Posted on 03/25/2002 3:11:00 PM PST by log_cabin_gop_boy
THERE IS A SIMPLISTIC answer that explains why Republican primary voters rejected Xavier Rodriguez for the Texas Supreme Court.
The X and Z in his name.
Though he had backing from state Republican leaders, endorsements from all major newspapers and a $700,000 war chest, Rodriguez lost to a little-known lawyer with the name of an Anglo Everyman -- Steven Wayne Smith.
Steve Smith sounds safe. Xavier Rodriguez sounds, well, foreign.
Does that mean Republicans wouldn't vote for a Hispanic?
That's the theory some Democrats are pushing in light of Rodriguez's loss.
Being incumbent meant little Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe jammed on the notion that Rodriguez's defeat resulted from racially biased voting.
McAuliffe told the National Association of Hispanic Publications that Republicans "always show their true colors by choosing extremists to the right."
Rodriguez, he said, was proof.
"There was only one Latino Republican on the statewide primary ballot -- Xavier Rodriguez," he said. "And he lost, even though he is a sitting state Supreme Court justice.
"Republican primary voters, not surprisingly, preferred the Anglo candidate, who was the plaintiffs' lawyer in the Hopwood case, which ended affirmative action in the Texas university system."
That may be political spin or political reality. And it seems to assume that the same Republican voters didn't know that Supreme Court Justice Wallace B. Jefferson, whom they nominated overwhelmingly, is black.
But either way, Rodriguez's defeat couldn't come at a worse moment for Texas Republicans.
As both parties eye a tidal wave of Hispanic voters during the coming decade, Republicans are eager for Hispanic candidates.
So last year, Gov. Rick Perry appointed Rodriguez to the state's high court to replace Greg Abbott, who resigned to run for state attorney general. A San Antonio resident, Rodriguez had a strong reputation with the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski.
Republicans have supported Hispanics in the past. Before he joined President Bush as White House counsel, Republican Al Gonzales was elected to the Supreme Court in 2000.
But that's the past. Now, Democrats are loaded for bear in their bid to woo Hispanics. Laredo banker Tony Sanchez targeted Hispanics with a large portion of the $20 million he spent to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Voters more fond of `Billy Bob' Look for a lot more where that came from this fall when Sanchez opposes Perry in the general election.
"The timing is terrible," said former Harris County GOP Chairman Gary Polland. "I anticipate that the Democrats will say that the Republican Party isn't hospitable to Hispanics.
"That's not true," he said, "but we have to bring our candidates home in the primary."
If Rodriguez's defeat doesn't represent racially motivated voting, what did happen? Rodriguez said his campaign staff is looking into that very question.
They want to determine whether the campaign spent too much money on television rather than targeting primary voters with direct mail. Should areas of the state have gotten more focus than others? Did they need more money?
Rodriguez said he doesn't believe he was tripped up by Republican primary voters who wouldn't support a Hispanic.
He points out that another Republican with an awkward name -- 3rd Court of Appeals Judge Lee Yeakel -- lost a bid to become chief justice of the court. Yeakel lost to Ken Law, whose name sounds as if he could be Barbie's attorney pal.
"This is more a case of a name game," Rodriguez said.
University of Houston political science professor Richard Murray agrees, noting that Rodriguez won in Harris and other urban counties where he bought television time. He got 68 percent support in Harris County, which saw a Hispanic Republican, Orlando Sanchez, make a strong Houston mayoral bid last fall.
"In a primary where there are so many white voters who know little about either candidate, the default goes to the Anglo over the Hispanic," Murray said. "Rodriguez likely would have won if he had more money to tell voters that he was the choice of the Republican establishment."
Low name recognition and two strongly Latino sounding names sunk Rodriguez.
"He might have survived if his parents had named him Billy Bob," Murray said.
How many Democrats voted for him?
Only in the corrupted currency of the Left would the party that elected a lily-white suburbanite be considered the champions of the Hispanic community, while the party that actually RAN a Hispanic and failed to elect him is considered bigoted. In the rainbow world of the Democrats, that king of "logic" actually makes sense.
So if he had been Javier Rodrigues instead of Xavier Rodriguez, he'd have won?
Makes as much sense as the rest of the article, that is not much.
What is the word there in Texas about this guy?
No, 'Billy-Bob Rodriguez'.
This just has me a little concerned about the fate of Gov. Perry this November. Do the Republican voters in Texas not trust Perry? Is this Rodriquez guy a Liberal? If so why on earth would Perry select a libersl to the court?
Seems obvious from the article that the Republicans elected the more conservative of the two candidates.
McAuliffe told the National Association of Hispanic Publications that Republicans "always show their true colors by choosing extremists to the right."
I don't know anything about Rodriguez, but if he is a spineless, scumbag "moderate", then I am glad he lost. On the other hand, if instead he is a man of decency and honor, then I hope he hangs in and keeps plugging.
He took 54% in a 3-way primary(mostly hardliners). 77% in the general against the dem. Michigan is also probably more anti-immigrant because of the unions.
Do not expect it to get any better. The Dems don't care if the cities burn, and they WILL start race riots, if they think it will help elect their candidate.
Why would I want to vote for someone who sees my issues/concerns as different from theirs?
SCREW THE PARTY!
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.