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As the Republican faithful waited in anticipation to hear vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin speak Wednesday night, a local Austin man was watching his cousin take her next step as a politician, and he hopes, vice president. "If the media is not careful, they may just awaken the sleeping giant known as Republican women," said U.S. Senator John Cornyn... Palin has four cousins who live in Austin and another in San Antonio.

CRAWFORD — Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's long-shot prospect for vice president is getting a push from conservative and other pundits in the lead-up to next week's Republican National Convention. The latest flurry of speculation online and on cable television constitutes at least a third or fourth wave of chatter about Hutchison, whose name surfaces occasionally as a possible Republican vice-presidential candidate...

The selection of Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate changes the whole dynamic of the Veep choice now facing John McCain. Sure, Biden brings credibility and experience and reassuring familiarity to the Democratic ticket, but he hardly adds sizzle or novelty. The Democrats feel that they’ve got enough pizzaz with their standard bearer, so it doesn’t hurt that they take a Vice Presidential contender with all the excitement of boiled Brussels sprouts. I hope that this choice now gives John McCain reason to reconsider the safe, reassuring possibilities of Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty—apparently, the two leading contenders for...

In an interview with Todd Gillman, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco says the antics of a similarly named, slick-talking, lying philanderer probably helped sink his chances of becoming Barack Obama's running mate. The other guy went on television to confess his pecadillos -- guaranteeing his status as a national laughingstock -- just about the time the Obama campaign was considering floating Chet Edwards' name.

From the Houston Chronicle: The wife of Republican Rep. Ron Paul was in serious but stable condition Monday at a Houston hospital, a spokesman for the congressman said.Carol Paul was in the critical care unit at an unidentified hospital, spokesman Jesse Benton said in a statement. There is more to life than politics, folks. Mrs. Paul is one of the most gracious people I’ve ever met. Please keep her and Ron in your prayers.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain holds a 9 percent lead in Texas over Democratic contender Sen. Barak Obama, according to the latest Rasmussen poll. The results were determined by a telephone survey of 500 likely voters conducted on July 30, according to Rasmussen Reports. Fifty percent of those polled said they would vote for McCain, while 41 percent responded that they would vote for Obama. Of the remaining respondents, 6 percent said they were unsure and 2 percent chose "other." The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, according to Rasmussen.

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is behind on a dark horse in the Democratic veepstakes: Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas. "I hope he will be the nominee," Pelosi said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." Edwards, first elected in 1990 and now in his ninth term, represents Texas' 17th District, which includes Waco, College Station, Fort Hood and the small town of Crawford, where President Bush has a ranch. . . .

The United States Senate race in Texas continues to get tighter this month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Lone Star State finds Republican Incumbent John Cornyn leading Democratic State Legislator Rick Noriega 47% to 37%. When “leaners” are included, Cornyn leads 50% to 39%. The incumbent senator is viewed favorably by 55% of voters and unfavorably by 31%. Noriega’s numbers are 45% favorable and 33% unfavorable.

Tom Abrahams has a great post up over at his blog at TheVote.abc13.com. He’s found some interesting tidbits in the campaign finance data pertaining to Texas, as well as noting that John McCain has only about one-third of the cash on hand that Barack Obama has.Regarding Houston, he found this: The 770– zip codes in Houston are the most generous in the state for both candidates. McCain has pulled in $1,650,521 million. Obama’s received a little more than $2 million.What’s even more amazing about those numbers is that the 770 zip codes have given more to all presidential candidates ($9,315,056)...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Howard Dean, Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, and former White House security adviser Richard Clarke are among the keynote speakers at the Yearly Kos convention in Autin, Texas now called the Netroots Nation event. The event will include training in how to recruit volunteers, looking and sounding good on TV and getting media exposure. A convention of conservative bloggers called RightOnline will feature nationally known blogger Michelle Malkin and columnist Robert Novak as headline speakers will be across town Friday & Saturday.

President Bush is scheduled to stop in Houston to help raise money for Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson's opponent and the Republican Party's statewide campaign for the Nov. 4 election. Bush will be the featured guest at a July 18 fundraising luncheon at the River Oaks home of former energy pipeline executive Dan Tutcher, according to an invitation sent to potential donors.

Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, the minister who presided over the recent marriage of President Bush’s daughter Jenna, has launched a pro-Barack Obama Web site sharply critical of conservative stalwart James Dobson. Caldwell, leader of the largest Methodist congregation in the country, launched his “James Dobson Does Not Speak For Me” site a day after Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio program aired a statement charging that Obama distorted the Bible to fit “his own confused theology.” The site urges readers to sign a statement declaring that Dobson does not represent them. The statement reads in part: “James Dobson doesn't speak for...

