Lege updates

Just a roundup of teasers here. Go to the links for more detail.

-- CPRIT has been the big issue of the session so far. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee yesterday approved a bill to reform the troubled Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) authored by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound). “Our laws and rules have been twisted in ways that are disappointing and unacceptable,” Nelson said in a press release. [...] According to the Texas Tribune, SB 149 would completely restructure the leadership staff in the institute, create provisions that would prevent conflicts of interest and remove Greg Abbott and Susan Combs from their positions on the oversight committee. The bill will now go before the full Senate.

-- Yesterday morning Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay), chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, presented SB 4. Fraser seeks $2 billion to aid the state in recovering from its severe drought, the Houston Chronicle reports. He also called for the Texas Water Development Board to upgrade from part-time to full-time and scolded the group for failing to appropriately set and fulfill priorities. The committee heard invited testimony, with the expectation that public testimony will follow in the coming weeks.

Two excerpts on that water bill from the Chron. This one...

The part-time board that oversees Texas water projects has been ineffective and should be replaced by a full-time board with more funding and accountability, a state senator told colleagues Tuesday in asking for $2 billion to pay for future water needs.

Sen. Troy Fraser ... blasted the Texas Water Development Board for failing to set priorities. He said he asked the board more than two years ago to give him a list of the 50 most important water projects in the state and that he's still waiting for an answer.

Often, he said, it's difficult to get the six part-time board members on the phone to discussion the state's water issues.

"Every time you ask them a question, they give you a non-answer and that's part of the frustration I'm having," the Marble Falls Republican told his committee. "Every group believes their project is the most important and the competition between the 16 (water planning groups) at times has been problematic."

... and this one.

"It is my No. 1 point of irritation," Fraser said ... "If you ask the Water Development Board which of the 562 projects are the most important, they say they are all important."

Sen. Glenn Hegar, R- Katy, agreed: "There is a difference between a wish list and a list that actually works. What are our real priorities?"

The water issue is Speaker Straus' top priority this session, so expect to read much more about it.

-- Democratic legislators are also accelerating the removal of the codified marriage discrimination in the Texas Constitution.

-- Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen) filed a measure on Monday to legalize civil unions in Texas by 2014 and partially repeal Texas’ Defense of Marriage Act. SB 480 would require first changing Texas’ 2005 constitutional amendment prohibiting both same-sex marriage and civil unions, the Dallas Voice reports. Sen. Jose Rodriguez (D-El Paso) and Reps. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) and Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) have already filed resolutions to lift the ban. That seems unlikely. The measures would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers before being placed on statewide ballots.

Said Hinojosa:

“The creation of civil unions in Texas is critical for same-gender couples so they can be afforded the same benefits and protections that married couples enjoy. Providing legal protections, including property rights, homestead rights, child custody and support, adoption, group insurance for state employees, and worker compensation benefits, would treat same-gender couples with the dignity and respect they deserve as well as allow them the benefits to take care of their families.” 

-- Good news for brewmasters and brewpubs:

Texas lawmakers on Tuesday  introduced a package of bills that would help the state’s growing number of production breweries and the brewpub restaurants that would like to package and sell beer off-site.

• On-site sales for breweries: Production breweries such as Houston’s Saint Arnold, which make no more than 225,000 barrels of beer annually, would be allowed to sell up to 5,000 barrels directly to customers for consumption on site each year. Take-away beer and growler fills to go still would be prohibited.
• Off-site sales for brewpubs: Brewpubs could package beer for off-site retail sales, up to 1,000 barrels on its own and the remainder through licensed distributors. Once a brewpub reaches annual production of 12,500 barrels, it would have to stop growing or switch to a production-brewery license.
• New limits on self-distribution: (Two bills) Breweries that produce up to 125,000 barrels annually would be allowed to self-distribute up to 40,000 barrels. Out-of-state breweries also would be allowed some self-distribution rights as well.

-- And lastly, what the Texas Observer's 'Floor Pass' blog is watching today.

1. The Senate Finance Committee, which meets this morning at 9 a.m., will hear from the Commission on Jail Standards about public safety and criminal justice, and the Department of Agriculture will present on natural resources.

2. The Senate Committee on Transportation will meet this morning at 8 a.m. and will hear testimony from the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

3. The House Public Health Committee meets today to discuss, among other issues, Obamacare and its effect on Texas.

Grits is always your go-to blog for criminal justice matters in Texas.

Update: EOW with more on other bills.

Update II, referencing #2 above... TxDOT director calls for stable highway funding system:

TxDOT Executive Director Phil Wilson said the agency needs at least $4 billion more each year to cover road expansion and upkeep. The proposed $20.8 billion budget would set aside just under $2.5 billion to repay debts, but caps the new construction budget at just over $1 billion.

“I think that really puts in perspective the situation that TxDOT finds itself in today, with an extremely large amount on the debt service side and a limited amount on the new construction side,” Davis told Wilson. “In my perspective we’ve really gotten upside-down in terms of providing the support for this agency that’s needed, and for you to conduct what we expect you to do.”

Gov. Rick Perry has proposed spending $3.7 billion from the Rainy Day Fund on Texas transportation, but that would still come up short of Wilson’s request for TxDOT. Perry has suggested spending the money on building new highways and bringing old roads up to code for projects like Interstate 69.

What TxDOT needs, Wilson said today—and wrote in a letter to Lt. Governor David Dewhurst—is a new, sustainable transportation funding source.

Mark Jones tries to take down Wendy Davis

And fails. As usual.

Since her filibuster on June 25, activists, politicians and pundits within and outside of Texas have been discussing a possible 2014 gubernatorial bid by state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. However, beyond her pivotal role in temporarily derailing a strict omnibus anti-abortion bill and her compelling life story, most Texans, let alone most Americans, know little about Davis. An analysis of her voting record on the Senate floor helps partially fill this informational lacuna, highlighting that during her tenure Davis has been one of the Texas Senate’s most liberal members.

Now you can click over and read Jones' data and interpretations for yourself, but you don't have to possess a doctorate to recognize political quackery disguised as political science. Just use Dr. Jones' own figures.

Jones asserts Wendy Davis is the 4th most liberal senator, and then charts a voting record that is all but identical to six of her colleagues. His words: "Her ideological position is statistically indistinguishable from that of the other six Democratic senators."

