Monday, February 29, 2016

A few things to watch for on Election Day

-- Which Democrat gets to take on Harris County Republican DA Devon Anderson in November: Lloyd "homosexuals and lesbians have hijacked the Democratic Party" Oliver, Kim Ogg, or Morris "George Soros' money" Overstreet?

-- Will it be Brandon Dudley for Harris County tax assessor/collector/voter registrar in the Democratic primary ... or Ann Harris Bennett?

-- Can Adrian Garcia pull off the upset in CD-29 against Gene Green?  If he can't, is it a walk or a close shave for the longtime incumbent?  If it's narrow, does Garcia (or some other Latin@) start licking their chops for 2018?

-- Are either Kevin Brady or Louie Gohmert seriously in danger of getting primaried out?

-- Which two of these four -- Randy Bates, Jerry Ford Jr., Jarvis Johnson, Kimberly Willis -- is moving to an April runoff to replace Sylvester Turner in the Texas House?  Is the disgraced Rep. Ron Reynolds going to be bumped off by Steve Brown or Angelique Bartholomew or Chris Henderson?  Will there be a runoff (probably)?  Who's going to make it?

-- Do San Antonio Democrats give the fighting progressive, Trey Martinez Fischer, or the Republican-leaning Democrat, Jose' Menendez, a full term in the Texas Senate?  Chris Hooks says the party needs both.  More on Texas legislative races across the state from the TexTrib.

-- My selections were offered at the start of early voting and can be found here.

-- With fourteen states, one territory, and Democrats Abroad caucusing or holding their presidential primaries tomorrow... is it curtains for Bernie Sanders, or does he fight on?


How will the GOP establishment feel about the election returns tomorrow night?


-- Will Ted Cruz win big enough in Texas to slow Trump's roll?  What's the over-under on his margin of victory?  Five points?  Six points?  Ten points?  That will be the spin.

Quoting myself, again ...


The bantamweight Rubio and the middleweight Cruz did an effective job of pummeling the Oompa Loompa-colored pinata hanging between them. Alternately screwing his face into a tight grimace and unleashing his regularly-scheduled torrent of insults, with a reeling Wolf Blitzer having lost control of the affair in the early rounds, Trump landed no counter-punches to speak of. 
But will it matter once we see the returns roll in Tuesday night?

Great minds ...

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready to rumble for November as it brings you this week's roundup.


Off the Kuff examines Ken Paxton's latest appeal of his fraud charges.

Nonsequiteuse saw everyone else getting in on the open letter game, and figured hey, I can write an open letter, too!

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants to know what McAllen has to fear from their auditor?

Socratic Gadfly, using someone else's opinion piece, explained why this year -- as in previous elections this century -- he won't be "enabling" the Democratic Party in the presidential race.

The GOP debate in Houston made room for a lowly progressive blogger, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs was a first-hand witness to the culinary carnage.

Bay Area Houston and Texas Leftist also had news and views of the Republican debate at the U of H ahead of the event.

jobsanger graphs low Democratic voter turnout ... and blames it on Bernie Sanders.

Dos Centavos wonders if Texas Latinos are splitting between Hillary and Bernie.

Egberto Willies has the video of Ted Cruz accusing Donald Trump of mafia connections.

The Lewisville Texan Journal reports that the gas lease auction for Lake Lewisville may not be legal.

Neil at All People Have Value said that kindness, patience and empathy are forms of resistance in this society. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.


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

Russ Tidwell figures that the presidential election and the 2021 redistricting effort will put an end to gridlock one way or another, Juanita Jean looks to the last contentious presidential primary for context on this year's, and Dan Solomon finds another example of Republican politicians getting slapped for using a song without permission for campaign purposes.

Trailblazers takes note of the single political group funded by one donor that has poured over a million dollars into Texas House races to oppose Speaker Joe Straus. And Texas Vox sees rideshare competitors Uber and Lyft throwing lots of money into Austin political contests.

Chris Hooks at the Texas Observer reviews the state Senate race in San Antonio between Trey Martinez Fischer and Jose' Menendez.

Grits for Breakfast details the data on arrests in Texas: most are for pot, and most of the charges get dismissed.

CultureMap Houston lists the hassle-free ways to get to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Lone Star Q is following the DISD sports transgender ban, which is being both lied about and ignored by officials there.

Better Texas Blog adds up the tax revenues that undocumented immigrants provide.

BOR points out that the cost of implementing campus carry are falling on students and their families.

The Texas Election Law Blog calls the Court of Criminal Appeals "soft on crime" for letting Rick Perry off the hook.

The Lunch Tray dissects the socioeconomics of picky eating.

Pages of Victory says, "Don't force it; get a bigger hammer".

The Alliance encourages voters to support Jessica Farrar in HD-148, especially in light of her opponent’s intentionally deceptive and hateful, anti-gay mailers.