Category Archives: Election 2002

The first head rolls: Dick Gephardt will not run for minority leader of the House again. (Via Atrios.) Gephardt, 61, has long signaled his interest in running for president in 2004, but it was not clear whether he would address … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Pretty much a GOP sweep here, though the problems in Fort Worth and San Antonio may still swing the Lt. Governor race to John Sharp. The results can be found here. Democrat Chris Bell won the 25th CD, and Henry … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Well, at least I don’t have any on-the-record predictions to eat. I thought the Democrats would retain control of the Senate. All I can say is “ugh”. I suppose the bright side to being the minority party is that it’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From the election returns on the Secretary of State web page: U. S. Representative District 23 Candidate Total Pct Early Pct Henry Bonilla* REP 13,586 29.3% 11,163 26.2% Henry Cuellar DEM 32,426 69.9% 31,053 73.0% Jeffrey Blunt LIB 279 0.6% … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Straight party ballots in Tarrant County (Fort Worth) did not register a vote for any candidate, an apparent programming glitch with their electronic voting machines. No results are expected until Wednesday morning. Fox26 in Houston (which, amazingly, doesn’t seem to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Rob Humenik likes eSlate with a couple of reservations. He also has a boatload of links about turnout and some advice on who to vote for. Larry finds an interesting analogy for voting. He also thinks that the eSlate machines … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As cold and wet and nasty as yesterday was, you couldn’t ask for a nicer day today – bright and sunny, clear blue skies, high around 70, no wind. If people can’t be bothered to vote, it won’t be because … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Alex points out what can happen when a politician doesn’t register his preferred domain name in time. Anyone that slow on the ball in 2002 deserves to lose, and I’m not just saying that because the candidate in question is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is my last post on the election until the results are in. At this point, I’ll be as glad as anyone to see it in my rear-view mirror. The weather should not be a factor in Harris County. That’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I spent another two hours at Tony Sanchez’s Houston headquarters last night calling voters. As before, the people I spoke to were planning on voting or had already voted. No one expressed no interest in the election. No one seemed … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A good article in the Houston Press about the state Democrats’ Dream Team ticket that echoes a couple of themes that you’ve seen here before: Recent media reports seized on the relatively low number of newly registered Texas voters with … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The latest poll from the Chron gives Governor Goodhair a 49-37 lead over Tony Sanchez. John Sharp is shown with a three-point lead over David Dewhurst for Lt. Governor, John Cornyn is leading Ron Kirk 45-39 in the Senate race, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas Secretary of State Gwyn Smith is predicting 40% turnout, or approximately 5 million voters, in this year’s election. That compares to 32.4% and 3.7 million voters in 1998, though it’s nowhere near the level of Presidential elections (6.4 million … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A Scripps Howard poll is showing a sizeable lead for Governor Goodhair over Tony Sanchez, a tie in the Lt. Governor race, and slight leads for the Republicans in the Senate and Attorney General race. I’ll get to all that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I haven’t paid much attention to the Congressional races around here, mostly because I live in Sheila Jackson Lee’s district, which means for me there is no race. Over in the 25th CD, which is an open seat due to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ann Richards is in Austin campaigning for the Democratic ticket. The story contains some interesting tidbits about polls and female voters: In November 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures, 3.3 million men and 3.7 million women voted in Texas. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Alex Whitlock compares the policy statements on Rick Perry and Tony Sanchez’s web pages. Check it out, he’s done some good work. Continue reading →

Apparently, the “poll books”, which list all 1.9 million registered voters in Harris County, are missing those who have moved and not updated their addresses. This is an issue because you’re allowed to vote at your old polling place for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I spent two hours last night at the Houston headquarters for the Tony Sanchez campaign. I’d volunteered to help call supporters to remind them to vote. It was a good night to make phone calls – it was raining and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In response to an ad that attempts to link him to the 1985 murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena, Tony Sanchez has called Governor Goodhair “the most disgusting human being I’ve ever known.” In the ad, one of the DEA … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Tony Sanchez is working to get out the vote as the campaign enters the final week before Election Day. The conventional wisdom continues to be that it’s too little, too late: The pollsters concluded that a victory by either Sanchez … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I voted yesterday, making it to the polling place a few minutes before they were scheduled to shut down at 4:30. There were a few other voters there, including one that I overheard who had not used the eSlate machines … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ron Kirk was in town again, this time at a campaign event designed to drum up Hispanic support. In Houston, several Hispanic leaders turned out for the Kirk event at Don Carlo’s Restaurant near Hobby Airport with the same message: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Republican Congressman Lamar Smith is airing an ad that uses an image of the World Trade Center as it burned following the September 11 terrorist attack. San Antonio ad man Arthur Emerson, whose agency cut the commercial for Smith, defended … Continue reading → Continue reading →

MyDD pays tribute to Paul Wellstone in a fitting fashion by casting his vote today. I join him and many others in saluting a truly principled man who served his country with valor. Rest in peace, Senator. Continue reading →

From TNR’s &c blog comes this story about race baiting in the Michigan governor’s race. TNR notes that the fairly nasty ad run by trailing Republican Dick Posthumus (ed. note: Oh, the juvenile humor potential in a name like “Dick … Continue reading → Continue reading →

CNN says Ron Kirk has the buzz, though they say his campaign is the hare to John Cornyn’s tortoise: At a recent fund-raiser in the affluent Dallas neighborhood of Highland Park, Kirk worked the crowd of mostly wealthy, white Republicans … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This has been such a serious year, I’m glad to see a little low comedy: Calling all cars, please check out disturbance on Texas’ broadcast airwaves. We have a report of state politicians attacking one another using police cruiser dashboard … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Early voter turnout in the state’s 15 largest counties is up 91 percent over 1998, bolstering Democratic hopes in the statewide races. The three biggest increases occurred in urban counties with long histories of Democratic voting — Bexar, Hidalgo and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Josh Chafetz has questioned some of my implicit assumptions in the comments on this Matt Yglesias post. I had expressed my skepticism of the recent DMN poll that gave a 10-point lead to John Cornyn over Ron Kirk and a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If you’d like to do something that has real value and actually can make a difference, may I suggest the volunteer opportunities that Sisyphus Shrugged linked to recently. Progressive action without all that icky intifada stuff! What more could you … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A Dallas Morning News poll taken last week shows a double-digit lead for Rick Perry and John Cornyn. The Lt. Governor race is a dead heat, it says. Make of it what you will. Continue reading →

Attention, Howard Dean fans (and you know who you are): Today’s Chron has a nice profile of your man. He has no national organization, little staff and no real campaign Web site, yet enthusiasts are comparing Dean to former President … Continue reading → Continue reading →