Posted on 03/13/2004 9:16:12 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Texas Republicans saw a rout in the offing, but the jury's still out.
Texans went to the polls Tuesday (in pathetically low numbers) to register their preferences in the Democratic and Republican primaries, and we saw the usual pratfalls and triumphs, winners and also-rans.
But as we pore over the returns like so many tea-leaf readers, we would do well to put the matter in a larger context. This, after all, was payoff day for the Texas Republican leadership: Last spring and summer, the GOP - through no fewer than three special legislative sessions - bullied, bartered and bruised its way to enactment of a new congressional districting plan.
Never mind that a plan was already in place and had been used in 2002: That didn't suit the Republicans, and it really didn't suit one of the party's most unrelenting hard-liners, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay.
The former exterminator knew he couldn't put all the state's Democratic congressmen and women out of business, however much he might have liked to do so. However, to his hyper-partisan way of thinking, it was nothing short of outrageous that, going into the 2004 elections, Texas Democrats still outnumbered Texas Republicans in the House, 17-15.
Thus, DeLay - who evidently could spare the time from his Washington duties - became the prime mover in a campaign to toss out the redistricting plan approved by a panel of federal judges (after the Legislature could not agree on a formula).
As the drive to that end continued, DeLay seemed to be everywhere, an avenging . . . well, not an avenging angel, exactly - more like an avenging ideologue. Were the faithful wavering over here? Were GOP moderates showing signs of willingness to compromise? DeLay was on the case instantly. Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, House Speaker Tom Craddick - all were bent, willingly or unwillingly, to DeLay's grand design.
So how did they do? No doubt to the dismay of DeLay and company, Austin's liberal Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett - whose district the Republicans had gerrymandered into a weird new configuration taking in Brownsville and portions of Austin - sailed through to his party's nomination, and looks to be well-funded and well-situated for November. Another congressman on DeLay's hit list, San Antonio's Ciro Rodriguez, eked out a 126-vote victory in his primary contest.
But DeLay and company did bring home some trophies: Rep. Chris Bell, a moderate white Democrat who was redistricted into a new, predominantly black district, lost in his bid to return to the House.
One prominent Austin player, State Sen. Ron Wilson, lost in the Democratic primary - in part, perhaps, due to his decision to align himself with House Speaker Craddick in the redistricting donnybrook.
Now, the focus shifts to surviving Democrats targeted by DeLay and his cohorts. Thirteen-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Martin Frost tops the list, which also includes such veterans as Chet Edwards of Waco, Charles Stenholm of Abilene and Nick Lampson of Beaumont, among others.
Will the GOP gain a majority? That's entirely possible. Will it get the kind of sweeping victory it wants? That's another matter.
Many Texans found the GOP's bully-boy tactics in the special sessions repellent. And of these, more than a few will be disinclined to crown the Republicans' our-way-or-the-highway tactics with success at the polls.
a moderate white dim?
Bell was one of the most liberal white dims in congress. The guy who ran against him opposed redistricting, but not enough not to take advantage of it.
I can live with that, given that 60% of the vote got us 45% of the seats for the last 10 years.
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