( - promoted by Matt Glazer)
Yeah it's not news to those of us who read Kuff but Congressional Quarterly is picking up on the story now, which means the Texas press corps might even wake up and take notice.
Texas Republican Mike McCaul was a beneficiary of a mid-decade redistricting plan — spearheaded by Tom DeLay, the Texan who then was House majority leader — that left the GOP with six more House seats after the 2004 election than they had after 2002. The 10th Congressional District, where McCaul ran, seemed so Republican (its voters would give President Bush 61 percent in 2004), that McCaul won that year without Democratic opposition, pulling down 79 percent to defeat a Libertarian and a write-in candidate. But McCaul did draw a Democratic foe in 2006, and it made a difference. His challenger, former NASA employee Ted Ankrum, was not well-known in the 10th — which spans 150 miles from eastern Austin to western suburbs of Houston — and spent less than $65,000 to the incumbent’s $1.1 million. Yet the outcome was a fairly modest 55 percent to 40 percent victory for McCaul. There are already two serious candidates vying for the nomination, well, ok, one serious candidate and one guy who reminds me a bit too much of another media crazed egomaniac.
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Here's Kuffner's breakdown of how the various candidates on the ballot did in TX 10 in 2006. As you can see, McCaul is weak weak weak.
Republican Votes Pct Democrat Votes Pct
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Combs 107,403 63.1 Head 62,564 36.8
Abbott 107,990 62.9 Van Os 63,605 37.1
Hutchison 107,988 62.5 Radnofsky 64,818 37.5
Dewhurst 104,155 61.7 Alvarado 64,540 38.3
Patterson 97,762 58.9 Hathcox 68,328 41.1
Staples 97,273 58.1 Gilbert 70,124 41.9
McCaul 97,712 57.8 Ankrum 71,415 42.2
Ames Jones 95,750 57.7 Henry 70,112 42.3
Keller 98,243 57.3 Molina 73,136 42.7
Willett 89,899 54.4 Moody 75,343 45.6
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