Looks like Texas is a blue state
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McClatchy Washington Bureau
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Posted on Fri, Feb. 29, 2008
Big Democratic turnout in early Texas voting worries Republicans
Aman Batheja | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: February 29, 2008 08:12:05 PM
FORT WORTH — Early voting for Texas’ March 4th primary ended Friday with turnout numbers that shattered all previous records.
The vast majority of those ballots were cast in the Democratic primary, a turnout that gave Republican officials pause in this traditionally "red" state.
A final tally wasn’t immediately available Friday afternoon, but as of Wednesday, about 805,000 people had voted in the state’s 15 biggest counties, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s web site. More than 600,000 of those voters are participating in the Democratic primary.
The numbers far outpace the early turnout in primaries in recent years. In 2000, about 315,000 voters cast early primary ballots in the 15 largest counties. Less than 300,000 cast early ballots in the 2002 and 2004 primaries.
In Tarrant County, approximately 2,100 votes were being cast per hour on Friday, according to Tarrant County Elections Administrator Steve Raborn. In contrast, only 3,300 people voted in the county on the entire last day of early voting in 2004.
“We have never seen this kind of early voting turnout in a Primary Election,” Raborn said.
Republicans expressed concern that the unusually high Democratic turnout could spell trouble for Republican candidates in November.
“The numbers speak for themselves, there’s work to be done,” said Bech Bruun in an email to Republicans Friday. Bruun is the executive director of Texas Victory 2008, a project of the Texas Republican Party focused on mobilizing voters.
Yet even Republican primary turnout is high this year, just nowhere near the stunning results on the Democratic side, where some Republicans have taken advantage of the state’s open primary process to cast a vote in a still-disputed presidential race.
Causing unease around the state is how the soaring turnout will affect other races on the ballot. Some campaigns are expressing concern that there are likely more voters than usual who know little about the candidates in local races, making it difficult to guess how they may be deciding who to support.
Texas first installed a two-week period known as early voting back in 1988 as a way to boost turnout and address complaints of long lines for voting on Election Day.
As more Texans have become aware of the convenience, the number of early votes cast has steadily grown. In recent elections, early voters have accounted for over half of the total votes cast in some parts of the state.
----------------------------------------
McClatchy Washington Bureau
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Posted on Fri, Feb. 29, 2008
Clinton undermining election process, Obama camp claims
Jay Root | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: February 29, 2008 08:02:46 PM
AUSTIN — Barack Obama’s presidential campaign said Friday that Hillary Clinton, fearing defeat in a state she badly needs to win, is trying to undermine confidence in Texas' delegate-selection process by raising the specter of a chaotic election night.
Clinton aides shot back that Obama was “fanning the distortion” of their legitimate concerns about the state’s two-step voting process, which entails both a primary election and a little understood caucus.
Clinton’s top Texas adviser, Garry Mauro, repeated the campaign’s assertion that Clinton had no intention of suing the party over its caucus rules. That scenario had been raised in a letter from the Texas Democratci Party that warned of an “imminent” lawsuit.
“Nobody ever raised the idea of suing,’’ said Mauro, blaming the flap on the Obama campaign. “When they feel a race is close they distort.’’
Mauro acknowledged, however, that the Clinton campaign had raised objections about the way caucus results will be reported Tuesday but said the former first lady is not trying to stop the party from doing it.
Obama supporters said Clinton has sought to prevent the immediate reporting of the results of the caucuses, which are held after the polls close. There are 67 delegates up for grabs in the caucuses; 128 will be selected by voting in the primary. The remainder of Texas' 228 delegates are so-called superdelegates who can vote for whichever candidate they choose.
“I think they’re afraid of what the caucus results might be,’’ said Obama campaign strategist Steve Hildebrand. “This is the game they play on the eve of every election . . . they like to suggest that the process is unfair to her.’’
Clinton supporters have complained that caucuses give the better organized Obama an unfair advantage; of the 13 Democratic caucuses held so far, Clinton has won just two, Obama 11, most by huge margins.
