Amazing. The Chron has endorsed Kirk Watson for Attorney General, meaning that they went with the Democratic candidate in three out of the four big statewide races. And they threw in an endorsement for Debra Danburg in her State House race against Martha "No Thong" Wong (see the comments here for the etymology of the nickname) for good measure.
The Chron has endorsed very few Democratic candidates in major races in the past decade or so. Some of that was, admittedly, due to a lack of good candidates at the state level in recent years - the last serious Democratic candidate for Senate was probably Lloyd Bentsen in 1988 - and some of it was not. This is the strongest top-to-bottom slate of Democratic candidates in awhile, and I'm pleased and more than a little amazed to see the Chron recognize it.
Now if only their crappy election section had some info on early voter turnout...
Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 22, 2002 to Election 2002Chuck,
You just HAD to link to that post of yours where in the comment section I say that they rarely endorse Democrats off the board.
Hurm. I think I have some crow cooking in the oven.
Whitlock
Posted by: R. Alex on October 22, 2002 1:55 PMBelieve me, I'm as shocked as you are. I nearly put up a post last week saying that I'd lay 2-1 odds of a Cornyn endorsement. I figured Watson/Abbott was about even money, but I still can't believe the Dems got both nods. No crow needed.
The link was for my gritching about the 1990 Clayton Williams endorsement, fwiw. I'm still not quite ready to forgive the Chron for that one.
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on October 22, 2002 2:38 PMI think everyone's got something they're not willing to forgive the Chronicle for...
Whitlock
Posted by: R. Alex on October 22, 2002 6:24 PMI'm glad that I found this site. I'm a student at UT-Austin and active in Democratic politics here. I'm from Dallas and I can relate to having to read absolutely hideous editorials. They topped it all though in the past couple of days by endorsing John Cornyn. Shameful, just shameful.
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/stories/102702dnediendorsements2002.84ffc.html
They endorsed Sharp, Bernsen, Boyles and Mirabal and that was it for the statewide ticket. Locally, they endorsed Cain and Chapman for their State Senate and Congressional races, but that was about all that they gave us. They endorsed most of the incumbent Demos, but Repugs in about every countywide and judicial race - they didn't even endorse Harryette for County Judge when she is by far the most qualified candidate.
Posted by: ByronUT on October 26, 2002 4:59 PMThe DMN can make the Chronicle look like the Austin American-Statesman, so I can't say I'm surprised.
In retrospect, I have a theory: The Chron absorbed a few Houston Post employees when they bought it out in 1995. Maybe they absorbed some of the Post's editors, too, like the ones that sensibly touted Ann Richards over Clayton "Lie back and relax" Williams. Makes as much sense as anything else.
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on October 26, 2002 6:01 PM