Recent developments:1. Thursday: Pitts announces for speaker. Timing is everything in politics, and Pitts waited too long to make his move. The moment to act was immediately after the November elections, when the Republicans lost six seats on Craddick’s watch. Pitts didn’t have to file right away, but he needed
No surprise that Cathie Adams, the head of the conservative Eagle Forum, is for Craddick, but she raises an interesting point about the speakers race in a comment she posted on Dallas Blog. The first part of her letter deals with Jim Pitts’ announcement for speaker; it’s the final
Posting on dallasblog.com, Scott Bennett gives his version of the history of Tom Craddick’s rise to power. One key passage involves the role of big donors: “But the real force behind the Craddick candidacy wasn’t popularity with his fellow House members but the support of the man who may
Based on the list of pledges in the Quorum Report, here are the members who were on Tom Craddick’s list of 109 pledges as of November 8 but not on his list of 83 pledges as of December 28:Republicans (13 defectors)Charlie GerenPat HaggertyBryan HughesDelwin JonesEdmund KuempelThomas LathamJodie LaubenbergBrian McCallKen PaxtonJim
Jim Pitts announced for Speaker at his 4 p.m. press conference. Apparently the audio was not working, so anyone viewing the proceedings couldn’t hear anything. You don’t suppose the Speaker’s gremlins had anything to do with this, do you? Following his remarks, Pitts was asked why he decided to run.
Of Craddick’s 84 pledges, McCall’s camp says 16 are pledged to their candidate.
What a wild day this has turned out to be–an historic day. The entry of Jim Pitts into the speakers’ race has everybody guessing what he’s up to.Question: Has he entered the race on his own behalf? Or is he a stalking horse for McCall? Or evenCraddick?Answer: I am told
I have not posted anything on the speaker’s race since I broke the news on Saturday that McCall had filed to enter the race because I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t think anyone else did either. I’m not going to buy into posturing. That said, I
In response to my previous posting, “More (or Less) on the Speaker’s Race,” I received an e-mail saying that Brian McCall had filed the requisite statement of intention to run for speaker. At about the same time, a House member e-mailed TEXAS MONTHLY editor Evan Smith saying the same thing.
After a day of making calls, I think the speaker’s race is no different than it has been for months, which is a one-person competition (Senfronia Thompson’s announced candidacy notwithstanding) until a Republican wannabe steps forward. Or, as a Republican member told me yesterday (Friday), “It’s a fishing tournament. There’s
From a Craddick supporter: Yes, Talton is making calls. No, he doesn’t have any support. Mikhail Watts wants Talton to be chair of Civil Practices. This is all a play for Talton to get the chairmanship.Hmm…all I can say is that this is a pretty dumb way to get to
I have gotten two calls today to this effect: Robert Talton has a group of conservatives who are ready to abandon Tom Craddick for Brian McCall. There are various versions of this: (a) Talton really wants to be the speaker. (b) No, it’s McCall all the way. (c) The insurgents
Proselytizers for the New Media, of whom I am not one, say that the Internet is superior to the mainstream media in disseminating information to the public. I have always been skeptical about this claim (except when I am doing the disseminating), but I have seen it come to life
I’m not in the habit of tooting our own [TEXAS MONTHLY] horn, so I hope readers will tolerate this exception, because it deals with a subject I have been writing about frequently: the debate among Republicans about why they lost the election. This is the main subject of Evan Smith’s
The likelihood that the George W. Bush presidential library will be located at SMU has not been welcome news for at least one segment of the university community. A letter, dated December 16, from “Faculty, Administrators, & Staff” of the Perkins School of Theology to R. Gerald Turner, president of
The Evans-Novak political report says Henry Bonilla “was at fault in many ways” for his crushing defeat in the 23rd congressional district. The list of misfeasances and my comments:* “He did not spend enough money to get himself over the 50 percent mark on Election Day [Bonilla
Thanks to my intern, Will Krueger, for finding this observation by the National Journal’s Charles Mahtesian, who is the editor of the Almanac of American Politics:“Take a look at these remarkable numbers in Maverick County. Bonilla won it with 59% in 2004, even as Kerry was carrying the county; Bonilla
Final Total:Rodriguez 38,247Bonilla 32,165The last 8 boxes from Medina County gave Bonilla whopping 3174-1511 edge in the district’s second-heaviest-voting county, but Rodriguez still coasted to a 6,082-vote victory.This seat should be a permanent Democratic pickup. Assuming that the Ds can hold the seat in 2008, the seat should be protected
10:38 p.m.All 92 boxes in Bexar County have reported, and Rodriguez has extended his lead to 6,340 votes. Only 8 Medina County boxes are outstanding.Jan Jarboe Russell e-mailed her assessment of the race from San Antonio: “I think MALDEF helped out too by getting early voting extended for two Saturdays.
10:03 p.m. Still five boxes out in Bexar, 8 in Media, all others in.
Late returns (9:37 p.m.)All of Val Verde County is in: Bonilla 1942, Rodriguez 187316 of 24 boxes in Medina County are in: Bonilla 2551, Rodriguez 1146All of El Paso County is in (just 8 boxes in the district): Rodriguez 422, Bonilla 226And, what we have all been waiting for, those
9:31 p.m.All fifteen boxes in Uvalde County are now in. Bonilla won the county, 1867 to 1220. Rodriguez’s lead is down to 6,082. Still five boxes out in Bexar, plus all but the early vote in Medina, Val Verde, and El Paso: 40 boxes out of 267.
