Texas GOP to Hispanic candidates: DO NOT ENTER
The 2010 Texas Primaries revealed the strategic approaches the two parties are taking in the upcoming General Election. Democrats nominated mainstream centrist-minded candidates to broaden their partys appeal to a wide cross-section of independent Texas voters exemplified by Bill Whites overwhelming win in the Democratic Primary.
Conversely Texas Republicans have adopted the more cynical tactic of moving even further to the extreme right hoping to motivate and mobilize the most ideologically and politically extreme elements in their party. Rick Perrys relentless attacks on Kay Bailey Hutchison provide a clear picture of the GOP tactics to be expected.
Republicans take a hard right
Rick Perry brutally extinguished Kay Bailey Hutchison but in doing so he may have harmed the long-term prospects for his party.
Hutchison entered the contest as the most popular elected official in Texas. After the barrage of Perry attacks she was left with less than one-third of
the GOP vote.
Meanwhile extreme-right Republicans Rick Perry and Debra Medina together won nearly 70 percent of the vote.
Perry must now face Bill White who has just completed service as the popular Mayor of Houston and who carries none of the Washington baggage that burdened Hutchison.
Widely respected political analyst Stuart Rothenberg acknowledged Perrys problems and Whites appeal when Rothenberg rated the Texas gubernatorial race as only a narrow advantage" for the Republicans.
State House Dems benefit from GOP in-fighting and feuds
The AP summed up the landscape of the State House saying:
Rep. Tommy Merritt of Longview chairman of the House Public Safety committee was defeated by businessman and conservative tea party activist David Simpson in Tuesdays primary.
Meanwhile Rep. Delwin Jones of Lubbock chairman of the House redistricting panel and one of the longest serving members of the Legislature was headed for a runoff with tea party activist Charles Perry. (Source: Associated Press March 3 2010)
In one State House race after another center-right Republicans were defeated by far-right extremists leaving room for Democrats to attract and win independent voters in the fall.
Texas GOP to Hispanic candidates: DO NOT ENTER
Perhaps the clearest signal of Texas GOP intolerance was the dramatic rejection of Hispanic candidates running in the Republican primary. Every Hispanic candidate facing an Anglo in the GOP primary either lost outright
or was forced into a run-off.
In one of the most striking upsets of the night incumbent Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo was beaten by the unknown underfunded CPA David Porter.
The incumbent Carrillo who was nominated by Perry in 2003 spent over $600000 while challenger Porter spent less than one-tenth that sum.
Despite his cash advantage Carrillo only won about 40 of the vote. Republican campaign consultant Susan Lilly points out the obvious Weve got the problem of an Anglo surname versus a Hispanic. (Source: Austin American-Statesman March 3 2010)
In Harris County highly controversial Tax Assessor-Collector Leo Vasquez lost his primary to Don Sumners despite having both funding and incumbency advantages.
Francisco Quico Canseco ran second in Congressional District 23 with just 32 of the vote despite being the most well-known and best-funded candidate in the five way primary.
Canseco now heads into the runoff as the underdog.