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's campaign will send money and staffers to Texas and other heavily Republican states to help elect Democrats in congressional and local races, officials said Wednesday.

Contact: Press Office, 703-650-5550; www.JohnMcCain.com ARLINGTON, Va., June 17 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery in Houston, TX, today at 4:00 p.m. CDT (5:00 p.m. EDT): Thank you all very much. Governor Perry, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, and other distinguished guests, I appreciate your joining us today. And thank you all for the warm welcome to Houston. Among its other distinctions, this great city is known as the oil capital of America. But people in Houston and all of Texas understand as well as anyone that the high price of oil...

For religious conservatives at the Texas Republican Convention, even the song list at Friday's prayer rally suggested dark days ahead for the GOP. "We're going to support McCain," he said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. "He may not have been all of our first choice, but he is our choice." "I'm going to support McCain and try to help people see the reality of the total picture and how dangerous Barack Obama is," said state Sen. Dan Patrick, a conservative talk-radio host with a strong evangelical following. "There is no other choice."

Star-Telegram staff writer John McCain is ignoring 7,000 Texas Republicans this weekend. Some of them are returning the favor. Instead of speaking to the state party convention this weekend, McCain will come to Texas on Monday to raise money at a Dallas barbecue. "Where is he?" asked Sara Fischer, 31, of Mansfield, brushing past a volunteer futilely trying to pass out McCain lapel stickers. "I didn't support McCain," she said. "But I have to now. He's our candidate. It seems like he should be here." Inside the exhibit hall, the McCain T-shirts at one souvenir stand were marked down from...

United States Senator John Cornyn has opened a seventeen percentage point lead in his bid for re-election. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state find Cornyn leading Democratic state legislator Rick Noriega 52% to 35%. That’s a significant improvement for the incumbent from a month ago when his lead dwindled to four percentage points. Cornyn is supported by 86% of Republicans and has a two-to-one edge among unaffiliated voters. Last month, his lead among the unaffiliateds was just four percentage points. Noreiga attracts 72% of Democrats, down from 81% a month ago. The Democrat leads among voters under...

According to the video below, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey has said that “many Republicans will vote for Libertarian candidates in House races.” The Washington Times is reporting that former House Whip Tom DeLay’s wife plans to pull the Bob Barr lever on Election Day: Tom DeLay will vote for John McCain but the former House Republican leader said his wife, Christine, is planning to vote for Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr. “I’m trying to convince my wife not to do that,” the Texas Republican told editors and reporters at The Washington Times on Friday. “She said it publicly...

Republican activists' Houston case warned state leaders will try to shut out grass-roots opposition at meeting next week A Harris County judge on Wednesday ordered the Texas Republican Party to comply with state election law at its state convention in Houston next week after Republican activists alleged that the party illegally uses procedures to minimize grass-root dissent. Visiting Judge Tom Sullivan issued the temporary restraining order on Wednesday, a few hours after it was requested in a lawsuit filed by activists across the state. Represented by lawyer Gary Polland, a former Harris County Republican Party chairman, the group alleges that...

Tim O'Hare wins Farmers Branch mayor's race, but hardline anti-immigration candidates fail in other cities11:44 PM CDT on Saturday, May 10, 2008By By BRANDON FORMBY and IAN McCANN / The Dallas Morning Newsbformby@dallasnews.com; imccann@dallasnews.com Tim O'Hare, who made a name leading Farmers Branch's efforts to drive out illegal immigrants, was elected mayor of the Dallas County suburb Saturday. Meanwhile, incumbent mayors and city council members beat challengers who wanted more immigration enforcement in Irving – where campaigns were highly heated and often personal. Carrollton Mayor Becky Miller, beset by questions about her past, lost in an Election Day onslaught by...

Some voters were complaining in Texas that Sen. Barack Obama was saturating the airwaves with commercials. Even supporters grumbled they couldn't click through the channels each night without seeing a flood of his ads. American Research Group poll gives Clinton a whopping 20-point lead over Obama in Pennsylvania in part because of his many ads. Notable in the poll summary is this tidbit: 23% of likely primary voters say that excessive exposure to Obama's advertising is causing them to support Clinton. This compares to 19% of likely primary voters in Ohio who said that excessive exposure to Obama's advertising in...