The notion of a Clinton challenge to the caucus procedures came up during conferences calls among the campaigns and the Texas Democratic Party. Concerned that a lawsuit was in the works, Democratic Party lawyer Chad Dunn fired off a letter to both campaigns.
“It has been brought to my attention that one or both of your campaigns may already be planning or intending to pursue litigation against the Texas Democratic Party,’’ Dunn wrote. “Such action could prove to be a tragedy for a reinvigorated Democratic process.’’
Party officials said that the threats were coming from the Clinton campaign. After the letter was made public, Clinton political director Guy Cecil told the Associated Press he wanted the procedures put in writing and that the campaign might challenge them.
"We want to see the results in writing, and we reserve the right to challenge something if we don't believe it reflects something that was discussed on the call," he was quoted as saying.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Hildebrand, the Obama strategist, accused the Clinton campaign of “raising the specter of being able to challenge, legally or otherwise, any aspect of the caucus contest here.’’
“We expect to play by those rules that have been set by the Texas Democratic Party,’’ he said. “We have stated no intention to challenge any aspect of it.’’
State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, leader of the Democrats in the state House of Representatives, accused the Clinton campaign of trying to “stoke fears or promote cyncism” by raising questions about a process that has been a feature of the presidential nomination process in Texas for decades.
“If you’re losing at half time, you don’t try to unplug the scoreboard,’’ Dunnam said.
The law requires the caucus results to be reported within three days, but the intense interest in the results prompted the Texas Democratic Party to invest $60,000 in a voluntary reporting system so that the media and public would have an idea about how the caucus tallies were breaking.
Obama officials see no problem with it. But Mauro, the Texas Clinton adviser, said the system would produce “flimsy, half-baked results.’’ Still, Mauro said there were no plans to challenge the legality of the voluntary reporting system.
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of the appx 950,000 primary voters - 717,000 are voting dem http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/earlyvoting/2008/feb28demo.shtml
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McClatchy Washington Bureau
Print This Article Print This Article
Posted on Fri, Feb. 29, 2008
Big Democratic turnout in early Texas voting worries Republicans
Aman Batheja | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: February 29, 2008 08:12:05 PM
FORT WORTH — Early voting for Texas’ March 4th primary ended Friday with turnout numbers that shattered all previous records.
The vast majority of those ballots were cast in the Democratic primary, a turnout that gave Republican officials pause in this traditionally "red" state.
A final tally wasn’t immediately available Friday afternoon, but as of Wednesday, about 805,000 people had voted in the state’s 15 biggest counties, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s web site. More than 600,000 of those voters are participating in the Democratic primary.
The numbers far outpace the early turnout in primaries in recent years. In 2000, about 315,000 voters cast early primary ballots in the 15 largest counties. Less than 300,000 cast early ballots in the 2002 and 2004 primaries.
In Tarrant County, approximately 2,100 votes were being cast per hour on Friday, according to Tarrant County Elections Administrator Steve Raborn. In contrast, only 3,300 people voted in the county on the entire last day of early voting in 2004.
“We have never seen this kind of early voting turnout in a Primary Election,” Raborn said.
Republicans expressed concern that the unusually high Democratic turnout could spell trouble for Republican candidates in November.
“The numbers speak for themselves, there’s work to be done,” said Bech Bruun in an email to Republicans Friday. Bruun is the executive director of Texas Victory 2008, a project of the Texas Republican Party focused on mobilizing voters.
Yet even Republican primary turnout is high this year, just nowhere near the stunning results on the Democratic side, where some Republicans have taken advantage of the state’s open primary process to cast a vote in a still-disputed presidential race.
Causing unease around the state is how the soaring turnout will affect other races on the ballot. Some campaigns are expressing concern that there are likely more voters than usual who know little about the candidates in local races, making it difficult to guess how they may be deciding who to support.
Texas first installed a two-week period known as early voting back in 1988 as a way to boost turnout and address complaints of long lines for voting on Election Day.
