he would seem just a little bit too polished, his pitch modulations a little too calculated, and he needs to add a few touches of humor liven things up. (His one recycled Reagan anecdote isn’t going to cut it.) With Michael Williams out, I think Cruz cemented his status as both tea party favorite and frontrunner.
I have not made any secret of my doubts as to Tom Leppert‘s new-found conservative convictions, but he comes across as a very polished and prepared speaker. He says that he cut a lot of unnecessary programs as Dallas Mayor; when I get a chance, I’m going to ask his campaign for a list. If you didn’t know about his previous record, you would think him just as conservative as his compatriots. He did have a couple of weaknesses as a public speaker: shrugging and spreading his hands was his go-to move for almost every question. He also displayed a sort of nervous eye-twitch between questions, maybe because of the bright stage lights. But guess what? There are going to be a lot of bright stage lights between now and March…
Roger Williams had the most varied performance: He has an engaging, natural personality (with just the right touch of rough-hewn “old coot” country charm) and can clearly hold his own against his more polished opponents, but he went back to his “I’m a small businessman” routine two or three times too many, and too transparently. On the other hand, Williams also got the best laugh lines of the night. Referring back to an earlier question about how he’d eliminate the budget deficit in one year (he didn’t think the Ryan plan went far enough), in a question on the the EPA’s attempt to take over Texas air quality, he said “You know that 1.6 trillion I’d cut out of the deficit? The EPA would be among them.” Williams probably improved his standing the most of any candidate attending.
Elizabeth Ames Jones…look, I’m not going to sugarcoat this. Jones should get out of the race. It wasn’t her message (she made effective conservative points), it’s the fact that she was a cringingly bad public speaker tonight. I can’t tell if it’s nervousness or an actual speech impediment, but her voice sounded like it was trapped at the back of her soft palate, almost as if she had all her wisdom teeth yanked a week ago and was still getting use to her own mouth, and late in the debate she seemed to have a slight lisp. She spoke like someone who was so eager to talk that the words all tried to come out in a rush at once, causing her to stumble over herself, stop and start, and generally sound nervous; way too nervous for someone that already holds a major statewide office. She calmed down a little bit after the first couple of questions, and occasionally made good points (“I have to fight the EPA every day”), but she was far and away the weakest candidate on stage by a good measure. And her “I was down in the trenches” refrain (mostly dealing with her time in the legislature) got even tireder than Williams’ small businessman shtick. Between this and her abysmal fundraising numbers, I see no hope for Jones in this race and no reason she should continue in it. She’s doing a good job on the Railroad Commission, and she should probably stay there for the immediate future.
Not a lot of policy differences on display. All agreed not to raise taxes under any circumstances (I wondered why moderator Evan Smith didn’t ask any of them “Not even in the event of a World War with China?”), all were on-board with the Ryan plan or an even more immediate cutback in federal spending, all for greater border control measures and against amnesty, all pro-life (one of Jones’ most effective moments), all more national energy exploration, all against earmarks, all slamming Obama.
Enough for tonight. I’ll post more tomorrow if I have the time.
Tags:2012 Election, Border Controls, Economics, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Energy Policy, Evan Smith, Republicans, Roger Williams, Ted Cruz, Texas, Texas Senate Race, Texas Tribune, Tom Leppert
Posted in Austin, Border Control, Economics, Elections, Republicans, Texas | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
So now that Anthony Weiner has fessed up to twitting his Little Tony to multiple women, what’s next? He claims he won’t resign, despite Nancy Pelosi asking for a House ethics committee investigation. A poll on whether Weiner should resign was evenly split, though interestingly, more men than women said he should resign: “42 percent of women agreed that Weiner should pull out.” This poll was of all NYC rather than just the 9th Congressional District.
I remember thinking that the scandal would have very little impact on 2012 elections, since Weiner’s 9th district is in New York City, and thus a deep blue liberal stronghold Republicans have no chance of picking up.