For those of you in the Baylor University area, tonight is your chance to ask Juan Hernandez about his radical, open-borders agenda and his role in the McCain campaign. The event is free and open to the public. Bring your video camera: Dr. Juan Hernandez, author of The New American Pioneers, will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday in Kayser Auditorium on Mexican immigration. His lecture will be based on his notes, “Why are We Afraid of Mexican Immigrants?”Hernandez, a member of former Mexican President Vicente Fox’s cabinet, will be the final speaker for The Academy for Leader Development and Civic...

AUSTIN — Barack Obama would have the coattails to carry down-ballot Texas Democrats to victory in November and could be crucial to Democratic efforts to take Harris County away from Republicans, Obama's state congressional supporters say. And two of them — U.S. Reps. Chet Edwards of Waco and Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas — said Hillary Rodham Clinton would inspire an increased Republican voter turnout this fall. "In some ways, Hillary Clinton would unify Republicans in a way that John McCain cannot," said Edwards, referring to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, often...

Paul backers won control of GOP confabs in Austin, Victoria. Want a fresh political surprise? How about supporters of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul for president staking a lasting claim in the Republican Party of Texas? As Democrats tussled over their presidential candidates at recent regional conventions, Paul backers unexpectedly took control of a GOP convention in Austin and the Victoria County convention. The results at Travis County's state Senate District 25 convention left old-guard Republicans wondering who lost the party's car keys — and worse. Gail Suttle, active in GOP circles since the 1980s, watched the takeover in horror. Suttle...

Down here in Galveston County, the Ron Paul bots tried to hijack the convention using subterfuge and tactical advantage of surprise, that would have made al Queda proud (high-placed sleeper, multiple coordinated attacks with a goal of causing a larger scale effect at the State convention and later at the National convention. Unfortunately for them it was discovered and thwarted for the most part by perceptive Republicans that took action and alerted others to help block their efforts. But it did make for a long and chaotic mess. Like jihadists, they took advantage of a weak Party leadership in transition...

CORPUS CHRISTI — Nueces County Republican Chairman Mike Bertuzzi survived a potential convention takeover. At the group's county convention Saturday, a man began causing a scene while committees were making reports. Republican county conventions nominate delegates for the state convention based upon the ratio decided in the March 4 primaries. "We were able to stop that and take care of business," Bertuzzi said. "I don't know what their purpose was. They claim they were Ron Paul supporters. I can't imagine Ron Paul would put people up to this." Paul, a U.S. representative from Texas and presidential candidate, is far behind...

Less than a month ago, Texas Democrats turned out in huge numbers for the presidential nominating contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, confident that, no matter who won, the party would have a popular, well-financed candidate. But that exuberance is gone now. Across the state this weekend, tense confrontations -- even shoving matches -- erupted as partisans for Clinton and Obama battled over how to interpret the March 4 election results and how to choose delegates to the Texas Democratic convention. At one particularly raucous session Saturday at Texas Southern University, a leading Clinton backer, U.S. Rep. Sheila...

Packed delegates at times 'a nightmare' for Dallas County districts Barack Obama cruised to victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton in Dallas County's Senate district conventions Saturday, as Texas Democrats continued their arduous and sometimes frustrating process of choosing national convention delegates. Mr. Obama had double-digit leads in all five of the county's Senate districts, mirroring his electoral power here in the March 4 primary. Statewide, the picture was less certain, though Mr. Obama started the day with a caucusing advantage because he won the first round, precinct conventions held the night of the primary. That may mean he can win...

AUSTIN - Spurned by the Texas Democratic Party in its effort to stall this weekend's county conventions, Hillary Clinton's campaign said Wednesday it is mobilizing caucus supporters and helping those who want to challenge the legitimacy of some Barack Obama delegates. The Clinton campaign itself won't challenge Obama's delegates at the approximately 280 county and state Senate district conventions Saturday, said Clinton state chairman Garry Mauro. "I have always known the grass roots to generate credentials questions," he said. "There's no systematic approach that we're taking to challenge anybody at any level." But the campaign is using a behind-the-scenes strategy....

Here is the apportionment so far of presidential caucus delegates to the Texas Democratic state convention based on reports from Saturday's county and senate district conventions. A total of about 7,300 delegates were expected to be selected in this stage of the caucus process, according to the Texas Democratic Party. Results are from 123 of about 280 conventions. • Clinton: 933, or 50 percent* • Obama: 937, or 50 percent* *Results are not official AUSTIN — Traffic jams, long lines, crowds, confusion and chaos marked Texas Democratic regional conventions Saturday as an unprecedented number of political activists turned out to...