As more Texans have become aware of the convenience, the number of early votes cast has steadily grown. In recent elections, early voters have accounted for over half of the total votes cast in some parts of the state.
----------------------------------------
McClatchy Washington Bureau
Print This Article Print This Article
Posted on Fri, Feb. 29, 2008
Clinton undermining election process, Obama camp claims
Jay Root | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: February 29, 2008 08:02:46 PM
AUSTIN — Barack Obama’s presidential campaign said Friday that Hillary Clinton, fearing defeat in a state she badly needs to win, is trying to undermine confidence in Texas' delegate-selection process by raising the specter of a chaotic election night.
Clinton aides shot back that Obama was “fanning the distortion” of their legitimate concerns about the state’s two-step voting process, which entails both a primary election and a little understood caucus.
Clinton’s top Texas adviser, Garry Mauro, repeated the campaign’s assertion that Clinton had no intention of suing the party over its caucus rules. That scenario had been raised in a letter from the Texas Democratci Party that warned of an “imminent” lawsuit.
“Nobody ever raised the idea of suing,’’ said Mauro, blaming the flap on the Obama campaign. “When they feel a race is close they distort.’’
Mauro acknowledged, however, that the Clinton campaign had raised objections about the way caucus results will be reported Tuesday but said the former first lady is not trying to stop the party from doing it.
Obama supporters said Clinton has sought to prevent the immediate reporting of the results of the caucuses, which are held after the polls close. There are 67 delegates up for grabs in the caucuses; 128 will be selected by voting in the primary. The remainder of Texas' 228 delegates are so-called superdelegates who can vote for whichever candidate they choose.
“I think they’re afraid of what the caucus results might be,’’ said Obama campaign strategist Steve Hildebrand. “This is the game they play on the eve of every election . . . they like to suggest that the process is unfair to her.’’
Clinton supporters have complained that caucuses give the better organized Obama an unfair advantage; of the 13 Democratic caucuses held so far, Clinton has won just two, Obama 11, most by huge margins.
The notion of a Clinton challenge to the caucus procedures came up during conferences calls among the campaigns and the Texas Democratic Party. Concerned that a lawsuit was in the works, Democratic Party lawyer Chad Dunn fired off a letter to both campaigns.
“It has been brought to my attention that one or both of your campaigns may already be planning or intending to pursue litigation against the Texas Democratic Party,’’ Dunn wrote. “Such action could prove to be a tragedy for a reinvigorated Democratic process.’’
Party officials said that the threats were coming from the Clinton campaign. After the letter was made public, Clinton political director Guy Cecil told the Associated Press he wanted the procedures put in writing and that the campaign might challenge them.
"We want to see the results in writing, and we reserve the right to challenge something if we don't believe it reflects something that was discussed on the call," he was quoted as saying.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Hildebrand, the Obama strategist, accused the Clinton campaign of “raising the specter of being able to challenge, legally or otherwise, any aspect of the caucus contest here.’’
“We expect to play by those rules that have been set by the Texas Democratic Party,’’ he said. “We have stated no intention to challenge any aspect of it.’’
State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, leader of the Democrats in the state House of Representatives, accused the Clinton campaign of trying to “stoke fears or promote cyncism” by raising questions about a process that has been a feature of the presidential nomination process in Texas for decades.
“If you’re losing at half time, you don’t try to unplug the scoreboard,’’ Dunnam said.
The law requires the caucus results to be reported within three days, but the intense interest in the results prompted the Texas Democratic Party to invest $60,000 in a voluntary reporting system so that the media and public would have an idea about how the caucus tallies were breaking.
Obama officials see no problem with it. But Mauro, the Texas Clinton adviser, said the system would produce “flimsy, half-baked results.’’ Still, Mauro said there were no plans to challenge the legality of the voluntary reporting system.
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of the appx 950,000 primary voters - 717,000 are voting dem http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/earlyvoting/2008/feb28demo.shtml
