Category Archives: Election 2004

Guess that NY Metro fellow will have to redo his odds: Ron Kirk has dropped out of the race for DNC Chair. Kirk, who made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 2002, wrote a letter to DNC members … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Due to be sworn in to the 79th Legislature in two days but with an electoral challenge still hanging over his head, Hubert Vo talks about how he got here. Vo worked as a busboy and a cook. He assembled … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas Democratic Party Chair Charles Soechting left the following comment in my post on his statement about Talmadge Heflin. I still disagree with him on this, but as that post is a couple of days old, I wanted to make … Continue reading → Continue reading →

They were coy about it at first, but disappointed backers of City Proposition 2 have filed suit to force its implementation. Two separate lawsuits filed late Wednesday ask judges to order city officials to enact Proposition 2 as soon as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron reports that President Bush increased his share of the Hispanic vote in Harris County by several percentage points. In 16 precincts where more than 90 percent of voters are Latino, the GOP share ticked up by as much … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas Democratic Party Chair Charles Soechting has a message for Talmadge Heflin and especially his attorney Andy Taylor. While I think he’s touched on all the important issues in this unprecedented power grab, I disagree with his choice of rhetoric. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In the comments to this post, Kevin says: I thought all those crossover voters were going to be the end of Tom DeLay in his race against Richard Morrison, whom many people here called “credible.” Oh, wait, yeah, that didn’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Express News gives a preview of the 79th Lege and the election challenges it must resolve before it can get down to business. They focus on Tom Craddick and his professed desire to get past the partisan rancor that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Former Texas State Democratic Party Chair Molly Beth Malcolm is contemplating a run for DNC Chair. Malcolm is the first woman to consider the job to succeed Terry McAuliffe, who plans to step down next year. Nearly 450 DNC members … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Nice article on Lupe Valdez, the new Sheriff of Dallas County. I sure look forward to the day when the Harris County GOP chair has to look for a reason why his candidate just lost a race like that. I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron has a little bit more on the House panel which will decide the three electoral challenges. There’s more on panel vice-chair Craig Eiland here. Steve Wasserman of KPRC joins the list of anti-Heflin editorialists. The Austin Chronicle summarizes … Continue reading → Continue reading →

House Speaker Tom Craddick has named the panel to investigate and rule on the three House challenges. Republican Terry Keel of Austin is the chair, while Democrat Craig Eiland of Galveston is the vice chair. Will Hartnett (R, Dallas) is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, the special master for the Senate challenge against Sen. Mario Gallegos, has recommended dismissal for the challenge based on his reading of state law. [Wentworth] based his recommendation on the qualifications for a state senator described in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Reader Eric G points me to this Mystery Pollster post which notes that the Associated Press exit poll for texas, which had originally claimed that 59% of Texas Hispanics had voted for George Bush, has been revised. In the Nov. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Hubert Vo is ready to serve, while Andy Taylor keeps flapping his gums. “Andy Taylor and Talmadge Heflin are the last two people who just won’t take Vo for an answer,” said Kelly Fero, a Democratic strategist and unpaid adviser … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From 32 votes to 33. The recount, which began Tuesday, gave Vo a winning margin of 33 votes out of of more than 40,000 cast. The additional vote came from a mail-in ballot not credited to Vo in previous counts, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So what happened while I was out of town? There are now three contested House races. They have been filed by state Rep. Talmadge Heflin, R-Houston, state Rep. Jack Stick, R-Austin, and attorney Eric Opiela, R-Karnes City, who ran for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The editorial reviews on Talmadge Heflin’s House challenge to overturn his electoral loss to Hubert Vo are coming in, and it’s as you’d expect. The Statesman says “Heflin is asking his House colleagues to give him the seat he didn’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Meet Al Hartman, the man behind City Proposition 2. “I’m doing this because it’s right versus wrong,” says Hartman, 52, an attentive, mild-mannered real estate developer who proclaims he has been “on fire for the Lord” since becoming a born-again, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You know, I try not to curse or swear on this site, but I’m having a hard time controlling myself. State Rep. Talmadge Heflin will ask the state House of Representatives today to overturn the results of his failed re-election … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In the comments here, Kevin asks: If the e-slate totals change significantly, maybe even enough to justify a new election under House procedures, would it be worth it to you because it would drive home the need for a transparent … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Talmadge Heflin has asked for a manual recount of the votes in his electoral loss to Hubert Vo. State Rep. Talmadge Heflin has asked the state to order a manual recount of all ballots cast earlier this month in Heflin’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sen. Jeff Wentworth will serve as the master of discovery for the challenge to Sen. Mario Gallegos’ election. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst appointed the San Antonio Republican to supervise discovery proceedings and to take depositions and gather evidence on whether … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What Greg heard yesterday is now being reported: Talmadge Heflin is no longer the chair of the House Appropriations Committee. House Speaker Tom Craddick on Friday appointed state Rep. Jim Pitts to replace Talmadge Heflin as chairman of the budget-writing … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Texas Secretary of State has officially certified Hubert Vo as the winner in the HD149 race over Talmadge Heflin. Democrat Hubert Vo officially defeated veteran Republican state Rep. Talmadge Heflin by 32 votes in the closely watched House District … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Oddly buried in the This Week community section of today’s Chron is this article on Hispanic voting patterns from the 2004 election. This bit in particular piqued my interest: Nationally, Latinos cast 8 percent — a little more than 9 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Still no new news in the Heflin-Vo saga. While we’re waiting, the Star-Telegram weighs in with another don’t-challenge editorial. Heflin could justifiably request a recount and hope that Vo’s scant margin of victory will disappear. If it doesn’t, he then … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Greg makes a pretty good case (here and here) that turnout was as good as you could reasonably expect in the uncontested Democratic districts, thus rebutting HCDP Chair Gerry Birnbirg’s assertion that this was our primary failure in 2004. That’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Continuing the 2004 postmortem, looking at the turnout-versus-message argument (see here, here, and here)… I had a chance to hear Gerry Birnbirg’s analysis of the 2004 election, and how Democrats did in Harris County. He downplayed the importance of message … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Talmadge Heflin may yet challenge his electoral loss to Hubert Vo, but in the meantime, he’s been evicted from his office in the Capitol. Some people in Austin already are waiting to move in, with a senior legislator claiming Heflin’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This week is the deadline for Talmadge Heflin to take some kind of action in his electoral loss to Hubert Vo. I’ve seen different dates cited – the 17th and the 20th, to name two – but one way or … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Colorado Luis takes a look at the numbers which show an improvement by President Bush in Hispanic voting preference, and asks why it is that Hispanics in Colorado went so much more heavily for John Kerry. He also links to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Like Greg, I’ll be spending some time this weekend checking out the Harris County canvass report to see what I can learn. One quick point of interest for me is in Precincts 003 and 004, which cover my neighborhood. 2004 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Greg has a long open letter to Harris County Democratic Party Chair Gerry Birnbirg regarding the importance of having a good message to bring to voters in every election. I strongly encourage everyone to read what he says and think … Continue reading → Continue reading →