This is so bleeding good to hear.

May the backlash against these Thugs be long, relentless, and deeply satisfying to anyone who believes in justice.

"Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

How can it be?

This just fits too well with the already apparent theme of 2006:  Republican corruption.

And it's just perfect that everything swirls around TX.  Very big electorally, not to mention.

Would winning Texas have an effect in 2008?

Sorry... had to wipe the drool off my chin there.  Jejeje.

Texas is a . . . please save me from this phrase . . . perfect storm.

The growing Hispanic population, alongside growing discontent with GOP corruption is driving Texas toward the center.

Likewise, since Texas was one of the first states to go for the batshit wing of the GOP, they've gotten their quota of GOP shit sooner.

The good folks of Texas had already got a pretty good whiff of Republican lunacy with the mid-decade redistricting scheme...and the GOP overperformed in many of those gerrymandered districts, and maintained its advantages at the state legislative level.

You can't beat someone with no one. Chris Bell has raised less for the governors race than some county commissioners have on hand. Jim Turner might jump in, and he still has some cash from his congressional account. But until he jumps in, the only intrigue here is Perry vs. Strayhorn.

At the House level, only DeLay has drawn a decent opponent.

I don't see a reversal in Texas....

All the Texas papers are far less revealing about the local political scene for us out of staters. Right now, the GOP is unbeatable in Texas but these things can change so quickly.

The key here is candidate recruitment -- disaffection with the GOP in Texas means little if there's no one else to vote for!  We haven't had good candidates in Texas for years.  That has to be our top priority.

The corruption of the Texas legislature is so deep that it is taken for granted.

The reason the tax plans are failing is that the legislature is trying to raise taxes on business. But each business special interest is able to create an exception for itself.

When there's any legislation that touches business, the business lobby has a seat at the table. Consumer groups and citizens are marginal players.  The business lobby writes the bills. Other people need back-door channels to get up-to-date bill text.  The business lobby is at the negotiating table. Consumers and citizens aren't most of the time.

Texas legislators are incredibly cheap. If you look at any issue, you'll find that campaign contributions of $2K to $5K are enough to get legislators to file and defend legislation.

The school finance plan was defeated because school administrators and parents were organized, and let legislators know that the plan did not work for them. It was democracy in action.

But citizens start out behind in the race, because money talks loudly, and its voice is taken for granted.

"It should be pointed out that in the early 1970s, a political scandal called Sharpstown surfaced just ahead of a national political scandal called Watergate. By 1976, Jimmy Carter could carry Texas."

This seems to suggest that due to both Watergate and the Sharpstown scandal, the Democrats were able to pull of an upset in 76.

That is not the case. At that time, Texas at the state level was heavily Democrat. It was mostly Democrats that were involved in that scandal, such as Gov. Smith and Speaker Muscher. In fact, 1976 was the beginning of the end for the Democrats in Texas. From the Great Depression through 1976, Texas went Republican for President, only three times, twice for Ike, and in 1972 (all of which were landslides). They haven't done so since. In 1978, they elected the first Republican governor since the Civil War. In 20 of the last 28 years, there's been a Republican in the Governor's Mansion.

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