The most invisible man in the Texas senate race campaign, Democrat Grady Yarbrough, has no website, no Facebook page, and no Twitter feed. But that didn’t stop him from being endorsed by The Austin Villager (warning: 3MB PDF), a local Austin black newspaper. I would love to learn the editorial process by which they chose him over the other three Democratic candidates. Or even just how they chose him over Addie D. Allen…
After spending the bulk of my time on the Texas senate race, I’ve spent the last day or so trying to get a handle on some down-ballot races. So here’s who I’m voting for in contested races, starting at the top and providing (very) brief explanations. Hopefully this will be of use to other conservative Republican voters looking for information at the last minute. (Hey, people are busy!)
United State Representative, District 31: Incumbent John Carter. Though not perfect (he was late getting on the anti-SOPA bandwagon), I like Rep. Carter personally, and he’s generally been a very good (and very conservative) Representative.
Railroad Commissioner: I’m leaning toward Roland Sledge, who’s solidly conservative, if a bit goofy. Former Rep. Warren Chisum is also a solid choice. I don’t trust Christi Craddick, who seems to be running on her father’s reputation.
Railroad Commissioner, Unexpired Term: Possibly the toughest race to pick, as both incumbent Barry Smitherman and Greg Parker strike me as very solid conservative choices, and each has picked up some Tea Party endorsements. I lean slightly toward Smitherman based on his impressive array of endorsements.
Texas Supreme Court Place 2: Incumbent Don Willett, a solid conservative with solid endorsements.
Texas Supreme Court Place 2: Incumbent David Medina, endorsed by Texans for Lawsuit Reform.
State Board of Education, District 10: Jeff Fleece, based on endorsements from Holly Hansen and YCT.
Williamson County District Attorney: John Bradley. The fact that Jana Duty has made so much hay from one trial makes me quite suspicious of her. Once again, Holly Hansen provides needed insight on the race here, here, and here.
Williamson County Tax Assessor Collector: Incumbent Deborah M. Hunt. When your opponent can’t be bothered to put up more than a Facebook page…
Williamson County Sherrif: Incumbent James R. Wilson, who has done a good job. His opponent sounds like Grandpa Simpson yelling at a cloud…
425th District Judge: Incumbent Mark Silverstone, based on Rick Perry’s endorsement.
Williamson County Commissioner Precinct 1: Incumbent Lisa Birkman, for reasons outlined here. Holly Hansen also provides compelling arguments why you should favor Birkman over Seitsinger here, and here.
Since tomorrow is election day, here’s a final Senate race roundup. You might want to take time today to find your voter registration card, locate your polling place, and figure out who you want to vote for.
Since it’s possible people who haven’t been following the race until now are tuning into this blog, you might want to take a look at:
Peggy Fikac’s roundup of the race. Including this: “Retired teacher Addie Ratliff tossed a verbal grenade at Dewhurst. ‘He’s trash,’ said Ratliff, 74. ‘I just don’t like him. I think he’s a RINO,’ a Republican-in-name-only.”
Somehow I missed the fact that Dewhurst picked up the endorsement of Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma back on May 18. I think they would have trumpeted that more, since it brings the total of sitting Senators who have endorsed Dewhurst to [long pause while Your Humble Narrator counts on his fingers for dramatic effect] one.
One source familiar with Texas politics who supports Cruz says that he knows “a number of significant donors” who also have business interests in the state and have been “told by their lobbyists in Austin, ‘Don’t dare give money to Ted, don’t endorse Ted . . . because if you do you’ll never get anything else through in Austin.’”
Dewhurst says Cruz hasn’t met a fighter like him before. Maybe, but when was the last truly competitive race Dewhurst ran? 2002? And his last contested Republican primary fight was against Jerry Patterson for Land Commissioner in 1998.
Speaking of candidates with one notable sitting congressman supporting them, here’s Rep. Michael Burgess on Tom Leppert:
Paul Sadler cements his standing as the MSM anointed Democratic candidate, snagging the endorsements of The Austin American Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, The Austin Chronicle, and The San Antonio Express-News.
The Democratic Senate race is a much more low-key affair. “Sadler has raised less than $80,000, Hubbard less than half that with $30,000.” Also this: “‘I’ve talked to people who have said, “Get through the primary and we’ll make sure you have money to work with,”‘ Hubbard said.” Psst, Sean, hate to tell you, but those people are lying to you. Chances are good they said the same thing to Ricardo Sanchez, and look where it got him…
If you’re wondering what this election year is like in Williamson County, I’ve saved all the political flyers I’ve gotten. As usual, click to embiggen.
