But a lot of SMH. The no-surprises:
-- Wendy Davis, John Cornyn, and Greg Abbott.
There was no discernible effort by TeaBagger Country to send a statement in the top races on the Republican ticket. They saved their best for down-ballot.
The OMGs:
-- David "Money to Burn" Alameel led the field with 50%+ in early returns but finished at 47, pushed into a May runoff with Impeacha Rogers, who got 22%. This is worse than a disaster for Democrats. I can vote for Emily "Spicybrown" Sanchez (and I hope a lot of Latino Democrats in the RGV do the same) with a clean conscience, unlike Gadfly.
-- Dan Patrick (R-LG) over The Dew 41-28, Ken Paxton (R-AG) leading Dan Branch 44-33, Glenn Hegar (R-Compt.) apparently beating Harvey Hilderbrand and Debra Medina without a runoff (Update: or maybe there will be a runoff), Jim Hogan (D-Ag Commish) ahead of Kinky Friedman 39-38, and Sid Miller (R-Ag Commish) besting a field of five with 35% but in a runoff with Tommy Merritt.
Dan Patrick led nearly every urban county. He steamrolled Dewhurst and will finish him off in May. For comparison's sake, Dewhurst led Ted Cruz 45-34 in 2012's US Senate primary, and Cruz won the runoff with 56-43. Dewhurst actually lost almost two percentage points in the runoff.
Paxton and Branch are both North Texas statewide legislators, one (Paxton) slightly more socially conservative than the other (Branch). Both spent heavily on TV ads and sent ultra-RWNJ Barry Smitherman to the sidelines.
"Guns" Hegar's TV ads paid off and embarrassed the TexTrib's poll badly.
"No Name Means Everything" Jim Hogan, who raised no money and spent less than $5K of his own -- but none of it on a website -- led The Kinkster into a runoff for the Democratic nomination for Agriculture Commissioner. The best candidate in the race, Hugh Fitzsimons, ate their dust. It gets worse, however, because...
Sid Miller, who authored the sonogram law, who pulls his quarter horses behind his truck -- and not inside a trailer -- and who has Ted Nugent as his campaign manager, leads the Republican side for ag commissioner.
I'll be proudly voting for the Green, Kenneth Kendrick, in November no matter which of these exceptional blue and red morons prevails in the spring.
-- Last, Wayne "I am the Most" Christian leads Ryan Sitton into a runoff for Railroad Commission on the Republican side, 43-31. State Impact notes that like so many other Republicans in contested primaries, they ran on an anti-Obama platform and not oil and gas issues. And in a nutshell, that's why my friend Prairie Weather misses the mark here. You can't understand Texas politics by reading DC and NY media. Update: Talking Points Memo does seem to get the nuances in the TXGOP dynamic (but that's because Ed Kilgore wrote it). And Booman has his take on both Kilgore's and John Fund's reaction to yesterday. Note this at the very end.
Charles and Ted have more, and some Harris County results coming up in a moment.
-- Wendy Davis, John Cornyn, and Greg Abbott.
There was no discernible effort by TeaBagger Country to send a statement in the top races on the Republican ticket. They saved their best for down-ballot.
The OMGs:
-- David "Money to Burn" Alameel led the field with 50%+ in early returns but finished at 47, pushed into a May runoff with Impeacha Rogers, who got 22%. This is worse than a disaster for Democrats. I can vote for Emily "Spicybrown" Sanchez (and I hope a lot of Latino Democrats in the RGV do the same) with a clean conscience, unlike Gadfly.
-- Dan Patrick (R-LG) over The Dew 41-28, Ken Paxton (R-AG) leading Dan Branch 44-33, Glenn Hegar (R-Compt.) apparently beating Harvey Hilderbrand and Debra Medina without a runoff (Update: or maybe there will be a runoff), Jim Hogan (D-Ag Commish) ahead of Kinky Friedman 39-38, and Sid Miller (R-Ag Commish) besting a field of five with 35% but in a runoff with Tommy Merritt.
Dan Patrick led nearly every urban county. He steamrolled Dewhurst and will finish him off in May. For comparison's sake, Dewhurst led Ted Cruz 45-34 in 2012's US Senate primary, and Cruz won the runoff with 56-43. Dewhurst actually lost almost two percentage points in the runoff.
Paxton and Branch are both North Texas statewide legislators, one (Paxton) slightly more socially conservative than the other (Branch). Both spent heavily on TV ads and sent ultra-RWNJ Barry Smitherman to the sidelines.
"Guns" Hegar's TV ads paid off and embarrassed the TexTrib's poll badly.
"No Name Means Everything" Jim Hogan, who raised no money and spent less than $5K of his own -- but none of it on a website -- led The Kinkster into a runoff for the Democratic nomination for Agriculture Commissioner. The best candidate in the race, Hugh Fitzsimons, ate their dust. It gets worse, however, because...
Sid Miller, who authored the sonogram law, who pulls his quarter horses behind his truck -- and not inside a trailer -- and who has Ted Nugent as his campaign manager, leads the Republican side for ag commissioner.
I'll be proudly voting for the Green, Kenneth Kendrick, in November no matter which of these exceptional blue and red morons prevails in the spring.
-- Last, Wayne "I am the Most" Christian leads Ryan Sitton into a runoff for Railroad Commission on the Republican side, 43-31. State Impact notes that like so many other Republicans in contested primaries, they ran on an anti-Obama platform and not oil and gas issues. And in a nutshell, that's why my friend Prairie Weather misses the mark here. You can't understand Texas politics by reading DC and NY media. Update: Talking Points Memo does seem to get the nuances in the TXGOP dynamic (but that's because Ed Kilgore wrote it). And Booman has his take on both Kilgore's and John Fund's reaction to yesterday. Note this at the very end.
Kilgore notes that even insofar as the Establishment had a decent night, they accomplished it by moving (or being pulled) to the right. How that works in detail depends on the issue you're concerned with. When a candidate has merely given lip service to a radical position, that's one thing. When they've felt compelled to make radical pledges and promises, that's another.
The Republican Establishment in Texas may remain distinguishable from the howling horde in some substantive ways, but the way they present themselves to the nation is now just plain frightening.
The GOP's biggest delegation looks and sounds just like Louie Gohmert. The smarter ones look and sound just like Ted Cruz.
That's going to be a problem for the national party going forward.
Charles and Ted have more, and some Harris County results coming up in a moment.
2 comments:
With Sanchez, as I did note, it's more than just the nickname. It's the whole disorganization angle.
I of course will vote for Kendrick for ag.
Danny Boy's strong result was the biggest shock for me. Fjetland finishing last in the Dem Senate primary probably No. 2.
Far too many Democrats, in the absence of performing the simplest research on candidates, vote for names. The simpler a person's name is (identifiable as Af-Am, Latino, or plain old cracker) the better their chances of winning.
This is why it is hard for me to encourage voter turnout any more. The people who aren't voting are even more stupid than the ones who are.
And that is pretty fucking stupid.
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