Posted on 03/05/2014 5:36:24 AM PST by Nextrush
With some 99 perecent plus of the vote in, John Cornyn picked up 59 percent of it to avoid a runoff.
Steve Stockman was second with 19 percent, Dwayne Stovall third at 11 percent.
That's a hard result for me to take. With his cloture vote last month to increase the nation's debt ceiling (credit card limit) Cornyn moved the United States closer to its eventual financial ruin.
Some felt the race was a bit rigged with Stockman running a crazy and ineffective challenge. I supported Stockman noting his willingness to not vote for John Boehner as Speaker along with 11 other GOP House members at the beginning of the current session.
Its worth noting that big names like Glenn Beck, Mark Levin and Sarah Palin stayed out of this fight. Perhaps they knew something I didn't about the contest.
Business as usual Republican Congressman Pete Sessions beat Katrina Pierson 64-36 percent, another disappointment.
One bright spot on the ballot was the first place finish for Lieutenant Governor with State Senator Dan Patrick coming in over 41 percent to incumbent David Dewhurst's 28 percent.
Ted Cruz roughed up Dewhurst in the Senate primary two years ago and it looks like Patrick is in a good position to take him out for good in the runoff.
Attorney General Greg Abbott easily won in the first round with 95 percent of the vote to be the Republican candidate for governor.
He will face the famous-infamous Democrat Wendy Davis in the fall.
I think one of the big reasons the GOPe political machine can win elections is their ability to fool grassroots voters like the game Cornyn played last month voting for the higher debt ceiling on the cloture vote then against it on final passage (ala John Kerry on Iraq).
Pro-Life voters have been misled in the big way and Pro-Abortion ones for that matter over the legislation Texas passed last year regarding abortion.
A poster here on FR pointed out and I confirmed it with my own check of the law's actual wording that the media and Pro-Abortion activists "twenty week ban" is symbolic and not firm. The Republicans are fooling Pro-Life voters with a fake 20-week ban in the bill.
The actual wording of Bill 2:
'IN THE UNEXPECTED EVENT THAT THE APPLICATION OF THIS STATUTE IS FOUND TO IMPOSE AN IMPERMISSIBLE UNDUE BURDEN ON ANY PREGNANT WOMAN OR GROUP OF PREGNANT WOMEN, THE APPLICATION OF THE STATUTE TO THOSE WOMEN SHALL BE SEVERED FROM THE REMAINING APPLICATIONS OF THE STATUTE THAT DO NOT IMPOSE AN UNDUE BURDEN'
The legal wording translates to the law not applying to any pregnant woman who is more than 20 weeks pregnant, wants to get an abortion and claims the law imposes an 'undue burden' on her.
I guess the GOP and Democrat political machines prefer to use the drama they generate over this bill to raise money and fool their grassroots supporters for the election.
(DO OTHER 20 WEEK 'ABORTION BAN' BILLS IN OTHER STATES CONTAIN THIS NULLIFYING CLAUSE????)
Some think the abortion clinic regulations in the bill are good because at least one clinic shut down in the state because of it.
But I have a different take. Abortion clinics run by small time operators are forced to shut down while ones run by the big time operator, Planned Parenthood, get to stay open.
There are many big money contributors to both parties including the GOP who bristle at the notion of Roe versus Wade being overturned and who support Planned Parenthood.
In the end, abortion clinic regulation in Texas and everywhere else ostensibly passed as Pro-Life legislation ends up being Pro-Abortion legislation keeping the big abortion operator in business (Planned Parenthood).
So much of politics is that way with a large business using regulation of its kind of business by government as a way to take out its smaller competitors.
My contention remains that 95 PERCENT OF REPUBLICAN ELECTED OFFICIALS EITHER FAKE CONSERVATISM OR REPUDIATE IT.
In Texas that may be 90 percent of GOP elected office holders, but that's 90 percent too many.
/johnny
Overall I’m a bit disappointed but not dejected. Cornyn escaped but the rest of the ballot wasn’t too bad. Dewhurst is in trouble, the Cruz judicial slate won, the rest of the statewide runoffs offer decent choices. I’m aggravated that Geo Pee coasted into his first political job.