The most mail I’ve gotten has been for the Lisa Birkman vs. Lee Ann Seitsinger race (which is going to be very close), and the Seitsinger piece comparing Birkman to Obama is probably the most ridiculous attack mailer I’ve received (unless I get one from Dewhurst pushing the amnesty lie tomorrow). Next would probably be Jana Duty vs. John Bradley for the Williamson County District Attorney race, and the State Senate District 5 (Charles Schwertner vs. Ben Bius) and House District 136 (Tony Dale vs. Paul Matthews) all ranking ahead of the U.S. Senate race. I don’t think I’ve received a single flyer from Tom Leppert or Craig James.
I don’t want to oversell the budget compact. Getting Republicans to agree to it is the first step of a long (and no doubt frequently painful) process to get it implemented, and I don’t imagine that it will be the absolute “game changer” some have made it out to. And even if passed, it could all be undone in a single legislative session (especially if Democrats ever get their act together in Texas). But if it doesn’t yet create the ratchets for long-term control of the state government’s size, budget, and growth rate, it at least lays the groundwork for those ratchets to be implemented.
For that reason, among many others, I will be voting for Charles Schwertner (who Perry has endorsed) over Ben Bius in the Senate District 5 race, and urge any readers in SD5 to do the same.
I wonder if the “Choom Gang” VW Microbus our 44th President and his friends used to habitually smoke pot in also had tools and rakes and implements of destruction in it.
Do liberals actually expect this patronizing, passive-aggressive condescension toward Judge Roberts to work? I’d like to believe that treating the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America as though he’s as easy to manipulate as an insecure teenage girl would be counterproductive if it weren’t so transparently laughable.
Man, the Houston Chronicle editorial board must really hate David Dewhurst: he skipped their meeting, but they went ahead and endorsed him anyway. Ouch!
The left-leaning PPP poll has Dewhurst at 46% and Cruz at 29%. Don’t see any reason to trust this more than the UT/TT poll, though both show Dewhurst shy of 50%.
Ross Ramsey looks at what happens if Dewhurst doesn’t win. Also, what’s the deal with liberals like Ramsey and Paul Burka prattling on about how Texas is some sort of uninhabited wasteland during the summers? Yeah, it’s hot. Those of us who were born here just deal with it. I believe we might even be able to make it to our local polling stations for a runoff without melting.
Democrat Sean Hubbard gets some love from the Houston Chronicle. But it’s ruthlessly realistic love: “Hubbard’s chance of taking the oath of office in Washington next January is even less likely than the Astros sweeping this fall’s World Series.”
Since it’s possible people who haven’t been following the race until now are tuning into this blog, you might want to take a look at:
Just in case you hadn’t heard, today is Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day. Or should I say, “Blog about convicted felon, Speedway Bomber, and all-around psychopath Brett Kimberlin day.” Like Everyone Draw Mohammed Day, Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day is designed to stand up to illegal harassment and intimidation by giving the bad guys (Jihadests or convicted felon Brett Kimberlin) too many targets to attack. And like jihadests, convicted felon Brett Kimberlin has defenders (and funders) among the hard left.
Also, I certainly don’t want to be left out of the Blog About Convicted Felon Brett Kimberlin day festivities if there are tasty death threats to be garnered!
Here’s a short video:
And here are several posts where you can read about what an unmitigated scumbag convicted felon Brett Kimberlin is:
That should be enough to keep you going for a while, but if I have time, I may blog more about convicted felon Brett Kimberlin, if only to be the number one Google hit for the phrase “convicted felon Brett Kimberlin.”
I always believe in telling the truth as I see it, no matter how uncomfortable. And my reading of the tea leaves (not the Tea Party leaves) is that, despite all the effort to redistrict him out of office, Lloyd Doggett will still be sworn in for another term on January 3, 2013.
Why? One word: money. Doggett’s biggest Democratic rival for the 35th Congressional District, Sylvia Romo, has $20,000 on hand. Doggett has $2.9 million on hand. Money isn’t everything, but it’s a lot. Even an experienced, popular incumbent would be hard-pressed to overcome a greater than 100-to-1 fundraising disadvantage, and Romo is neither.
For all the persistent talk of Hispanics being the future of the Texas Democratic Party, it’s still old white guys who seem to be getting the Democratic establishment juice…