9:14 p.m.Rodriguez 34,456Bonilla 27,285Here are the outstanding boxes:14 of 15 in Uvalde County (Early vote: Bonilla 754, Rodriguez 437)17 of 18 in Val Verde County (Early vote: Bonilla 993, Rodriguez 901)23 of 24 in Medina County (Early vote: Bonilla 1080, Rodriguez 434)8 of 8 in El Paso County (Early vote:
9:08 p.m.Stick a fork in Bonilla. In Bexar County, 87 of 92 boxes have reported. So much for a late surge from the North Side.
In what has to be regarded as (1) a monumental upset and (2) a huge defeat for President Bush in the heart of Texas, Democrat Ciro Rodriguez is on his way to defeating Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla in the 23rd congressional district.The 8:50 p.m. totals:Rodriguez – 30,408 (56.84%)Bonilla – 23,089
Henry Bonilla’s lead over Ciro Rodriguez in the race for the 23rd congressional district has narrowed to four points on the eve of today’s election, according to a new Survey USA poll. On November 7, Bonilla fell just short of winning without a runoff, while Rodriguez led the also-rans with
I want to call readers’ attention to a comment that I overlooked to “Bush at the Bottom,” posted on December 2, about historian Eric Foner’s evaluation in the Washington Post of George W. Bush’s place in history. Foner said Bush was the worst president ever. I went on to write
A job approval rating of 30% for President Bush is the lowest he has ever recorded in the Zogby poll, the previous benchmark having been 31% in early June. Shortly before the midterm elections, he stood at 36%.Zogby is an outlier among December polls:Newsweek 32%CNN 37%Fox/Opinion Dynamics 38%AP/Ipsos 33%Rasmussen,
The 150th and final seat in the Texas House of Representatives, left vacant by the death of Glenda Dawson, will be decided by a special election, and probably a runoff as well. The field includes three Republicans and a Democrat. I have posted previously on this race (See “The Last
With a week to go before the runoff election for congressional district 23 between Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla and Democratic challenger Ciro Rodriguez, a SurveyUSA poll shows Bonilla leading by 53% to 46%. The sample of 471 likely voters has a margin of error of +/- 4.6%.SurveyUSA uses professional
The confirmation hearings for Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense opened today, and one of the memorable exchanges occurred during questioning by Ted Kennedy. After Kennedy spoke of soldiers from Massachusetts who had given their lives in Iraq, Gates answered:GATES: Senator Kennedy, 12 graduates of Texas A&M have been
Few things are duller than a committee meeting in the interim between legislative sessions. Witnesses drone on about policy choices involving arcane issues. Some of the committees exist only for a short duration and will vanish once the legislative session begins in January. The media almost never shows up for
The Washington Post will feature a story tomorrow, December 3, by Columbia University historian Eric Foner in which the author attempts to make the case that George W. Bush is the worst president ever. Foner is the author of Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution: 1863–1877, winner of the Bancroft Prize
The young, tattooed men who are members of the Southwest Cholos, La Primera, La Tercera Crips, Somos Pocos Pero Locos, Mara Salvatrucha, and other Houston gangs are vicious career criminals who regularly rob innocent people in some of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods. They steal cars and break into businesses.
Organized by decade (1944—2000), this retro-styled cookbook created by the people at Texas Co-op Power magazine celebrates the combination of food and electricity. A preface written by Sandy Cohen, the curator of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, explains that by the mid-forties, electricity had finally reached most homes
Friends, admirers, and Texas musicians such as Augie Meyers and Ray Benson say good-bye to music legend and San Benito’s favorite son, Freddy Fender, who died October 14, 2006.
Senior editor John Spong on spending time with comedian Ron White.
Writer-at-large Jan Reid on interviewing neurosurgeon Sam Hassenbusch, who was diagnosed with the same kind of cancer he had been treating for years.
Senior editor Karen Olsson talks about horse slaughter—watching the deed, talking to advocates, and writing about the contentious issue.
Senior editor Patricia Sharpe on eating and ranking tacos.
I HAVE TO PROTEST your exclusion of what I consider one of the most magnificently beautiful areas of Texas from your “Take a Hike” article: the Panhandle [October 2006]. My father grew up in Vega, the county seat of Oldham County, 35 miles west of Amarillo. Anyone but a
A ranking of 574 elementary, middle, and high schools that really make the grade.
If simplicity can be the hallmark of genius, BILL WITTLIFF earns a gold seal for the sepia-toned photos in La Vida Brinca (“Life Jumps”). The Austinite, who is probably better known as the screenwriter of Lonesome Dove and The Perfect Storm than as a photographer, has turned a decade-long fascination
The Democrats and the Speaker.
How a Rockette gets her kicks.
“What does it say about us as humans beings when we listen to leaders who lie to us and, as a result, thousands of people are killed?”
West Nineteenth, Houston.
How the booming Dallas suburb became the new Peoria, sort of.
The unsweetened truth about diabetes.
A calf is born.
