The Race is On

Simple as ABC (2.00 / 1)

Love that.  Although to be fair, there are far more crazy people in the Texas House than Craddick - Leo Burman comes to mind.

I'm right with you on this one.  Craddick has got to go.

Sonia

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by: sonia @ Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 12:28:56 PM CST

for senate (0.00 / 0)

lebowitz

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by: steel @ Mon Dec 25, 2006 at 22:59:57 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Nice (0.00 / 0)

But did you have to steal my title from down below? :)

Please read the Community Guidelines and How to Rate Comments.

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by: Karl-Thomas Musselman @ Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 15:30:28 PM CST

Great minds think alike? (0.00 / 0)

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by: Matt Glazer @ Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 15:33:12 PM CST

[ Parent ]

ABT (0.00 / 0)

Anyone who thinks Robert Talton is better than Tom Craddick obviously doesn't know very much about Robert Talton.

The only people I can think of who would support him would also support replacing the Texas Constitution with a Bible. 

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by: Baby Snooks @ Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 17:14:33 PM CST

After Reading the Story (0.00 / 0)

you will see that the major speculation is Talton is trying to gain leverage to be a chairman.

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by: Matt Glazer @ Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 19:36:03 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Democrats Should Have No Voice In Speaker Race (1.00 / 2)

Republicans won the right to pick a Speaker when they won a majority in the Texas House last month. Please see my TexasLiberal post on the subject. Thank you.
http://texasliberal....

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by: neilaquino @ Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 10:24:46 AM CST

Disagree with you completely (3.00 / 1)

This bid should not involve Democrats. Republicans won a majority in the election last month. The election of the Speaker should be an internal matter of the Republican caucus. If Democrats want to elect a Speaker they should win a majority for themselves.

Just because Republicans control the Texas Legislature does not mean the minority side has no say in the matter.  There is quite a lot the Speaker of the House controls as far as legislation that comes to the floor and becomes law.  Democrats have every right and duty to try to make sure our interests get represented. Everybody in the House gets to vote for the Speaker.  And the biggest reason of all that Democrats have a say, is that we will regain power one day, and the republicans sure better start playing nice with us.

I would hardly call the election we had for Governor the will of the people.  In fact it was quite the opposite 61% of the people of Texas voted against Rick Perry.  Which will of the people are you going to trust?

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by: sonia @ Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 13:01:08 PM CST

[ Parent ]

What Is Origin Of Bipartisanship In Texas House? (1.00 / 1)

The Governor's race was the Governor's race and the House is the House. Republicans won a majority in the House.

As a transplanted Yankee, I'd like to know the origins of this so-called bipartisanship in the Texas House and Senate. Why does it occur most in Southern states? Is it kindred to the old coalitions in Congress of Republicans and right-wing Southern Democrats?

When Democrats take back the house in six years or 16 years, what kind of win will it be when we share power with Republicans?

Thank you. 

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by: neilaquino @ Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 14:45:08 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Answer to your question (0.00 / 0)

Once upon a time there were only Democrats in Texas.  Conservatives, moderates, and liberals were all Democrats.  There really wasn't such a thing as a Republican.

That situation began to change in the 1950s when Governor Allan Shivers backed Dwight Eisenhower for President in 1952 and 1956. 

Then in 1961, John Tower won a US Senate seat with about a ten thousand vote margin.  Even during this period, the Legislature remained almost exclusively Democratic.

Beginning in 1978 the dam began to break.  That year Bill Clements became the first Republican to win the Governor's office since Reconstruction.

After Clements it became increasingly common for Republicans to win at lower levels, but even then almost all local elected officials remained Democratic.

In the early '90s this changed.  During the '80s Republicans had begun to win more and more at the local level.  Especially in 1984 and then again in 1994, Republicans made huge steps forward electorally.

Even during this period though, many conservatives remained Democratic.  For example, it wasn't until 1989 that Rick Perry became a Republican and Warren Chisum waited until 1996 to switch parties.

Today, both parties are mostly unified.  The Republican party here tends to be almost exclusively conservative to moderate and the Democratic party is almost exclusively liberal to moderate.

The Democratic party though still has some conservatives in it, particularly in the rural areas.

So given that party label was generally a poor indicator of policy preferences in the past, the term "bi-partisanship" merely reflected the reality that party didn't signify that much back then.

Today, the situation is quite different.

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by: Rick Cofer @ Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 20:54:31 PM CST

[ Parent ]

More so... (0.00 / 0)

In the late 1950s, Democrats still had total control of the state Legislature. However, the long-existing factions between the "conservative" and "liberal" wings of the Democratic party came at odds, particularly during the LBJ vs. Kennedy time of the Democratic nominating convention. That split continued through JFK's assassination, and deepened all the way through until the famous '68 convention in Chicago. By then, the Democrats were so deeply split that there was little-to-no chance of keeping them entirely together.

Nixon then, in his pure mafio-so style, went after Texas politicians. Between Nixon's southern strategy, the Sharpstown scandal, and the increasingly loud liberal wing of the Democratic Party Republicans got their huge foot in the door and didn't let out.

Now, a very great man once said that some people rob you with a fountain pen.

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by: Phillip Martin @ Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 12:20:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Well put Sonia. (3.50 / 2)

The Legislature belongs to the people of Texas, not any particular party.  All members have a place in governing this state, and certainly in selecting the Speaker.

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by: Rick Cofer @ Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 20:56:52 PM CST

[ Parent ]

The Majority Governs (0.00 / 0)

The legislature belongs to the people and the people elect a majority to govern. The majority has a function and so does the minority. The main function of the minority is to become the majority.

What would we all be saying if right-leaning Democratic members of US House were working with Republicans to elect someone other than Ms. Pelosi as Speaker?

Another possible reason for this so-called bipartisanship in Texas is so an eternal party of "insiders" can run state government to the exclusion of "outsiders."

I've got hopes for Texas that are not going to depend on Southern Republicans to get done. 

Thank you.

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by: neilaquino @ Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 01:09:43 AM CST