So if that's true, what weight is given data that makes her fourth most liberal and not one of the 6 others? By this same measurement, Jane Nelson -- yeah, that Jane Nelson -- is the 4th most conservative state senator, more so than Troy Fraser, Tommy Williams, Glenn Hegar, and Bob Estes. And every Republican in Texas is laughing out loud right now. Update II: In preparing my personal legislative scorecard at the Texas Tribune, Nelson was the Republican whose votes I agreed with the most often (a stunning 86%).

And if you have a bias hiding somewhere in the numbers that's so obvious that I can see it.... why are you even trying to hide it?

This is called cherry-picking... and then making Robitussin with the cherries instead of wine. Jones has hacked up a "too-librul" furball and needed some cough suppressant.

To be clear, I have excoriated Dr. Jones and his opinions more frequently in this space than even I had thought. Here's what I wrote two years ago when he suggested that the defeat of sanctuary cities bills in that legislative session was a "strategic victory" for Rick Perry. Jones was eventually compelled to back up and rewrite on that, and I kicked him while he was down. In searching for those I found about ten more posts eviscerating the good doctor. And when I say 'eviscerate', I mean his lower GI tract was removed and replaced with PVC pipe.

I stopped reading his dreck a while back because the sniffs I heard at the end of every sentence were just too obnoxious to endure, but I gave him another chance recently when he appeared on teevee with Khambrel Marshall and David Big Jolly Jennings. I couldn't make it to the end of the broadcast without calling my dentist to schedule a gum-scraping. I figured that would be less painful.

I am not joking; compared to Mark Jones, Marc Campos has searing political insights -- and real keen baseball knowledge, too.

Anyway, Jones buried the lede.

Paul Burka, Patricia Kilday Hart, Ross Ramsey and others have identified multiple hurdles Davis would face were she to run for governor in 2014. To those I would add one more: Davis would be competing for statewide office in what is still a very red state with the legislative voting record of a relatively liberal Texas Democrat.

Well knock me over with a feather: Texas is as red as a baboon's ass in heat and hasn't elected a statewide Democrat in a generation. And Wendy Davis is a Democrat. You don't think the past might be prologue, do you? Let's gather some data and plot a graph.

(This baloney makes almost as much sense as the TexTrib's own polls. Yeah, I've blogged about those too until I'm tired of doing so. They're so mad at me they don't link over here any more.)

Dr. Jones should have simply saved himself the trouble and just gone all Ronald Reagan "librul-librul-librul" on Sen. Davis. He could have at least updated Reagan's smear with some of Rush Limbaugh's or Ann Coulter's spew; they've both made fortunes off that 'Liberals-R-e-VILL!' schtick. But I suppose he thinks what he's doing isn't the same thing.

Actually, it is. Calling someone the "most liberal senator" was the very first argument made against both John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008, and Jones knows it's a dog whistle only right ears can hear. But he had to go and ruin his credibility again. 

I have a hard time believing that Rice University cannot do better than this in the poly-sci department, and that's even if they wanted someone who was the academic equivalent of Karl Rove or Frank Luntz. Mark Jones must be tenured harder than the mortar between the bricks under the ivy. I'm guessing that without something that meets the definition of moral turpitude, they're stuck with him out there for another twenty-five years or so.

And I doubt that remains a long enough time for him to see any librul get elected governor of Texas.

Update: Greg has a similar opinion of Dr. Jones (it's more courteous than mine, but still pretty harsh on his figures and his conclusions).

Abbott 44%, Davis 32%

In third place was "no opinion", with 17%.

“Abbott remains strong and this, in a lot of ways, confirms the strategy that we’ve seen from his camp: Leave well enough alone,” said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin and co-director of the UT/TT Poll. “The Davis campaign seems to be not able to reverse the trend.”

That's about right.  I don't think this is the reason that Chris Murphy was brought in to replace Karin Johanson, by the way.  But certainly he takes over a campaign that appears to be treading water, for any variety of reasons inside and outside its control.

Dan Patrick is still riding the wave.

In the the race for lieutenant governor, Republican Dan Patrick has the biggest margin in the pack of statewide races, leading Democrat Leticia Van de Putte 41 percent to 26 percent, with 23 percent undecided and the remainder going to third-party candidates and unnamed candidates.

Historical trends holding.

Republican candidates lead in all of the other statewide nonjudicial races, with the number of undecided voters climbing as you go down the ballot:

• U.S. Sen. John Cornyn leads Democrat David Alameel 36 percent to 25 percent in a race where 26 percent of the voters said they have not made up their minds. Rebecca Paddock, a Libertarian, got 5 percent, the Green Party’s Emily Sanchez got 3 percent and 5 percent said they would vote for “someone else.”

• In the race for attorney general, Republican Ken Paxton leads Democrat Sam Houston 40 percent to 27 percent, with 27 percent undecided. Libertarian Jamie Balagia and Green Jamar Osborne each have 3 percent.

• Republican Glenn Hegar leads Democrat Mike Collier 32 percent to 25 percent in the contest for comptroller of public accounts, followed by Libertarian Ben Sanders at 5 percent and Green Deb Shafto at 2 percent. In that race, 37 percent said they had not formed an opinion about their vote.

• In the race for land commissioner, Republican George P. Bush leads Democrat John Cook 36 percent to 25 percent, followed by Justin Knight, a Libertarian, at 6 percent, and Valerie Alessi from the Green Party at 3 percent. Thirty percent of the voters were undecided.

• Republican Sid Miller leads Democrat Jim Hogan by 8 percentage points in the agriculture commission race, with 32 percent to Hogan’s 24 percent. The Green Party’s Kenneth Kendrick got 5 percent and Libertarian Rocky Palmquist got 4 percent in that race. The remaining 34 percent were undecided.

• The numbers in the race for railroad commissioner were similar: Republican Ryan Sitton, 32 percent; Democrat Steve Brown, 24 percent; Libertarian Mark Miller, 6 percent; and Green Martina Salinas, 4 percent. The other 33 percent have not picked a favorite.

I would not expect to see any great shakeups in the numbers before Labor Day.  All the bad news for Republicans, with the possible exception of the fallout from their various party platform disasters, is baked in here.  Update: Notice in the next post that I reconsidered and abandoned this premise after some time to analyze the results... and not just because the TexTrib pollsters decided they agreed with it.

It's going to be a long hot summer for Battleground Texas volunteers, sweating it out to have something to show for their hard work in November.

