Texas Republicans have a big party planned in Fort Worth for the Labor Day weekend. They are planning to meet at the Fort Worth Convention Center, listen to their presidential candidates and conduct a straw poll. They have invited anyone who was a delegate at any of the last four state conventions or the last two national conventions.
They were planning to listen to the candidates and then conduct a straw poll. The idea was that this would show the relative strength of the Republican candidates in Texas. But it looks like the major candidates have spoiled the show.
The three leading candidates -- Giuliani, Romney and McCain -- have all declined their invitation to attend the event. Fred Thompson was also invited, but did not even bother to respond. Ron Paul is still trying to make up his mind about attending (and he's a Texan).
The only candidates who have confirmed they will attend the event are the minor candidates -- Tancredo, Brownback, Huckabee and Hunter. It certainly won't be a star-studded gathering.
Why are the major candidates thumbing their noses at Texas Republicans? After all, few states have as many delegates as Texas does. You'd think they would be eager to win a share of the many Texas delegates.
I think this is a case of their own action (or inaction) coming home to roost. A couple of months ago, our Republican-dominated House and Senate decided to leave our Texas primary in March, instead of moving it up to February as many other states have done.
Because of this, Texas is once again being ignored by the candidates. I think most of them believe the race could be virtually over before Texas voters get a chance to vote (and they very well could be right). So instead of coming to Texas, they're going to concentrate on the early primary and caucus states. Texas is left with a few also-rans who have no chance of winning.
They should have known this would happen. When was the last time Texas had a real voice in choosing a presidential candidate?
--------------------
But while the Republican's party may have pooped, it's not the only gathering scheduled for Fort Worth on Labor Day weekend. Texans for Peace is planning some anti-war rallies in Fort Worth that weekend. They want to show Republicans just how strong the anti-war movement is in Texas.
Rep. Lon Burnam says he and others from the Dallas Peace Center will be there. Sounds like a good event. If you are against the Iraq war, make plans to be in Fort Worth that weekend.
Hope to see you all there!
There's been a lot of that lately. For instance, check out my post: http://www.northtexasliberal.com/2007/07/lone-republican-draws-attention-at.html
ReplyDeleteTancredo was the only Republican to show up to the NAACP convention (all were invited). The Democrats were there in full force.
In a nutshell: if a candidate commits to a straw poll appearance and doesn't win, it's a big black eye. If they don't participate, they can go "Sure, Tancredo/whoever won, but I woulda won if I tried..."
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of peace: there is an antiwar Republican: Ron Paul. I am going to be at the straw poll, with my fingers crossed, hoping he takes first prize in light of the nonappearance of the celebrity frontrunners.
Texas has an open primary: if you don't have a strong preference for a Democrat (or have resigned yourself to a Hillary win) please consider putting a vote for Ron Paul in the republicans' box. A Giuliani or Thompson win could easily get us another illegal war (in Iran, most likely)
I think the Republicans are simply keeping a low, low profile. Didn't they also blow off the Iowa straw poll?
ReplyDeleteI think it's style over substance. They'd rather that their base hew to their talking points, without any sort of poll results to, you know, cloud the issues. The issues that they're ignoring.
You said: When was the last time Texas had a real voice in choosing a presidential candidate?
ReplyDeleteAre you joking? Where do you think the present idiot comes from?