On March 4, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to news reports, won three out of the four state primaries held that day -- Rhode Island, Ohio and Texas. Barack Obama won only Vermont, a victory dismissed as insignificant by much of the media because of its size and small number of delegates. On the other hand, some media, in writing about Clinton's victories in Ohio and Texas, said it reaffirmed her ability to win the big states -- states the Democratic Party must carry in the fall if it is to win the general election. By inference, they...

Texas Democrats can send a message of sanity today Let's end the stupidity, agree to support nominee By DAVID BERG I believe it was Lord Acton who said "stupidity corrupts" and "absolute stupidity corrupts absolutely." Or maybe it was his brother, "Bubba" Acton, who ran the family plumbing supply business. In any event, this essay isn't about the Actons. It's about the Democrats, of which I am one. We are acting about as absolutely stupid as it gets — fighting each other, right down to the precinct level, rather than uniting to defeat John McCain this fall — and doing...

The Texas Democratic Party on Friday urged delegates to today's senatorial district and county conventions to ignore e-mails and robotic phone calls telling them that the conventions have either been canceled or had their times changed. The conventions are a crucial turning point in Texas as the presidential campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama fight for 67 nominating convention delegates who will be chosen through the Texas caucus process. While Obama appeared to come out of the caucuses with a 37-30 lead, the number can change based on how many supporters for each candidate show up for today's...

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, a superdelegate, is among those to receive campaign contributions from at least one of the current presidential candidates. Records show that Edwards, whose District 17 stretches from suburbs south of Fort Worth to east of College Station, received $7,500 from Barack Obama in the 2006 or 2008 election cycles or both, according to an analysis by the Capital Eye Web site. Edwards, who could not be reached for comment Friday, has endorsed Obama.

Houston, TX- Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman will provide the Harris County District Attorney's office today copies of the Democratic and Republican poll books that show 1147 names of individuals that may have voted illegally or unlawfully participated in both primaries in the March 4th Elections. "Texas law prohibits individuals from voting twice in an election, as well participating in both the Republican and Democratic primaries during the same election cycle. In most elections, there are less than a handful of such cases. In this election, there appears to be a significant number that may call for further investigation," said...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Barack Obama's speech last week, hastily prepared to extinguish the firestorm over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, won critical praise for style and substance but failed politically. By elevating the question of race in America, the front-running Democratic presidential candidate has deepened the dilemma created by his campaign's success against the party establishment's anointed choice, Hillary Clinton. In rejecting the racist views of his longtime spiritual mentor but not disowning him, Obama has unwittingly enhanced his image as the African-American candidate -- not just a remarkable candidate who happens to be black. That poses a racial dilemma for...

Some 50 delegates were reportedly poised to unite behind Barack Obama if he had won by even 1 point in Texas. He lost the popular vote by 100,000 ballots, and now we learn that 100,000 Republicans voted for Hillary Clinton, probably not because of some change in party allegiance but because they thought she would be the easier candidate to beat. This kind of strategic voting often backfires (think Ralph Nader). The Texas crossovers are winners. By helping to prolong the Democratic race, they can claim credit for weakening the eventual nominee, whoever it turns out to be. Obama has...

Now that the specter of a Barack Obama presidency seems like a fleeting nightmare, it's time to reconsider the wisdom of Republican crossover voting for Hillary Rodham Clinton in Texas. As you may recall, Clinton was on the ropes at the time. She needed a big win in Texas just to stay in the race. She got it – with a little help from her enemies. I am absolutely persuaded the size of her victories in Texas and Ohio were swelled by national conservative talk-radio hosts who urged listeners to cast ballots for Hillary. The idea was to keep Clinton's...

The Obama camp hotly disputed a claim this week by Galveston County Democratic Chairman Lloyd Criss that on election night, Obama supporters took caucus sign-in sheets to their campaign headquarters and added names to them. Criss, a Clinton supporter, made the claim earlier this week. But he said that since it didn’t change how many delegates the candidates got, he wasn’t that concerned about it. But Aaron Schiller, who ran the Obama campaign in Galveston, insisted it didn’t happen. “He was taking a free shot at us,” Schiller said. On Friday, Criss said he wasn’t sure that Obama supporters took...

For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show. A sudden change of heart? Hardly. Since Senator John McCain effectively sewed up the GOP nomination last month, Republicans have begun participating in Democratic primaries specifically to vote for Clinton, a tactic that some voters and local Republican activists think will help their party in November. With every delegate important in the tight Democratic race, this trend...

