More than 1,000 people showed up for our precinct caucus. That’s 200 times more people than have showed in any previous year. I didn’t get elected convention chairman by default, nor did I even get nominated. The parking problems anticipated by The New Republic all came to pass — and no one really cared.
It was fantastic to watch.
Obama got 89% of the 55 delegates to our Senatorial District Convention; Clinton got 11%.
More, later I hope, when I get a few minutes to write about it.
1 Comment | 
Political conventions, Politics, Presidents, Texas | Tagged: 2008, Clinton, Obama, Politics, presidential campaign, Texas | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
I tried to vote in Texas’s early voting process Friday. I opted out when, at 6:00 p.m., the line to vote in our usually-sleepy end of Dallas County was up to three hours long (the last voters made it inside the building at 9:08 p.m. — with another 90 minutes of standing in line).
The Obama earthquake is particularly heavy in our precinct. We may have been the most enthusiastic precinct in Texas for Gore and Kerry, and two years ago our voting pushed Dallas County into the Democratic column for judges, sweeping dozens of Republican incumbents out of office. This year, voting by and for Democrats is more than double the early voting totals then. Our precinct is one of many in 2008.
However the Clinton/Obama drama plays out in Texas and Ohio, this demonstration of democratic muscle — in favor of the Democrats — should worry Republicans. If the numbers are repeated in nearby precincts, which have similar demographics, and in similar suburban districts around Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Austin, Republican incumbents in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate will be in trouble. No amount of advertising could avert a change in Texas’s party alignment at the national level.
Obama mania, and ennui from Republican control, combine to make a voting tsunami.
At this moment, from where I sit, it appears Democrats will win Texas’s U.S. Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn. U.S. Representatives such as Kenny Marchant, who unseated Democratic Whip Martin Frost four years ago, should consider new employment beginning January 2009.
Republicans in Texas were talking about voting in the Democratic primary this year, to vote for Hillary Clinton, in the hopes that waving that particular flag would anger conservative Christians enough to motivate them to vote against her.
That’s a thin hook on which to hang hopes of election wins. There are not enough conservative, religious voters in America to overcome the wave of discontent with the present, and hope for the future, this election race has created. If Texas voters realize the power they wield, and they use it in November, the political world will reel and rock.
Alas for Republicans, that’s not a big “if.”
Will the ground move on Tuesday night?
Yes.
4,000 screaming fans welcome Barack Obama to Republican stronghold Duncanville, Texas, in the Sandra Meadows Arena, February 27, 2008. Cellphone photo copyright © 2008 by first-time voter James Darrell; used with permission.
3 Comments | Elections, Politics, Texas | Tagged: 2008, Clinton, Cornyn, election, Obama, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Barack Obama came to Duncanville today. Bill Clinton was two miles away, at Mountain View Community College, yesterday. Texas hasn’t seen this level of attention from presidential candidates since we’ve been in the state (since 1987).
I had tickets to see Obama, but we had a called faculty meeting that ran long; they gave away my seat!
We’ll have to await reports from younger son James, who will be voting for his first time in the primary.
Older son Kenny, and Kathryn, caught Obama downtown, last week.
I think I’m the only one in the family who hasn’t committed to Obama. It’s a phenomenal campaign. More observations later tonight, I hope — off to symphony rehearsal.
Leave a Comment » | Campaigns, Capturing history, Politics, Presidents | Tagged: 2008 campaign, Obama, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Barack Obama is a Christian, a Protestant.
Hillary Clinton met with the Gold Star Mothers, and the Gold Star Mothers were happy with the meeting.
But I’ll bet you get an e-mail soon saying otherwise.
Read it, and be inoculated with the facts, against the hoaxes.
1 Comment | Accuracy, Hoaxes, Politics, Voodoo history | Tagged: Clinton, hoax, Obama, Politics, right-wing smear | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 