Texas May Work Out Better for Obama than Clinton

Ay-ya-ya. I just read this article (h/t Truthout).

"Unlike other states that allocate delegates by congressional districts, Texas distributes 126 of its delegates among its 31 state Senate districts using a formula based on Democratic voter turnout in the 2004 and 2006 general elections. The 31 districts contain from two to eight delegates. The March 4 primary vote in each Senate district will allocate that district's delegates.

The turnout formula has assigned more delegates to urban centers with a lot of young or black voters that tend to favor Obama and fewer delegates to poorer Hispanic areas expected to favor Clinton. Austin, which includes the University of Texas, gets eight; Houston gets seven and Dallas gets six."

My nephew is a UT student, and he's definitely in the Obama camp.

Maybe it was just as well that JRE didn't compete there. He would have done better in Houston and the rural areas, but the rural areas are redder than a hot chili pepper.

Don't forget: debate in Austin tonight at 7 pm. CNN is the host network. I predict Obama will come out looking better because CNN is more into theater than dealing with specific agendas.

On the Road

I'm at the Cape today, going to meetings, but also hearing about politics as well.

Not much to report, other than JRE won the Texas e-poll (a straw poll) in which 8000 Dems voted in. Not even close: Edwards at 38%, Obama next at 21%. Elizabeth went down to see some of the long tallers to discuss issues with them.

LINK

Yes, the White House report came out today. I would call it bald faced mistruths, but JRE had this to say about it:

"We needed answers today from the administration, and we only got more of the same doublespeak - that may pass for straight talk inside the Beltway, but the American people know better. We heard today the surge is working, when several independent reports have found that it's not. We heard about statistics from particular areas, like Anbar, that don't fairly represent the entire country. We heard that the administration plans to take credit for ending the surge by next spring, when it's well-known inside the military that our troops would have to come home anyway in order not to extend their tours beyond 15 months. We heard that we'd still have 130,000 troops in place next summer, policing a civil war, when this is where we started in the first place. Worst of all, we heard that there are no concrete steps toward the comprehensive political solution that will end the violence once and for all and put Iraq on the path to stability."

To read a more thorough analysis of the report to Congress, read Taylor Marsh's comments here.

Cape Cod is lovely. I'd forgotten how nice it can be when the crowds aren't around.

More buzz l8tr...

John Edwards Speaks to Young Dems in Dallas

Great video...sprinkled with humor, courtesy of the Dallas Morning News.

LINK

Enjoy!

Flag for Molly Ivins, A True Texas Progressive

On the eve of two fine feminists, including Amanda Marcotte, who lives in Austin, hired by the Edwards campaign, Molly Ivins passed away after a long battle with cancer.

I will write more about this since I've been following Molly's writing for a long time.

She's with her sister Ann Richards.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107U.shtml

and from the Texas Observer:

I have a grandly dramatic vision of myself stalking through the canyons of the Big Apple in the rain and cold, dreaming about driving with the soft night air of East Texas rushing on my face while Willie Nelson sings softly on the radio, or about blasting through the Panhandle under a fierce sun and pale blue sky….I’ll remember, I’ll remember…sunsets, rivers, hills, plains, the Gulf, woods, a thousand beers in a thousand joints, and sunshine and laughter. And people. Mostly I’ll remember people.

There is one thing, an important thing, I have to tell you before I go. What I’m going to tell you is more than a fact. It is a Truth. I have spent six years checking it out, and I know it to be true. The people who subscribe to The Texas Observer are good people. In fact, you’re the best people in this state. I don’t care if you think that’s pretentious or sentimental—it’s just true.

If I got to naming you, I would never stop, so I won’t. But please believe me that all of you whom I know and many of you whom I know only by letter are in my mind as I write this—even if I do forget your names half the time. Always excepting, of course, the turkey who sends me hate mail after my annual gun-control editorial. Turkey, turkey, turkey.

I wanted to call this “The Long Goodbye” but Kaye won’t let me. She wanted to call it “Ivins Indulges in Horrible Fit of Sentimentality.”

I love you. Good-bye my friends.