The Obama camp hotly disputed a claim this week by Galveston County Democratic Chairman Lloyd Criss that on election night, Obama supporters took caucus sign-in sheets to their campaign headquarters and added names to them. Criss, a Clinton supporter, made the claim earlier this week. But he said that since it didn’t change how many delegates the candidates got, he wasn’t that concerned about it. But Aaron Schiller, who ran the Obama campaign in Galveston, insisted it didn’t happen. “He was taking a free shot at us,” Schiller said. On Friday, Criss said he wasn’t sure that Obama supporters took...

CNN) — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has won the Texas Democratic caucuses and will get more delegates out of the state than his rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who won the state's primary, according to CNN estimates. Under the Texas Democratic Party's complex delegate selection plan, Texas voters participated in both a primary and caucuses on March 4. Two-thirds of the state's 193 delegates were at stake at the primary, while the remaining third were decided by the caucuses. An additional 35 superdelegates were not tied to either contest. Clinton, of New York, defeated Obama in the primary by a 51-47...

The Texas Dems have given up counting the caucus votes. But, never fear, the Dems assure everyone that their votes did count.

Greetings from ground zero -- the Philadelphia suburbs where the epic battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may be decided in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary on April 22. Current scuttlebutt -- a frail reed in this mercurial race -- is that the multiracial metropolises of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia will go for Obama, while the vast rural and small-town heartland will endorse Clinton, whose family roots are in coal-country Scranton. The cloud of feminist cant about Hillary's struggling candidacy has been noxious. "Media misogyny has reached an all-time high," screeched the National Organization for Women in a press release titled "Ignorance...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here is Bud in Burlington, Indiana. Bud, thanks for waiting, and welcome. CALLER: ... Indiana. Anyway Rush -- RUSH: Wait, what did I say? CALLER: I don't... I couldn't understand, but it was actually communist Bloomington Indiana. So... (silence) Are you still there? RUSH: Yeah, I'm here. CALLER: Anyway, I'd like to really quickly thank you for two things. First off, unlike the so-called moderates who called in yesterday complaining about your recommendation for Republicans voting in Democrat primaries -- RUSH: Yes? CALLER: -- I want to thank you, because I don't know if you're aware of...

In the aftermath of the Texas and Ohio primaries, black voters are awakening to stark realities: Democrats, as demonstrated by Hillary and Bill Clinton, are exceptionally skilled at playing the race card — against their own. First, there is the rude awakening that the Clintons would turn their slash-and-burn tactics on African Americans. Second, that the Democratic Party would retreat to the sidelines as the Clintons trashed black voters and their values — as they did in South Carolina, Texas and Ohio. Third, that Clinton surrogates, including U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston and Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland,...

Sen. John McCain Washington DC, Mar 9, 2008 / 02:01 am (CNA).- Exit polls from the Republican primaries in Texas and Ohio illustrate that evangelicals voted overwhelmingly for Mike Huckabee, though McCain was already dubbed the “presumptive nominee”, reports Cybercast News Service.  Analysts predict that McCain will have to win the support of evangelicals to win the presidency in November.MSNBC’s exit polls showed that in Texas, 60% of those who attend church more than once a week voted for Huckabee while only 33% supported McCain.  Ohio demonstrated a similar trend with 54% of church attendees choosing Huckabee and 45%...

Bubba in Dittoland: Clinton Does Limbaugh By Tommy Christopher Mar 10th 2008 1:30PM Filed Under:eHillary Clinton, Democrats, Featured Stories, 2008 President, Media The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan points out that, on the day of the Texas Primary, former President Bill Clinton was a guest on Rush Limbaugh's radio show. You may have missed it - almost everyone missed it - but Bill Clinton was on Rush Limbaugh's show the day of the Texas primary. You can hear the radio here. Limbaugh himself was sick that day, apparently, but he had already urged Republicans to cross over to keep Hillary Clinton in...

Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton’s efforts to reunite the Democratic Party — and get the votes of some independent voters — could become tougher than ever with news that former President Bill Clinton appeared on conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s show…on the day of the Texas primary. If the story catches on, it will likely strike a decidedly sour note with many Democrats — and adds to the increasing instances in this campaign that anything will be done to get votes. Why? Because Limbaugh is considered the quintessential demonizer of Democrats by Democrats and this means the former President was...

McALLEN - A student forum Saturday with vice presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez began calmly enough. But the discussion at South Texas College became heated when an attendee asked if Gonzalez's campaign with Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader was a spoiler in Democrats' efforts to retake the White House. Gonzalez, a San Francisco area lawyer and activist, defended his campaign's right to give the nation's voters another option in a heated contest, adding that the mainstream presidential candidates' voting records prove none of them represents the force of change to which they lay claim. "Don't vote for us if you don't...