Abbott may run even if Perry stays in. Abbot has amassed a gigantic war chest that can pretty much take out any sitting Republican in Texas. The AG is normally not the most powerful position but Abbot has made a habit of pushing politically motivated lawsuits just to re-affirm his conservative credentials. Republican primary voters will eat that stuff up. All Abbot has to do is make sure Perry doesn't get 50% of the vote in the first round of primary voting. In a runoff, I'm fairly certain Perry would lose. That said, as pointed out, Abbott is no better than Perry and in some cases will be worse. Perry has actually been neutered in terms of his power in Texas government. The legislature (particularly the house) has been commandeered by Speaker Joe Straus and the moderate faction of Republicans. In case you haven't been following the state house, it has been largely controversy free. Instead of passing sonogram bills and voter ID laws, they're passing increases in education funding and potentially a statewide plan to address droughts and water shortages. They're talking about increasing transportation spending to fix and expand our roads. Our government is shockingly legislating and its in large part because Perry isn't able to bully around Republicans anymore. Even the school voucher bill had a swift death with moderate Republicans and Democrats voting to kill it off in the house. The tea party has largely been extinguished in the Texas house and the Speaker who is a very competent legislator is running the show instead of Perry.
How much longer before Texas will become a Democratic state due to the increase of Hispanic voters? I just honestly don't understand how our great state can be so blind when its 2013!
Depends on how quickly the old folks die off,which given the solemn vow to keep affordiable health care out of texas by Perry et al., may be hastened
Until a few months ago I was living in North Dakota which has a large rural area that parallels Texas. However, unlike Texas, the state and federal government have poured tons of money into creating access to basic health care for all rural communities. I suppose it helps that North Dakota had an all Democratic Senate and Congressional delegation until 2010 that fought for those projects, but nothing like that exists in Texas. If you live in a rural community in Texas, you can expect some of the worst rural health care in the US.
That shouldn't be surprising really considering our population makeup. I'd have to read how they formulated their analysis to have an opinion on it really.
Really Louie? "This administration has so many Muslim brotherhood members that have influence that they just are making wrong decisions for America." -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) I suppose he has a list of 205 communists in the State Department as well.
Absolutely no reason to assume that. Large numbers of Hispanics here are pro-military and have high enough incomes to adopt Republican views, at least fiscally. Could also see Dem whites subconsciously turning Republican if Hispanic population gets high enough.
Wow. You went there. :grin: Politics aside, I recall eating dinner with Abbott and a group of my colleagues when I was in law school. He was a very engaging conversationalist and came across as a pretty nice guy.
Crazy Louie at it again Tea Party Congressman: Attorney General Holder Is On The Side Of The Boston Bombers Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) — who has spent the weeks following the bombing arguing that Obama’s “political correctness” prevented the FBI from stopping the attacks — appeared on the Glenn Beck radio show to argue that Holder’s history of defending terrorists allowed the judge to Mirandize Tsarnaev: GOHMERT: Think about it, when your attorney general spent more of his legal career helping terrorists than defending the country, then you know we all have certain biases and lean certain ways. Gohmert then went on to reiterate his belief that the Obama administration is guided by the Muslim Brotherhood. “[The administration] know who’s in there advising them,” Gohmert said, “either they lie under oath or they do know the extent of Muslim Brotherhood infiltration into our government.” http://thinkprogress.org/justice/20...neral-holder-sympathized-with-boston-bombers/
Damn, Hayes, are you coming around in your old age? Aren't you worried that they could give a mini wmd to a terrorist who could carry it in a suit case to Houston?
"uninsured" numbers is a terrible way to judge a state's healthcare affordability. You assume that anyone who doesn't have insurance couldn't get it or couldn't afford it and that is not the case in many instances. Anyway, I disagree with the earlier poster who questioned how so many Texan leaders could be this "dumb." This is an example of a smart politician not a dumb one. The Texas electorate gets off to this kind of nonsense. Playing to it is a smart move to get elected. Unfortunately.
I wonder if there was ever a democratic politician potentially running for governor of stating "Bush was worse than Osama Bin Laden". Guess democrats aren't that "smart" based on what you say above.