Joe Straus kept his seat but maybe is losing his grip on the Speakership. Several of his House supporters retired and four others - Ratliff, Brown, Gooden and Patrick - got thrown out. Maybe that scares enough of the rest that they will quake in fear of the voter rather than of Straus and we can replace him.
I’m pretty happy with my county and local results.
All in all not bad as elections go. On to the next fight.
Y’all are being too hard on Cornyn. He is the second most conservative member of the Senate. He told me so!
The bottomline here is that good candidates win and bad candidates lose and ideaology often plays 2nd fiddle.
That is how Mary Landrieu wins in Louisiana and Susan Collins wins in Maine.
Well, the city of Houston was in a bit of an “ice storm” yesterday. I think this accounts for low voter turnout. I knew it would.
Low turnout ALWAYS helps the socialists, whether they be dems or repubs... ALWAYS. High turnout is good for conservatives.
The weather simply didn’t help us yesterday.
You made a great point in pointing out the "Cruz judicial slate". As we've seen recently, there are more battles coming on social issues, and conservative judges are needed. For example, a judge can't just toss aside the Texas Constitution when DOMA remains "The Law of the Land."
Was that before or after he voted for cloture on raising the debt ceiling? ...snicker.
The situation in America isn’t going to be fixed via elections.
That is all.
“Your votes and effort could have made a loust 9% difference”
WRONG, it was about 18 points.
Cornyn won 59 out of every 100 votes.
If 9 percent more went to the polls and all voted against Cornyn then Cornyn would win with 59 out of 109 votes or still more than 50%.
IF 18 percent more went to the polls and all voted against Cornyn then Cornyn wins with 59 out of 118. Then that would have forced a run off.
“If Cornyn had been held to less than 50%, there would have been a run-off. 10 points.”
No, it is 18 points of additional turnout.
Now if you could get a cornyn voter to flip and vote for someone else, then it is 10 points.
But if all the cornyn voters voted for cornyn then you would need 18 points of additional turnout to force a run off.
“wall of ignorance. “
OR MAYBE PEOPLE ARE NOT ONE ISSUE VOTERS.
“That’s with an approximate 7% Dem crossover because of the open primary.”
Frankly, if I am a democrat, I vote against Cornyn so that Wendy can face an easier opponent.
You don't know much about the Texas races.
/johnny
Maybe, but I'll go with wall of ignorance.
btw, your caps key is stuck ;^)
While Conservatives BEYOND Texas wanted Conservatives in Texas to mount a viable challenge to Cornyn, Conservatives in Texas did not.
Why? Too often in politics too many people get in early and strong on being merely “against” someone else, and those who really are also “against” that someone else think they have found their champion(s). But, merely being against the other guy is not enough, and Conservatives need to want to see MORE than that from and about a candidate. Stockman got his jump into the campaign merely because they was a base of anti-Cornyn voters waiting for an anti-Cornyn candidate. Then his campaign demonstrated he was offering little else (or did not demonstrate well enough he was offering more than a mere anti-Conrnyn position).
You should have heard the ads for cornball here in Texas. I don’t like cornball’s actions, but he had some really good ads running constantly. Made him sound conservative, likeable and very anti-obama.
I just wish the reality matched those ads.
Who one the nomination for Stockman’s old congressional seat?
-**********
A runoff between the following two:
17,167 — 33.36% — Brian Babin
12,009 — 23.33% — Ben Streusand
https://team1.sos.state.tx.us/enr/results/mar04_169_race13.htm
As much as I have to hold my nose and vote I will vote for a Republican over a third party candidate because getting Harry Reid taken out as Senate Majority leader is more important.
Under the new Senate rules the liberals are packing the courts and agencies. The ONLY way to lessen that is to remove Democrat party control of the Senate.
I have invested in principled conservatives and will continue to do so but I want control of the senate more than falling on a sword.
If he had 4.5% less of the vote, he would have won with 54.5% of the vote.
The 50% cut-off works differently than a separation between candidates of 9%.
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