But now that I’ve looked into it more closely, the answer is: Not so much. Despite Weiner being one of the most liberal Democrats in congress, New York’s 9th Congressional District is probably the least liberal congressional district in New York City. Indeed, the district seems to be drawn to get white voters out of other NYC majority minority districts. Obama only beat McCain there 55% to 44%, much worse than Gore’s 67%-30% drubbing of Bush there in 2000, and Weiner only pulled in 60.8% of the vote against an underfunded Republican opponent in 2010,about which Hotline on Call notes: “For Weiner, that was a limp performance.”
Whether Weiner resigns or not, New York’s Ninth congressional district will still be a tough target for Republicans, but not an impossible one. It just went from “Solid Democrat” to merely a “Strong Lean.”
Tags:2012 Election, Anthony Weiner, Nancy Pelosi
Posted in Democrats, Elections | No Comments »
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
Some updates in the Texas Senate Race, including one big shakeup if it pans out:
The Texas Tribune is reporting that Michael Williams will drop out of the Senate Race to run for a newly created congressional seat in House District 33. Given the strong fundraising advantage Ted Cruz has held over him, this might be a good move on Williams’ part.
Speaking of Williams, he’s posted his own tax return.
Ted Cruz wins endorsement from Dick Armey’s Freedomworks.
He also picked up an endorsement from the Club for Growth. (Hat tip: The Race to Replace KBH.)
From Rollcall comes this Tom Leppert news: “With $2.6 million in the bank at the end of March, he has hired Mike Slanker as general consultant, Glen Bolger of Public Opinion Strategies as pollster, Scott Howell for media and Majority Strategies for direct mail.”
Speaking of Leppert, here’s an interview with him from February 11, 2010, and another one the Texas Tribune did with him back on October 29, 2010.
And speaking of the Texas Tribune (they’re all over this update), there will be a debate among all the major declared Republican candidates on Wednesday, June 8th, at KLRU studios in Austin. RSVP on that page if you want to attend.
Tags:2012 Election, Glen Bolger, Michael Williams, Mike Slanker, Republicans, Scott Howell, Ted Cruz, Texas, Texas Senate Race, Tom Leppert
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 3 Comments »
Friday, May 27th, 2011
Mitt Romney comes out in favor of ethanol subsidies. “I support the subsidy of ethanol.”
Well, thanks for that. Ideological clarity is always useful: Tim Pawlenty has political courage, Mitt Romney doesn’t. Good to know.
For as long as he’s been mentioned as a serious presidential candidate (say, about 2007), I’ve always harbored a vague dislike of Romney for reasons that were hard to articulate, and which had nothing to do with his Mormonism. Just looking at him made me think he was a smug, dishonest creep, no matter how much the good folks at National Review gushed over him. If you had asked me to explain why I disliked him I would have had to admit that it was an entirely irrational, gut-level reaction. (The vast majority of liberals have the same gut-level, irrational hatred of Sarah Palin, but they just won’t admit it’s irrational.)
But the more I hear from Romney, the more I think that my gut-level reaction was right, that Romney is an empty suit that doesn’t believe in anything except his own awesomeness. If Romney got elected, I bet within a year we’d be getting New York Times editorials praising him for how much he’s “grown” (i.e., abandoned conservative positions).
Romney was never going to be my choice for the GOP nod, but his latest pander has finally dropped him to dead last among the serious contenders in my book, even below New Gingrich, Ron Paul and Herman Cain. At least with Ron Paul, I have some idea of where he stands. Romney has the ideological consistency of store-brand guacamole.
Tags:2012 Election, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin
Posted in Budget, Elections, Republicans | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 27th, 2011
It being the Friday of a long weekend, I doubt terribly many people are going to be reading this, but there have been some significant Texas Senate race developments:
Houston State Senator (and former sports caster) Dan Patrick is considering running for the Senate seat currently held by Kay Baily Hutchison. He was rumored to be considering a run back when Hutchison announced her retirement in January, but he’s been mum on the issue during most of the current Texas legislative session. He announced that he was forming an exploratory committee on Laura Ingraham’s talk radio show this morning. As anyone who reads this blog knows, he’s joining a crowded field, but he does fill the niche as a full-bore cultural Christian conservative that none of the other declared candidates (save longshot Glenn Addison) really fill. With Ted Cruz and Tom Leppert already off to significant head starts, Patrick will have to do some serious fundraising if he wants to be competitive. Patrick might benefit from some confusion with the other sportscasting Dan Patrick. Many Houston TV viewers remember Patrick as a sportscaster from the “Luv Ya Blu” era Houston Oilers era of the late 1970s and early 1980s. (I have vague memories of Dan Patrick being thrown out a door during a dust-up with then Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini, but I may be misremembering one or both of the people involved.[2014 Update: Actually, I talked to Dan Patrick, and while he watched it happen, it wasn’t him, but rather Houston Post reporter Dale Robertson, who Pastorini threw out.]