UT/TexTrib poll has Kesha Rogers leading the field in Dem US Senate primary

There aren't any other huge surprises in this (historically unreliable) data.

In the Democratic primary, the candidate who has been on the ballot the most times, Kesha Rogers, leads the best-financed candidate, David Alameel, 35 percent to 27 percent. Maxey Scherr had 15 percent, followed by Harry Kim at 14 percent and Michael Fjetland at 9 percent. Voters are largely unfamiliar with those candidates; 74 percent initially expressed no opinion before being asked how they would vote if they had to decide now.

“This is what it looks like when you have a bunch of candidates, no infrastructure and no money,” (polling co-director Jim) Henson said. “The first person to raise some money and run some ads could really move this.”

I think Henson has that accurate; Alameel's voluminous mailings and TV ads should get him into the lead by the time all the votes are counted.  But I warned a couple of my EVBB friends week before last that I feared an Alameel/Rogers runoff, and now it looks like I'm left to hope that the TexTrib's polling lives up to its comically bad reputation.  However there's greater confidence to be found in their other numbers...

-- Abbott 47, Davis 36, Don't know 17.  About right, I would say.  Update: And yes, it is worth noting that this poll concluded before the Ted Nugent crap exploded (pun intended), so the effect of the most significant development of the entire campaign is not reflected here.

-- Cornyn 62, Stockman 16, everybody else in single digits that total 15.  Also about right, and in defiance of what was released last week (somebody is awfully wrong, that's for sure).  The Conservative News distribution probably doesn't save Stockman, either.

-- Dewhurst 37, Patrick 31, Staples, 17, Patterson 15.  Nothing to quarrel over here, either.  Remains to be seen whether Patrick's Ill Eagle flap hurts him; that news also broke after the poll concluded.  But if something like these numbers hold, Dewhurst is toast in the runoff.  Let's note this also.

The Republican nominee will face state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, who is unopposed in her primary. Van de Putte lagged behind each of the four Republicans in hypothetical general election matchups, trailing Dewhurst 44 percent to 32 percent, Patrick 41 percent to 32 percent, Staples 41 percent to 29 percent, and Patterson 41 percent to 30 percent. Undecided voters made up the difference in each race.

That seems like a sensible set of figures for late February, too.  The only other result that so much as raises my eyebrow is Tea Party queen Debra Medina laying waste to the well-funded men in the R comptroller race.

There's going to be some crying at Glenn Hegar's watch party on Election Night.  Hope he doesn't feel the urge to have to shoot anything.

Update: Socratic Gadfly with more on what this might mean for the Green Party Senate candidate, who also needs some free media but isn't well-positioned to take advantage of the publicity.  And Charles breaks things down as well.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is firmly bracing itself for the mostly white, male, and middle-aged Texas legislators to work their will on the rest of us in the biennial 85th session, which begins tomorrow in Austin.

Off the Kuff looked ahead to the upcoming Houston elections for 2017.

Libby Shaw at Daily Kos understands that if pain and suffering have to be inflicted on the American people, the cruelest party for the job is the Texas Republican Party. Yes, they are coming after Social Security. Worse: the hatchet man is a Texas Republican.

With January 20 just two weeks away, Socratic Gadfly takes an initial snapshot look at President Obama's legacy from the left. Updated Presidential rankings to follow.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme remembers the greedy corporate interests fighting the white nationalists in the 2000s. The white nationalists won that one. We're at it again with today's Texas Legislature.

Texas Leftist piles on the Lord of the Lavatory, Lite Guv Dan Patrick, and his petty, potty politics.

The top environmental stories affecting Lewisville were summarized by the Texan Journal.

Dos Centavos has a few thoughts on the HISD board vacancy.

The latest -- and hopefully the last -- on "русские сделали это" was posted by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

Txsharon at Bluedaze is not as Trump as you drink she is.

After many years toiling away for the liberal cause in Amarillo, Ted at jobsanger announces his relocation to Austin.

DemBlogNews surveys the playing field in the contest to be the next DNC chair.

Neil at All People Have Value was out on the streets of Houston calling for kindness, respect, and not giving up. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

=================

More stories from around Texas!

Peggy Fikac at the SAEN sees us all on tenterhooks waiting for the state's revenue estimate from Comptroller Jethro Bodine Glenn Hegar. Update: And the bad news breaks: almost $105 billion, or about $4 billion less than necessary to meet continuing obligations.  Yuuge cuts in state services are in store.  Follow Better Texas Blog for the deep dive.

The Houston Communist Party respectfully requests that the real hackers please stand up.

Grits for Breakfast suggests that if SD-17 Sen. Joan Huffman is serious about busting unions with her recently-filed legislation, she shouldn't leave out the police labor organizations.

John Wright makes five queer predictions for LGBT Texans in 2017, and Ashton Woods at Strength in Numbers says, simply: when people's lives are under assault, the proper response is to fight back.

Paradise in Hell wants the holes in the Texas Freedom of Information Act to be patched.

The TSTA Blog explains how the state abuses school property taxpayers, and the Rivard Report sends home the report card from the state's public school districts on the state education agency's A-F  accountability score.  Their grade?  Incomplete.

The Bloggess submits an application to become a vampire, and It's Not Hou It's Me
gives a hand with your New Year's resolutions with a guide to working out in Houston.

And Pages of Victory had some truck trouble in the cold over the weekend.

The Houston city controller's contest

Once more from the top of your ballot to the bottom.

• M.J. Khan
• Chris Brown
• Bill Frazer
• Jew Don Boney
• Dwight Jefferson
• Carroll Robinson

Both of my previous postings about this race got lots of clicks, so if you want some recent past history about these men then there it is.  Here's one relevant excerpt...

Frankly I am delighted to see Jew Don Boney run for city controller against Carroll Robinson. They have squared off before, and it wasn't pretty. No matter his own bumpy history, I will be pleased to support former councilman Boney's campaign -- unless I vet the potential candidates for a better one -- because Robinson is not only shady himself but also aligned with the absolute worst political mafia in Houston politics. I'm looking at you again, Hector Carreno, you slug. And Reps. Miles and Thompson, you should know better.

But this "lesser of two evils" option once again might let the Republican slip into office.

As a reminder: one of the easiest choices you can make as a voter is to never, ever vote for a candidate who doesn't understand what the responsibilities of the office he is running for are.

