Monday, August 01, 2011

The Weakly Democratic Capitulation Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance would like you to know that it has never held -- and would never hold -- the full faith and credit of the United States hostage as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff says that Texas Democrats need to think about future races when contemplating retirements and open seat opportunities in 2012.

As President Obama asked the nation to call their representatives in Congress to air their views on the so-called debt ceiling crisis, so phoned the nation. And John Culberson finally heard from those in his district whose views have gone unrepresented during his tenure. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs contributed to the conversation. Whether Culberson actually listened is an open question.

While blasting Obama's plan for NASA, John at Bay Area Houston observed that Governor Perry stayed silent about the tea party's $1.6B cut to NASA funding.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson shared his notes on how the GOP's budget tricks and cuts will hurt our economy: Diversions & Austerity -- the Texas GOP two-step.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw asks So, who is Rick Perry? And answers: he is a chameleon with an unlimited appetite for power and the limelight. Check out the details.

Neil at Texas Liberal marked five years of writing the blog. Thanks to everybody who has read Texas Liberal over the years.

Dos Centavos is back with a guest post by Dr. Rey Guerra regarding Harris County redistricting and the Latino commissioner's seat. There's one more public hearing on Monday, so, make your voices heard!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Colorado straw poll this weekend will test early strength of GOP field

Gov. Rick Perry’s name won’t appear on the key Iowa straw poll ballot next month, but he’ll face a test of his strength among Western conservatives this weekend in Denver.

Organizers of the Western Conservative Summit have put Perry on a straw poll ballot along with other major announced and unannounced candidates. Perry is one of two keynote speakers at the event. White House Republican hopeful Rick Santorum, who recently criticized Perry for saying gay marriage policies should be decided by states, is the other one. GOP presidential contender Herman Cain is also scheduled to make an appearance in Denver.

Frothy Mixture has in fact already leveled a withering broadside at Governor Prophet in his speech last night. Santorum's campaign is circling the drain, and he's probably done unless he makes a mark here and in Iowa in a couple of weeks.

More than 900 people who paid to attend the event will get to cast votes in the straw poll, with the results expected to be announced Sunday. All the announced major candidates will appear on the ballot, as will Perry and other possible candidates such as Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin and John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

So it's a full cattle call. But what about "Difficulty Breathing" Christie? And Pataki? I mean, if they're going to put John Bolton and Rudy Giuliani on there, why don't they just put Ronald Reagan on the "ballot" (.pdf) while they're at it?

Because this is a pay-to-play event for what appears to be evangelical Colorado Republicans, the TeaBag Factor is solid. Still I expect to see Jon Huntsman, as the closest thing to a favorite son, do better than he has yet shown. Then again, his recent criticism of Republicans on the issues of the environment and climate change might very well have finished him off.

I'll call the top four Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Huntsman. The headlines on Sunday in that case will be all about Goodhair besting Crazytown. And if Perry should come in first on the strength of a powerful keynote speech, he'll bask in media glory all the way to Monday.

And the Perry Train will be rolling.

Update: Derailed. But extra pepperoni for everyone in America!

Here is the order of finish:

Cain — 48 percent, 246 votes
Perry –13 percent, 67 votes
Santorum — 10 percent, 50 votes
Mitt Romney — 10 percent, 49 votes
Michele Bachmann — 9 percent, 44 votes
John Bolton — 4 percent, 20 votes
Ron Paul — 2 percent, 12 votes
Tim Pawlenty — 1 percent, 7 votes
Sarah Palin — 1 percent, 5 votes
Newt Gingrich — 1 percent, 3 votes
Thaddeus McCotter — 0 percent, 2 votes
Jon Huntsman — 0 percent, 1 vote
Gary Johnson — 0 percent, 1 vote
Paul Ryan -– 0 percent, 1 vote
Rudy Giuliani — 0 percent, 0 votes