I meant to put this in the last post, but it was getting too long. Texas, as great as that state is, has a long history of turn-around when it comes to elections. That's why it was such a big deal when Bush won re-election. If I'm correct, it was the first time a republican governor had been re-elected back to back since the civil-war. This is big for Perry to be elected after serving 2 years already.
I'm with you though in not fully understanding the big difference between Sanchez' numbers and Kirk's. A win is a win though. :) We all saw that in 2000.