true blue

Can you imagine waking up this November to a map of Texas that looked like this?

Well, neither can we, but we're certainly making progress in that direction.

With Sen. John Cornyn polling under 50% now, polling site Rasmussen Reports has added our junior senator to their "potentially vulnerable" category.

Any incumbent who polls below 50% is considered potentially vulnerable. That is especially true when a little known challenger is so competitive in an early general election match-up. The race for President in Texas is also fairly competitive early in Election 2008.

Noreiga leads among voters earning less than $40,000 a year. Cornyn leads among those with higher incomes. Cornyn leads among Evangelical Christian voters and other Protestants. Noreiga leads among those with a different faith background. Both candidates do well within their own party and are fairly evenly matched among unaffiliated voters.

According to Rasmussen, President Bush is polling with mere 45% approval ratings in Texas. And as reported earlier, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both very competitive in general election polls against Sen. John McCain.

Some have predicted that Texas was cycling blue... but could 2008 be our year?

Texas Blog Roundup: May 5, 2008

It's Monday and time for the Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Blog Round-Up.

CouldBeTrue from South Texas Chisme notes Republican-run government favors crony money over Texans' health. Asarco, a proven polluter, is given a permit to start polluting again and Abbott says lead poisoning landlords have a right to privacy.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston, thinks Bob Perry should go to Hell.

Doing My Part For The Left's Refinish69 joins Austin high school students in Breaking the Silence.

WhosPlayin writes about the disturbing trend for hospitals to require payment up front for expensive services like chemotherapy. Even "non-profit" hospitals like U.T.'s M.D. Anderson are doing this, even while reducing free care and racking up huge surpluses.

Off the Kuff looks at the race for Harris County Sheriff and foresees immigration issues playing a big role.

The Texas Cloverleaf wonders why Governor 39% appointed a policy nerd to chair the Transportation Commission, rather than someone who knows anything about roads. Cronyism perhaps?

In the wake of the SCOTUS decision approving voter ID legislation last week, PDiddie of Brains and Eggs fact-checks the need for it.

North Texas Liberal's Texas Toad takes a look at the new Republican culture war over something just as useless: allowing guns in national parks. Thank you, John Cornyn.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has this post on the Reaction To Perry's TxDOT Appointments.

McBlogger take a moment to talk about the state of the TTC and Guv. 39%'s appointments to the Transportation Commission.

Lightseeker shares his opinion On Trusting Free Market to Regulate Government over at Texas Kaos.

Vince at Capitol Annex shows another example of Voter ID Idiocy, this time highlighting an editorial from the Texarkana Gazette's pseudo-ivory-tower-intellectual editorial board and explains why such thinking is typical of suburban newspaper editors.

donna brazile weighs in on the presidential race

"Look, I'm a woman, so I like Hillary. I'm black; I like Obama. But I'm also grumpy, so I like John McCain."

- Donna Brazile, Democratic strategist and superdelegate while discussing the presidential race with comedian Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report. Brazile said she wouldn't reveal who she'll cast her pivotal convention vote for until all of the voters have their say.

Republican Faux Wars

Dick Cheney once told us that "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." We all know how that turned out. Cheney's obsession with Iraq's non-existent nuclear and biological weapons was only the most stellar example of how the Republicans are passing laws, rewriting regulations and even starting wars to protect us from improbable threats.

Let's take an example here in Texas. We know that Jerry Patterson of the General Land Office has stalled the transfer of Christmas Mountains to the National Parks system because they don't allow hunting. Now it appears he may get his wish. After pressure from Texas senators, the Interior Department is proposing new regulations that would allow conceal carry guns in national parks "to ensure visitor safety and resource protection."

To quote Booboo, "Mr. Ranger isn't going to like this, Yogi."

Park rangers, retirees and conservation groups protested the plan, saying it will lead to confusion for visitors, rangers and other law enforcement agencies.

"This is purely and simply a politically driven effort to solve a problem that doesn't exist," said Bill Wade, chairman of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees.

Wade and other critics cited statistics showing that national parks are among the safest places in the country. The probability of becoming a victim of a violent crime in a national park is 1 in more than 708,000 -- less likely than being struck by lightning, the groups said.

The rules change would defer to state and local law, which makes it very confusing and likely unenforceable. So why is it so critical to push an unneeded regulation against a non-existent threat which would produce a policy so incoherent it couldn't necessarily be enforced consistently within the same park?

Well, its an election year and the GOP doesn't have too much to crow about these days. Inflation is the highest in 17 years, housing prices are down double digits, the national debt is approaching $10 trillion, gas prices are approaching $4 per gallon, and then there is a little matter of that war that isn't playing so well in Peoria anymore. If you can't run on the issues, you need to invent one.

So instead of addressing any of our nation's problems with the economy, transportion, health care, fiscal policy; instead of drafting a plan to get us out a disastrous occupation of a foreign land; instead of addressing any of the real and present dangers facing middle America in the 21st century, we get yet another version of the culture wars. Thank you John Cornyn, Jerry Patterson, the Interior Department and the rest of the GOP for keeping issues like these on the front burner. We'd sleep much better in our tent knowing we're safe from Yogi Bear, except with the price of gas who can get to Yellowstone these days?