Friday, February 29, 2008

Texas' Super Tuesday

The Lone Star State is getting ready for its closeup on Tuesday. If you're confused about how the Texas process works, you are not alone. Fortunately The New Republic has a primer. The intro describes the convoluted process thusly:
Welcome to Texas: home of the most ludicrous, convoluted, and downright screwy Democratic primary system in America. Actually, it's not even a primary; it's a primary-caucus hybrid, the electoral equivalent of the turducken.

As we move from the primaries to the general election, is it possible that Texas, presumed to be the apodictic red state, could actually swing Democratic in November? Jonathan Gurwitz, a member of the editorial board at the San Antonio Express-News argues at Real Clear Politics that such an unexpected outcome might be possible. Texas politics are more complicated than most people imagine. The state that brought the country George W. Bush also produced Ann Richards and Molly Ivins and not so long ago was as solidly democratic as anywhere in the country. Wouldn't it be an irony of history if a state that turned red at least in part because of the politics of race voted for a black Democrat for president?

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