Also in the doomed-to-repeat-history department, both of the two Republicans bidding again for this seat barely lost to outgoing incumbent Ronald Green.  From 2013, here's my live-blogging as the returns came in that night (scroll all the way to the bottom):

Bill Frazer - 47% 47.89% 48.28% 49.02% 48.86%
Ronald Green - 53% 52.11% 51.72% 50.98% 51.14% 

The incumbent may yet hold off the Republican challenger, but late returns will tell the tale. At 9:00 p.m., Election Day results continue to narrow the gap for Frazer. 

At 9:30 p.m., just 2200 votes out of 110,000 cast separate the two. But the real news is the 30,500 undervotes in this race. At 10 p.m. Green gets a little breathing room, leading now by 3000 votes 

At 10:20 p.m., when the votes from Fort Bend and Montgomery are added, Controller Green has a 5,062 vote lead. He has narrowly avoided being upset. 38,134 Harris County voters did not vote in this race.

Khan is experienced as a former three-term council member, came very close to beating Green himself in 2009 when the term-limited Annise Parker first ran for mayor, and benefits from being tops on the ballot in a race filled with qualified candidates.  But Khan's greatest value is in siphoning off enough of Frazer's Republican support to force him into a runoff with a Democrat.  Frazer is in the catbird seat with the four Ds squaring off and "bathroom election" turnout looking promising for the city's conservatives.  He's hosted fundraisers with David Dewhurst and state comptroller Glenn Hegar, and earned the endorsement of the Kingwood Tea Party (that covers all the the GOP bases, from plain old stupid to stupid, mean, and crazy).

So who has the best chance of advancing to the December playoff with Frazer?

Morning-line handicappers might favor Son of Brown-Schlumberger.  He's been the city's deputy controller throughout the Green years, has access to all the money he needs not to lose, and he's a legacy.  Constable David Rosen wrote his own forecast of this race in the Daily Court Review praising Brown's "colossal network", evaluating the candidates most particularly on the basis of their campaign finance reports.

At least two of those four are reasons are why I cannot support Brown, though many Democrats of the Caucasian persuasion will, and that could be enough to get him over the hump.  There's also the fact that African American voters both liberal and conservative will split their votes among Boney, Robinson, and Jefferson.  The two Democratic former city council members and one former Republican state district judge (in that order) have some divergent opinions about how the office they seek helps manage the city in harmony -- or discord -- with the mayor's office.  There's an opportunity here among all these controller hopefuls for some very strategic voting.

Consider some mayoral runoff possibilities: Hall-Garcia, Hall-Turner, Turner-Garcia for just a few. With a conservative Democrat or quasi-Republican mayor and Frazer (or Khan) crunching the numbers, you can pretty much count on a lot of municipal employee layoffs to try to balance the looming crisis of a city budget, a hard line on firemen and police pensions, lots of closed libraries and swimming pools, city parks going to seed, and yes, more potholes.  If the cons sweep some of the swingy seats on council as well, a new dark day of severe austerity and homophobia takes reign over Houston.

If a someone more moderate, like Turner (or Steve Costello or Chris Bell) makes the runoff and prevails in it, then a controller like Brown or Boney or even Jefferson gives the city a little less talk and a little more action that demonstrates tolerance for threatened municipal employees, be it their jobs or their retirement plans.  In short, consider whether your choice for mayor is going to have someone in the beancounters' office he can work with... or will have to fight with.  And which of those scenarios you think might be preferable, depending on how things turn out on November 3rd.

Chris Brown straddled the fence on this matter when asked about it at the Sunnyside candidate forum.  That's not leadership, IMHO.

Prediction for the general: Too close to call on whether there will be a runoff, or whether who on either the left or the right might make one.  This is the least predictable contest on the ballot, and one which depends completely on whose voters show up.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is glad to live in an age where political ads on TV can be zapped as it brings you this week's roundup of the best Lone Star lefty blog posts from last week.

Many of his fellow Texans worry Neil -- as he posts at his new "Blog About Our Failing Money Owned American Political System" -- more than do the migrant Central American children coming across the Rio Grande border. BAOFMOAPS is just one of many parts of NeilAquino.com.

Off the Kuff wonders why AG Greg Abbott didn't just have his own lawyers testify in the latest lawsuit against HB2 given how much they coached their witnesses.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos is very disturbed to learn that Abbott's rulings and decisions demonstrate a pattern of his support for abusers vs. their victims. Corporate marionette Greg Abbott seems to enjoy punishing victims.

Glenn Hegar, Tea Party candidate for Texas Comptroller, was caught in the act. Bay Area Houston has the video.

After being told all summer that "nobody pays attention until Labor Day", PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had to wonder if we had suddenly jumped ahead a month on the calendar.

What's this about voter fraud? CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants all of the reality-based people to know that voter photo ID does nothing to stop fraudulent absentee ballot procedures.

Texas Leftist shares the truth about Medicaid expansion. Right now, Texas taxpayers are subsidizing healthcare benefits for other states while millions of our people suffer without health insurance. Also make sure to check out Wayne's guest column in CultureMap discussing the Houston equal rights ordinance.

Egberto Willies made the shameful observation that black men holding toy guns -- or no guns at all -- are routinely shot down, while white men flaunt their firearms openly.

In opening this cycle's interviews with all political candidates on the 2014 ballot, Texpatriate began by publishing questionnaires from Whitney Bilyeu, Libertarian for Texas Senate District 7, and Laura Nicol, Democrat for State Representative, District 133.

===============

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Socratic Gadfly's suggestion this week for a word to text to Greg Abbott -- which the attorney general asks you to do in his movie trailers ads -- is "Kirby".

Hair Balls made note of Harris County's first confirmed case of chickungunya.

Better Texas Blog wants parents to contact their local school districts about opting in for free breakfast and lunches for students.  The deadline is August 31.

State Impact Texas reports that forecasters are lowering their predictions for the number of Atlantic Ocean hurricanes this season.

Juanita Jean finds a bad use of tatas.

Texas Watch points you to a resource to tell how safe your hospital is.

LGBTQ Insider calls the 2014 elections "imperative" for the LGBT community.

TransGriot and HOUEquality have news roundups on the Houston equal rights ordinance and the so-far-failed effort to put an item on the ballot to repeal it.