Speaking of Addison, he’s complaining that The Texas Tribune is excluding him from an upcoming debate. Actually, I can see both sides on this issue. Certainly The Texas Tribune, as a private organization, can use any criteria they want to determine who a “serious” candidate is, and the one they chose (someone had to have raised at least $100,000 by March 31) is both objective and defensible. Plus the more crowded any debate, the less time potential voters have to assess any one candidate. On the other hand, the idea that fundraising should be the only gating factor in determining electability is entirely too reductive for a robust democratic process. My suggestion? Have the political equivalent of a “play in” game. Reserve one spot for a declared candidate who does not meet the $100,000 threshold criteria (Addison, Lela Pittinger, Andrew Castanuela, or Sean Hubbard) and then let people vote online for who to include. That would give the longshots a chance to be seen, and add interest to the proceedings…
Michael Williams recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to raise money for his campaign.
Williams also appeared to answer questions from the NE Tarrant Tea Party. Pssst, NETarrantTeaParty1: It’s called a “tripod.” Invest in one.
Ted Cruz wins a straw poll of Houston Republican women. However, he gets dinged by The Race to Replace KBH for an ad misrepresenting that straw poll win as an endorsement (Republican Women’s Clubs bylaws forbid endorsing primary candidates). The ad was corrected shortly thereafter.
Speaking of Cruz, he got some serious love from Terry Jeffrey over at The Heritage Foundation’s Townhall.
Roger Williams appears on the Matt Lewis show. Williams comes on just after eight minutes in.
Elizabeth Ames Jones slams the Obama administration for their energy policy. “The demand for oil is not going away just because some bureaucrats have the ill-conceived or ill-informed idea that all our energy needs can be met by green energy.” I still don’t think Jones has a real chance in the race, but she seems strongest when talking about oil and gas issues. Maybe it’s a good thing that she hasn’t resigned from the Railroad Commission…
She also gets profiled in the Round Rock Leader.
Tags:2012 Election, Andrew Castanuela, Dan Patrick, Glenn Addison, Lela Pittenger, Michael Williams, Roger Williams, Sean Hubbard, Ted Cruz, Terry Jeffrey, Texas, Texas Senate Race, Tom Leppert
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Yet another passel of news:
With the new state budget moving toward passage, the State of Texas will actually spend less money next fiscal year than it did last year, the first state in 50 years to actually implement a real reduction in spending. No wonder liberals hate Texas so much; the probably didn’t realize that was actually possible.
Continuing his trend of trying to sound like the second coming of Ronald Reagan, Tom Leppert rails against the Obama Administrations NLRB ruling on Boeing. Maybe we should refer to him as “Leppert 2.0.”
Speaking of Leppert 2.0, he was seen at a fundraiser for Mitt Romney. Maybe the two of them got together to commiserate on being unfairly dinged for little things like actual governing records.
Gay activist and Stonewall Democrats of Dallas President Omar Narvaez laments the disappearing act of Leppert 1.0: “[Tom Leppert] was our friend [when he first ran for the office] but when he decided to run for higher office, suddenly he wasn’t our friend.”
Speaking of Texas Senate candidates, Elizabeth Ames Jones complains about the Obama Administration’s unwillingness to speed up offshore drilling permits.
Jonathan Chait is buying into Obama’s Latino strategy. But this ignores Micky Kaus’s point: How many times can Obama verbally flog amnesty without actually do anything about it before pro-illegal alien voters realize he’s all talk and no action? How many times can Lucy snatch away that football before Charlie Brown finally wises up?
