Yes and no. If, for example, Perry had a good reason to take out Smith as Smith did to take out X-Rod, then he would have been justified. Perry had absolutely no good reason beyond his own petty vindictiveness.
It's not his fault that Bill had the same last name as Paul.
The problem is that the governor should have known that would be a likely unintended consequence. If he did not anticipate it then he is politically stupid, which gives all the more reason to question the petty vindictiveness of his crusade against Smith.
The Smith-Green race is more proof, in my opinion, that Anglos do better than Hispanics in GOP primaries.
I don't believe that to be the case at all. If, for example, Green had not recieved the support of several statewide mailouts by Perry himself and an entire weekend of Perry autodialing I believe it is doubtful that he would have won and doubtful that the homosexual democrat Green would have won as well. You also have the case of the 14th Court of Appeals where hispanic Eva Guzman clobbered anglo challenger Lloyd Oliver in a landslide.
Anyone know what happened in the Rondon-McCally race, the other Hispanic incumbent that was primaried?
Well, for starters the name Reece Rondon isn't exactly the same as, say, Juan-Carlos Hernandez. The name Reece Rondon gives virtually no hint of his ethnicity either way and, except for those who had seen him in person or had seen a picture of him, I sincerely doubt that most primary voters had any clue as to whether he was anglo or hispanic. His narrow loss is probably best attributed to the fact that, of all the challengers to Perry's appointments in Harris County, McCally was the best funded.
" I am happy with the campaign we ran. But, in the end - the voters decided they wanted someone else to represent the Republican Party in November. I will remain the Judge of the 334th until 12/31/04 unless something unexpected comes up before then.
One of my fellow judges sent me an email on Tue/election day. She said that she hoped things would go well for me on election day. I wrote her back today and told her that I have always said this election was in God's hands. With that in mind, even though I lost, I have to believe that things did go well.
Thanks for all the support and thoughts. But, I don't think the voting public has heard the last of me yet."