Lone Star Q lists the 63 Texas legislators that signed on to the Texas Conservative Coalition brief in the same-sex marriage appeal, in which they drag out more insulting and discredited arguments to support those made by AG Greg Abbott.

Grits for Breakfast still thinks the driver responsibility surcharge should be scrapped.

Lone Star Ma celebrated World Breastfeeding Week.

SciGuy showed us what happens when a spaceship gets close to a comet.

The Highwayman and Unfair Park examine the link between poverty and fatal auto/pedestrian accidents.

Last, Fascist Dyke Motors provides a list of nine mistakes everyone should not make if they are going to experience a cerebrovascular insult (i.e., stroke).

"It's not Monday you hate, it's capitalism" Wrangle

How was your weekend?

Photos, TFG Rally of Hate today 30 miles of me. Some have been there since Thursday. The Orange Fascist doesn’t spew his hate and lies until 7 tonight. These pics are from Montgomery County Sheriffs Department fb page. pic.twitter.com/2crN6ylRUv

— Jo 𖤐 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ 𖤐 (@Jo_IsABitch) January 29, 2022

At the Texas Covid Infection Festival:#TrumpRally pic.twitter.com/SfY7cgqpbZ

— Roshan Rinaldi (@Roshan_Rinaldi) January 29, 2022

Greg Abbott realizes that the only way to keep the MAGA crowd from booing him is to just keep saying, ‘Donald J Trump’ over and over again. So he does. pic.twitter.com/wzQ3csB5cE

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 30, 2022

"If this sounds familiar, it’s because similar politics emerged during the Weimar period in Germany, were honed by the Nazis, and later trafficked into mainstream politics via the John Birch Society — one of the sponsors of the event at the border."https://t.co/93nj6fXIxr

— steven monacelli (getting worried) (@stevanzetti) January 31, 2022

There were two polls regarding the Texas primary elections released over the weekend.  The first, on Friday from the Hobby School of Political Affairs at the University of Houston, has most GOP statewide incumbents -- Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton, Sid Miller, Glenn Hegar -- holding comfortable leads for renomination.  Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian, not so much.  The Republican primary for commissioner of the General Land Office, vacated by George P. Bush in his bid against Paxton, is a tossup (80% of those queried are unsure for whom they might vote).

In the Democratic primary, Beto O'Rourke leads handily.  In the lieutenant governor's race, Mike Collier is ahead with 24% but 58% are undecided.  Rochelle Garza (14%), Joe Jaworski (12%), Lee Merritt (7%), and two others with 7% portend a runoff in the scrum for attorney general to face off with Paxton (60% of Dems are unsure).  Same in the contest for GLO, with Sandragrace Martinez leading Michael Lange, Jay Kleburg, and Jinny Suh with 64% undecided.

While these numbers don't seem out of place, it's possible that the pollsters could be weighting Latin@ voters a bit too much and under-sampling Black Dems for my interpretation.  But there was also a general election matchup polled, and IMO these results are the closest to accurate for predicting the ultimate fall outcome.

Texas Nov. 2022 Gubernatorial Vote Intention@GregAbbott_TX 48%@BetoORourke 43%@Mark4Gov 2%@DelilahforTexas 1%
DK/Unsure 6%#txlege #TX2022
Via @hobbyschooluh https://t.co/u8KcyCticu pic.twitter.com/7o0PA7tLfH

— Mark P. Jones (@MarkPJonesTX) January 30, 2022

Six percent uncertain is a rather stunning number nine months away.

The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler's poll, out yesterday, looks somewhat the same... and somewhat different.

New @dallasnews/@UTTyler poll:

Abbott: 47
O'Rourke: 36

GOP gov:
Abbott: 59
West: 6
Huffines: 4
Perry: 4

GOP AG:
Paxton: 33
Bush: 19
Gohmert: 8
Guzman: 7

Dem LG:
Beckley: 17
Brailey: 13
Collier: 10

Dem AG:
Garza: 11
Jaworski: 11
Fields: 7
Merritt: 6https://t.co/f1ALbADO5F

— Bob Garrett (@RobertTGarrett) January 30, 2022

Robert Showah has more on Texans' opinions from that survey, including this:

Texans are divided on Roe v. Wade, 53-45 oppose overturn. The partisan overlap and margins among Latinos, Catholics and White Evangelicals is striking. #txlege

Overturn/Don't
Dem: 36/64
Ind: 42/56
GOP: 54/44
Latino: 48/51
Women: 42/58
Catholic: 53/47
White Evang: 51/45

— Robert Showah (@robertisnthere) January 31, 2022

I did not want to open today's Wrangle with an overflowing vat of stupid and crazy, but I can't leave the topic of conservatives behaving badly without a few more items.

This is Stephen Balch.

He’s a conspiracy theorist who called Biden’s election a “literal coup” and pushes White Replacement Theory.

The Texas State Board of Education just picked him to revise our social studies standards. The Big Lie is coming to a textbook near you.@TXSBOE pic.twitter.com/Appr29XDIl

— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) January 27, 2022

And when it can't get more idiotic ---"MAGA Candidate Caught on Tape Menacing Butterfly Sanctuary on Texas Border"--which closed this weekend of Trump MAGA rally in McAllen. Let the delirium rage on #txlege https://t.co/ggM0iDJTuv via @thedailybeast

— harvey kronberg (@HKronberg) January 28, 2022

Kandy Kaye Horn, a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor in Texas, spent a million dollars putting up campaign billboards across the length and breadth of Texas. I wrote something about who she is and why she did it.https://t.co/2mcJN2sB3t

— jonathantilove (@JTiloveTX) January 29, 2022

ICYMI -- 'Let the Dogs Eat Her': Frisco Pastor Calls Denton County GOP Chair a 'Jezebel' in Bizarre Tiradehttps://t.co/Myod8gZs9t

— Dallas Observer (@Dallas_Observer) January 29, 2022

Perhaps anti-Semitism by powerful evangelicals doesn’t count? #txlege https://t.co/iOmROjfRym

— 𝕛𝕚𝕞𝕞𝕪𝕠 (@jimmyotx) January 28, 2022

On Thursday, Granbury ISD confirmed it has pulled 130 titles from school libraries in the district to be reviewed by a committee for inappropriate conduct. https://t.co/xSwgIrO9lV

— WFAA (@wfaa) January 28, 2022

They simply outdid themselves this past week.

