Posted on 03/03/2006 6:59:37 PM PST by COEXERJ145
WASHINGTON - President Bush is pushing democracy in Asia this week. But he may be missing it at home. Bush didn't request a mail-in ballot for next Tuesday's GOP primary in Texas. He didn't vote early before heading to Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. And he's not scheduled to return to the U.S. until Sunday, two days after the end of early voting.
That leaves just one option if he wants to perform his civic duty: a quick trip to his home state Tuesday. The polls at the Crawford Fire Station, Precinct 80, will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. First lady Laura Bush would also have to show up in person.
"Just like everyone else," McLennan County election specialist Brandon Buchanan said Thursday. "I did the ballot by mail last November. I thought that was interesting. I guess he has more important things on his plate."
Bush's latest schedule doesn't put him in Texas on Election Day.
There's a hot congressional primary in the president's home district, with Iraq war veteran Van Taylor and former congressional aide Tucker Anderson vying to face Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas. And while Gov. Rick Perry certainly won't need Bush's vote to take the GOP primary, not voting in the primary lets Bush stay directly out of the fight between the governor and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
If Taylor wins the primary; I predict that Chet Edwards will destroy him in the general election. If a balanced, conservative Republican who refused to delve into gutter politics could not defeat Edwards in 2004, than someone like Taylor who is turning off a lot of people doesn’t stand a prayer. Chet Edwards already gets about 20% of the Republican vote in District 17 and it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up getting far more in a Taylor-Edwards match up.
I'm sure we'll hear more about prisoner abuse and Plamegate in the next couple of weeks.
I'm sure the MSM and the Democrats will jump on the bandwagon about this one.
I'm sure GWB is just waiting until the Supreme Court overturns the current Texas congressional map. He'll cast his vote once the new (old?) districts are in place. As much as the Democrats are complaining about the Texas districts, I've yet to hear one explain why their gerrymandered map was inherently better than the current map. Next time you hear one of your Democrat friends complain about the Republican redistricting, "what goes around comes around" is the appropriate response.
We could do a lot worse than Chet Edwards, by the way.
There isn't anyone on the President's political staff who might have thought it would be a good idea to get him an absentee ballot?
Come on. Let's slap on our tinfoil and figure out what is really going on. By not voting in the Republican primary, Bush can sign a petition to put either Kinky or CK-M-R-S on the ballot. Rick Perry needs to watch his back.
Because this critique is so insignificant and full of bias and hate toward President Bush. The President has a very busy schedule and he is running the country in time of war and leading the world. Sometimes he does not have time to go and vote in a primary.
Who wrote this crap? Strayhorn is not running in the Republican primary.
Not voting in a primary (which, BTW, has nothing to do with the elections mandated by the Constitutional, and is just a service that the State has decided to do for the parties), where there are no seriously contested races, is not the same thing as missing a general election, which Bush won't.
That's even if he does miss this one, which he may well not miss.
It sends the wrong signal to Republicans who worked their butts off asking people to vote so he could be re-elected. It sends the wrong signal to occasional voters, too. This president is famous, or infamous, for shrugging off little, "small-ball" things. Someone should tell the man that little things can mean a lot.
Is that between the very conservative D and the very liberal D?
Or is that Delay's district?
Anyhow, I was speakng of statewide offices, I misspoke.
But if it's the conservative D vs. the liberal D, it wouldn't matter because Bush wouldn't vote in the D primary.
its---a---primary.
HUGE difference from a general.
Has NOTHING to do with the elections the Constitution speaks about. Nobody has ever governed because they won a primary. (yes, I know, sometimes the general is uncontested, but even then, they can be beaten by a write in)
It is the Republican primary that has turned into a very nasty contest. Van Taylor has decided to descend into gutter tactics such as "my opponent lives with his parents" which isn't true and taking multiple statements by his opponents and stringing parts of them together to say something totally different.
You're missing the point, which, as usual in politics, is never strict logic. It doesn't look good to a lot of people. And in politics, you don't do things that don't look good unless there is a damned good reason to.
That's a shame, especially seeming as how vulnerable Chet Edwards is to a decent R.
Now on to more important things... off to the fridge to acquire another Sam Adams Light (me thirsty).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.