Why did the media endlessly hype the Rapture predictions of a few far-out-of-the-mainstream evangelical Christians? Easy: “smug superiority and cheap laughs…There’s a cruelty underlying our desire to laugh at this story—a desire to see people humiliated and to revel in our own superiority and rationality—even though the people in question are pretty tragic characters.” True, as far as it goes, but it’s missing one important reason: the loathing of all forms of Christianity by urban atheist adherents of competing religious beliefs (big government liberalism) and unlikely eschatologies (global warming).
Ex-Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney pops up to condemn the bombing of Libya. From Libya. I think the over/under for how long it will be before she’s actually endorsing Hamas suicide bombings against Israeli preschools is two weeks.
Democratic Senate candidate Sean Hubbard hopes to raise $5,000 by the end of the month. That would seem to be a reasonable goal, but he’s going to need (at a minimum) about ten times that if he wants have even a dark-horse hope of derailing the DNC coronation of Ricardo Sanchez. Surely there are still enough nutroots Code Pink types in Texas that disgruntled by Obama’s continuation of “Bush’s Wars” to come up with that to oppose the “Abu Ghraib” candidate…
Tags:2012 Election, Abu Ghraib, Border Controls, Cynthia McKinney, Libya, Sean Hubbard, Texas, Texas Senate Race, The Rapture, Tom Leppert
Posted in Border Control, Elections, Jihad, Republicans, Texas, Uncategorized, unions | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
Conceding defeat graciously, Wisconsin Democrat style: “Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your families will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks.”
The Madison Project endorses Ted Cruz. “All things being equal between Ted Cruz and Michael Williams, we have chosen to endorse Ted Cruz for his ability to raise the kind of money it takes to win a primary like the one in Texas.”
What if the federal budget was a single family’s budget?
Rick Perry considering a Presidential run?
Tags:2012 Election, LinkSwarm, Michael Williams, Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Texas, Texas Senate Race, Wisconsin
Posted in Budget, Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Monday, May 16th, 2011
I’m having some computer issues, so expect blogging to be light for the next few days.
Trump decides not to run.
Tom Leppert bashes the IMF. Just because I doubt Mr. Leppert’s conservative bonafides doesn’t mean he’s wrong.
Speaking of Leppert, he’s put up a No Amnesty petition. The Race to Replace Kay Baily Hutchison is not impressed: “Tom Leppert governed as a Liberal and wants Republicans to believe he is a conservative.”
Tags:2012 Election, amnesty, borde, Donald Trump, Illegal Aliens, Texas, Texas Senate Race, Tom Leppert
Posted in Border Control, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Thursday, May 12th, 2011
A smattering of senate race updates:
Iconblog is not impressed with Ricardo Sanchez’s declaration of candidacy: “Repeating standard Democratic talking points word-for-word in Texas is not a winning strategy. Sanchez completely missed an opportunity to explain his candidacy—he just defined himself as a standard-issue Democratic candidate running on the same things consultants write all over the nation.” Plus an inside joke from The Wire.
Politico’s David Catanese thinks Sanchez is a good choice that will still lose: “No matter who the GOP nominates, it’s likely that in 10 months, the Republican will still be the odds on favorite over Sanchez.”
Report on Elizabeth Ames Jones’ testimony before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee on fracking.
Tom Leppert’s statement on Obama’s latest Illegal Alien Amnesty speech. You’ve got to give the Leppert campaign credit; they’re doing the damnedest to make the most liberal candidate in the Republican field sound like the most conservative…
Tags:2012 Election, Elections, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Ricardo Sanchez, Texas, Texas Senate Race, Tom Leppert
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
Various news outlets are reporting that former U.S. general Ricardo Sanchez will be announcing his Senate run today.
I’m linking to the USA Today story of Catalina Camia because, unlike her journalistic brethren, she actually noted that Sean Hubbard was already running. It’s nice to know that at least one member of the MSM is, in fact, capable of using Google.
As for Hubbard, well, I hope he enjoyed his time as de facto Democratic front-runner, since it ends today…
Tags:2012 Election, Catalina Camia, Democrats, MSM, Ricardo Sanchez, Sean Hubbard, Texas, Texas Senate Race
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Media Watch, Texas | 1 Comment »