I have a few criminal, legal, and social justice headlines; the first deals with the previous Tweet regarding Tim Dunn above.

Federal judge blocks enforcement of Texas's anti-BDS law https://t.co/Hr9fQWls43 pic.twitter.com/9Yg83ooOA2

— The Hill (@thehill) January 30, 2022

Records show the cop who killed a young Houston mother and left her 3-year-old son fighting for his life had past issues with properly operating his cruiser.https://t.co/UyTTwCg1TO

— Chron (@chron) January 29, 2022

A Texas A&M professor of economics said a livable wage in Texas is about $40,000 a year.
https://t.co/0ksfcOo0N7

— WFAA (@wfaa) January 29, 2022

Texas DMV caps number of temporary tags auto dealers can get. Sort of. https://t.co/hPTCHXNRTS via @houstonchron #hounews

— Matt Schwartz (@SchwartzChron) January 28, 2022

@TexasCJE &SLC have done it again. The community showed up, & had a productive discussion about what transforming the TX justice system could look like. Great work! @OfRestorer @TexasAdvocates @PureJustice_HTX @dieter_cantu @MarcALevin @BeFrank4Justice pic.twitter.com/KvNowT7ft4

— Savannah Eldrige (@savannah1214) January 30, 2022

Karankawa nation protests dangerous pipeline expansion into sacred land ✊🏽https://t.co/nF2nQD48k4

— Honor the Earth (@HonorTheEarth) January 30, 2022

On January 22, members of the Karankawa Nation and several hundred supporters gathered in front of a Bank of America location in Austin (to speak out) against the planned expansion of an oil pier owned and operated by Canada-based oil giant Enbridge. The expansion would cross sacred land at a Karankawa village site near Corpus Christi Bay in south Texas. Pipeline construction would also endanger burial artifacts and have a disastrous effect on the sensitive and biodiverse wet marshes.

Chiara, a Karankawa organizer, gave an impassioned speech defending the environment of her people’s homeland and called out Bank of America for financing fossil fuel extraction. Bank of America invested $42 billion in fossil fuels in 2020 alone.

That will be my segue to the environmental news.

Sulfuric acid waste from Samsung’s Austin factory leaked into a pond and then a tributary of Harris Branch Creek, officials report.

The leak totaled up to 763,000 gallons and might have gone on for more than 100 days 1/ https://t.co/LpvWu2EftD

— Austin Statesman (@statesman) January 28, 2022

The Nightmare Valero Site Claiming Fossil Fuels Are 'Essential for Life' https://t.co/s2twqhavb2 pic.twitter.com/vsWgPcltMd

— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) January 27, 2022

“I’ve seen a lot of Big Oil ads, but this has to be one of the creepiest,” Jamie Henn, the director of Fossil Free Media, said in an email. “Valero wants us to feel like it isn’t just our cars, but the very lives of our children that depend on their product. There’s an unsaid threat in these commercials: transition to clean energy and the world as you know it will cease to exist. That’s of course false ..."

"East Texas, North Texas residents push back against solar plant construction" via KLTV

*heavy sigh*

Dozens of people living in Crawford, just half an hour west of Waco, raised concerns at a school district meeting about the company, OCI Solar Power, building facilities just outside the city. The company is based out of San Antonio, and it proposed a $115 million solar farm. A company official managing the project said the project will not cost the community any tax dollars if approved -- now it’s up to the school board to designate land as commercial property.

A farmer in Crawford said he’d been offered more money than he could make farming to sell his land to make way for construction, but said his neighbors, “would not be happy living next to a plant.”

A similar situation is happening in Southmayd, near Texas’ border with Oklahoma. The school district board there voted to agree to a deal with Galactic Energy. The solar development company is proposing the construction of a 1,750 acre solar farm. Some residents there said they don’t want to lose the landscape and property they’ve lived on for generations. People raising their concerns are asking the school board to reconsider, and say they’re considering starting a petition against construction.

EPA Rejects Texas’ More Lenient Standard for Highly Toxic Air Pollutant — ProPublica. This is huge won for ⁦@TexasSierraClub⁩ ⁦@airallianceHOU⁩ ⁦@tejasbarrios⁩ and more importantly the community gone to court on this! #txlege https://t.co/SfVnPSdW9c

— Cyrus Reed (@cyrustx) January 29, 2022

Going extra long on the calm-me-downs to wrap today.

I have fond memories of working with Molly Ivins (and others!) in the FWST Austin bureau. Tomorrow (Jan. 31) marks the 15th anniversary of her death. Wrote a little bit about Molly and the bureau in this first person piece that ran in 2012 #txlege 4/ https://t.co/oJ0jcPZ30G

— Jay Root (@byjayroot) January 30, 2022

*more cool @sxsw stuff*

Creative collective @MeowWolf, known for its immersive and visually wild art attractions, join festival lineup with "interdimensional portal" https://t.co/KmOcDQHMTl

— Austin 360 (@austin360) January 28, 2022

AUSTIN HISTORY ON THE MOVE: Where did the famed Chisholm Trail cross the Colorado River? https://t.co/4AEdH1CsoR via @statesman

— Michael Barnes (@outandabout) January 31, 2022

El Paso's Scenic Drive turns 100! 🏞

This year, the City celebrates the 100th anniversary of the completion of Scenic Drive.

A plaque was placed at the top of the scenic route to commemorate the 100-year milestone of the most iconic roadways in El Paso. pic.twitter.com/bKosconbBm

— City of El Paso (@ElPasoTXGov) January 30, 2022

Lucille Ball in San Antonio on Fifth Street before the start of Parade of Stars through downtown, 1943. Courtesy a remarkable collection of photos of celebrities in San Antonio from UTSA (Mae West, Babe Ruth, Rock Hudson, Robert Frost etc...) here: https://t.co/UR9jeOiAM4 pic.twitter.com/kcUzhbXqi6

— Traces of Texas (@TracesofTexas) January 29, 2022

Who's having the worst week?

-- Bill Cosby or Uber?  I say it's a tie.  Vote in the comments if you like.

-- I am refusing to pay much attention to 2016 presidential jockeying, but if you're not like me and want a much-too-early tell for what the GOP is in store for, then here are two articles you can read today.  A prominent local Republican I had lunch with post-election indicated that former governors are at the top of his list, and named Scott Walker specifically.

