From the April 2002 article.....
The Texas primary confirmed these gloomy results for the GOP even before the results were tabulated. Hispanics were 12 percent of the Texas electorate in 1998, and are expected to be 20 percent — the "tipping point" at which their rise will make Texas a Democratic-leaning state — within six years. As GOP pollster Matthew Dowd, a longtime booster of the Hispanic/amnesty strategy, conceded to Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "The question this year is whether the Sanchez campaign advances that [i.e., making Texas a competitive swing state rather than a reliably Republican one], compressing six years into six months." It might do so; Sanchez combined an ethnic appeal to Hispanics — objecting to his opponent's wish to answer questions in English and Spanish rather than solely in Spanish in a televised debate — with an economic appeal to moderate middle-class whites, calling for low taxes. For that very reason, however, his looks like a transitional candidacy even if he wins in November. For as Hispanic voting strength grows, so it is likely to reflect in Texas the liberal economic voting patterns celebrated by Meyerson in California.
Well it looks like O'Sullivan is blowing smoke or maybe smoking too much..... Sanchez along with the entire Democrat slate got their butts handed to them in November.... Remember the "Dream Team".. Sanchez the Hispanic; Kirk the African-American; Sharp the good ol' bubba; ...... What did Texas do? Sent them packing with their tails between their legs....
Sanchez.... 39.98% of the vote..
Kirk..... 43.37%
Sharp..... 46.06%
Sanchez the Hispanic got less than either of the other two... Combined, the hispanic, the black and the white bubba still didn't come close... So much for O'Sullivan's Texas theory at this stage.
Perry got 35% of the Hispanic vote.
This is not progress.