Jim Webb announced (that he's just, you know, exploring) yesterday.  Because there is a huge unrepresented constituency to the right of Hillary Clinton that the Democrats will need in order to hold the White House in 2016: conservative suburban, exurban, and rural white males who favor the military above all else.

That might be sarcasm; you decide.  Now you know why I ain't paying much attention.

-- The media keep making themselves the story.  This is really getting stale.

-- Leticia Van de Putte will run for mayor of San Antonio, spoiling the hopes of former state Rep. Mike Villarreal, who's already resigned his seat in the Texas House.  It also sets off a scrum for her Texas Senate chair; running first in speculative replacements is TMF.  There's a special election scheduled three weeks from now to replace Jethro Bodine Glenn Hegar in SD-BFE, and taking the early lead there is state representative Lois Kochwhore Kolkhorst.  (Sorry, that was mean.)  Can she out-crook this guy?  Some country gal is already running for K's House seat.

Update (10/22): Turns out Villarreal did not resign, technically (see his letter saying he will 'decline to assume the office').  As QR notes, he may be able re-assume his place in the Texas House.  He's saying he will not, FWIW.  But another GOP House member has quit to work for Archie Bunker Sid Miller at Ag, so there will be one more HD special election called at some point.

Now you know why I haven't posted about the makeup of the next Lege yet.  Not much left in the way of breaking news; far right moves farther right, same as with our Washington representation.  Plenty of time to take a look at that, probably after Thanksgiving and maybe after all these special elections.

-- Ben Hall is running for mayor of Houston once more, and has gotten busy destroying his credibility all over again.  I thought rich people were supposed to be smart.

I got nothing else.  Still recovering from the latest (and extremely powerful) version of The Crud, and still need to close out my books for 2014.  Talk amongst yourselves in the comments.

Scattershooting lame ducks

-- So how about that Obama?  He's had a pretty good seven weeks since all the Democrats who ran away from him got trounced in early November.

You think he can keep it going in 2015?  Do you think Annise Parker can mimic his success strategy?  You know, ram through a few controversial initiatives, avoid losing some of them in court?

2015 is going to be a pivotal year for both Obamacare and HERO.  No bets taken yet.

-- Nothing lame whatsoever about the Texas Observer's Best of 2014.  They've had a very good year.  A good sixty years, for that matter.

-- Stephen Colbert taught us all a lesson in how to go out on top.  That duck sure wasn't lame.

-- Texas Comptroller Jethro Bodine Glenn Hegar has a report due in late January.  Since he's a farmer and not an accountant, I certainly hope Susan Combs has been doing his homework for him.  There's only the future of Texas riding on his predictions of what kind of money the state will have, revenue-wise.  And that will impact whatever Governor Greg Abbott has claimed he'll be able to do without raising taxes.

Boy, that Rick Perry was one dumb lucky bastard, wasn't he?

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you that there's an election coming up in a few weeks (and early voting begins next week).

Off the Kuff says that if giving a tax break to homeowners affected by natural disasters is a priority, the state should cover the cost of that tax break to counties and school districts.

SocraticGadfly looks at a couple of recent pieces by a business columnist at the Chronic, and wonders how many of them apply there and if that will ever be asked?

How about Texas Democrats ask Sylvester Turner to run for governor, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs helpfully suggested.

jobsanger posts eleven steps to a healthier (and fairer) US economy.

Grits for Breakfast knows that criticism of police unions is warranted, but disagrees with the proposed solutions.

Murray Polner at The Rag Blog shares a concise summary of his views on the Vietnam war, motivated by Ken Burns' documentary.

In the Texas Observer's Strangest State roundup, you can read about a cow in Kerrville that looks like KISS rocker Gene Simmons.

The Texas Energy Department's collation of news includes a reminder that Rick Perry is always good for a joke, especially when he's the butt of it.

Neil at All People Have Value attended the weekly Tuesday protest outside the Houston office of Senator John Cornyn.  Senator Cornyn is doing a bad job.  APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

And the Lewisville Texan Journal shares the Mom of No's story about teaching the Son of Never Stops Eating how to speak up at a city council meeting.

==================

More Texas news and blog posts!

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's PoliTex blog reports that over 6,000 inmates in the Texas Criminal Justice System pooled their commissary funds totaling nearly $54,000 and donated it to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

The Rivard Report shares Ross Ramsey (of the Texas Tribune)'s analysis of bathrooms, business interests, and ballots.

The TexTrib also was first with the news that a federal judge ruled Greg Abbott violated the First Amendment when he ordered a mock Nativity scene removed from the Capitol two years ago.

Bonddad's most recent thought for Sunday regards the rule of gerontocracy.

Chris Ladd at Political Orphans asserts that Democrats will no more recognize -- or effectively oppose -- the rise of their own Trump than Republicans did.

Elizabeth Lewis at Burkablog believes we are misdiagnosing the cause of gun violence.

Better Texas Blog dives into the latest revenue estimate from the state's comptroller, Glenn Hegar.

The TSTA Blog laments the lack of role models at the top of our government.

Therese Odell at Foolish Watcher gamely explains what the First Amendment is.

Grant Brisbee at SB Nation isn't a Texan, but he truly gets what the Astros mean to the city of Houston at this moment.

And Harry Hamid has a tale about mutatis mutandis (if you need to look up the meaning -- like I did -- here you go).

More Texas Republicans and their twins, separated at birth

Starring Glenn Hegar as Jethro Bodine.

Both of them.

Starring Sid Miller as Archie Bunker (in a hat).

And without.

Unhappy Sid.

Unhappy Sid again.

Previous editions include Greg Abbott as Dr. Strangelove.  More as they develop.

The Texas progressives in the 2018 Democratic primary

And dishonorable mention for some that are not, and those that are in camoflage.  This is a first pass; I need to do more research for a fuller slate.  With so many Democrats to choose from in next year's primary elections -- and with the presumption that holding my vote back for a Green ballot petition drive that is unlikely to be successful -- my focus is turning to candidates I can cast a vote for (and not the many against, since we don't have a real NOTA option beyond an undervote).

Update: DBC Green provides an update on the status of a couple of Green Party candidates (one planning to run as an indie) and ballot access requirements.

Notice the heavy use of the first person pronouns in the above.  This is my list of progressive candidates and you're welcome to it.  YMMV, and if it does, let me hear how and why in the comments.

For US Senate: Sema Hernandez.

As regular readers know, Beto O'Rourke has consistently disappointed me (scroll to the end) with his mush-mouth on universal single payer.  Saying 'health care is a human right', but calling for everyone to pay in, and holding out on the Medicare for All bill because it does not give a role to for-profit hospitals is simply too duplicitous on my most important issue to earn my support.

Hernandez, by contrast, checks all the boxes.  If I had gotten on the ball I would have advanced her appearance with the Independent Outsider progressive radio folks Dave Denton, Holly Seeliger (blogging as Zoon Politikon) and Stevie "Redneckonomics" King this past Monday.  Thanks to the miracle of Net Neutrality, you can still view that interview below.  There is a noticeable lack of professional expertise in that broadcast that people like Kuffner -- who hadn't heard of Sema before he checked the Brazoria County Dems page last week, despite her long and very active Facebook and Twitter presence -- are just going to have to get over.



Catch Sema on Tim Black's show tomorrow night.

She's more Democratic Socialist than you usually find running for office in Texas, and thank Doorknob for that.  She is, in fact, the kind of Democrat that led the way in victories for the Democratic Party just a month ago.  Sema needs your help raising the $$$ for the filing fee to get on the ballot with less than a week remaining.  As with all citizen activist progressives, a few dollars goes a long way toward a much, much better government.

For Governor: Tom Wakely.

Back in July I suggested that Texas Democrats abandon this line in favor of a Joe Straus independent run for the Mansion.  Neither party to that suggestion took my (admittedly sarcastic) bait, but I knew I would be okay with "Bernie Sanders in a cowboy Panama hat".  Wakely is a reincarnation of my favorite Texas politico ever, David Van Os.

That ought to be enough to make plenty of centrist Donkeys curl their lip and vote for Andrew White, I suppose, especially if Lupe Valdez does not enter the race.  *Update: She is rumored, again, to do so this morning.

Contrary to some accounts, Jeffery Payne (aka Mister International Leather) was not the first candidate to file that was 'considered newsworthy'.  This is just another diss from a card-carrying establishment douchebag.  Here's Wakely's latest at Down With Tyranny.

For Lieutenant Governor: Michael Cooper.

Mike Collier, who ran for state comptroller and lost to Glenn Hegar in 2014, voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012 GOP primary, and is the kind of business-oriented former Republican some Democrats think they need to focus on to win elections, especially in Deep-In-The-Hearta.  I'm obviously not one of those people.

African American Texas Democrats will turn out for Cooper and the rest of the ticket, but will do what they did in 2016 with a Caucasian centrist at the top of the ballot: take a pass on voting.  Cooper is running in tandem with Wakely, has an active Twitter feed and Facebook page, but has let his website, linked above, lapse as of this posting.  He campaigned with Wakely in East Texas just this past weekend, so I'll take it that his webmaster simply dropped the ball.  I'm dubious it's a sign of wavering commitment to the race, after announcing his run back in May and having filed on November 11, the first day of the period.

For Agriculture Commissioner: Kim Olson.

She might not be as progressive as, say, Hank Gilbert, but nobody could be as terrible as the incumbent, Sid Miller, or his GOP challenger, Trey Blocker.  That may sound like a left-handed compliment, but it isn't.  Olson is well-qualified in a race Texas Democrats, at this early point in the cycle, stands the best chance of winning.  JMHO.

For Texas Railroad Commission: Roman McAllen.

Even if Lupe Valdez decides not to run for governor, Texas Latin@s have a load of good candidates running for office, and McAllen is one.  I'm on my soapbox to say that they should be doing the heavy lifting NOW to show their support.  With the repeal of ACA and DACA, "build the wall" and other hot-button issues waiting for them to weigh in on, 2018 is a no-excuses year for Latino turnout.

For CD-7: Laura Moser or Jason Westin.

Alex T isn't on board with single payer and neither is Lizzie Fletcher (weakest website ever for a candidate of her stature), so they're both non-starters for me before you even get to their establishment cred -- the mega-money raised, the well-connected endorsements.  Westin is apparently losing the charisma contest to everybody but Cargas and Josh Butler.  Westin is much stronger on single-payer than Moser, who uses the non-specific phrase "access to health care" on her website a little too much for my taste.  This is Beto O'Rourke's path, right down to the "healthcare is a human right" pablum.

Down With Tyranny likes Westin.  But the doctor loses me when he says things like 'a race to the left is one nobody can win', as he reportedly did in a recent candidate forum.  He describes himself as a moderate (see the WaPo link at the end of this graf) on most issues except healthcare.  That's two dogwhistles to centrist Democrats -- not to mention Sarah Davis/Joe Straus Republicans -- who wouldn't be likely to support a general election progressive, a premise which has been verifiably field-tested since 2008.  As a reminder ...

Based on data from the 2008 Cooperative Campaign Analysis Project, a YouGov survey that also interviewed respondents multiple times during the campaign, 24 percent of people who supported Clinton in the primary as of March 2008 then reported voting for McCain in the general election.

An analysis of a different 2008 survey by the political scientists Michael Henderson, Sunshine Hillygus and Trevor Thompson produced a similar estimate: 25 percent. (Unsurprisingly, Clinton voters who supported McCain were more likely to have negative views of African Americans, relative to those who supported Obama.)

For those who can't be bothered to click over, the nut graf is: two to three times as many PUMAs bagged on Obama in '08 than Sandernistas did Hillary in 2016.  I would expect nothing less in 2020 if Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee.

But that's a digression.  It's either Moser or Westin, and it may come down to a coin flip.

Update: Ivan Sanchez, formerly president of Houston Millennials, was the last to file for this race on the deadline.  Nothing on issues on his Facebook page, nor his Twitter and Instagram activity.  Should be interesting to see if he can get any traction over the next three months in such a crowded, high-profile field.

For CD-29: Hector Morales.

I've already posted about him, so I'm not "basically everyone".  This Tweet from the young schoolteacher says it all.

At a meeting about the San Jacinto Superfund Site. Gene Green and Sylvia Garcia decided this wasn’t worth their time tonight. Our community is hurting and we cannot allow corporation to continue polluting for the sake of “good paying jobs”. They’re killing us. #MoralesTX29

— Morales for Congress (@MoralesTX29) December 5, 2017

More to come on Lina Hidalgo, Adrian Garcia, and others.