No Love For Wall Street Willie In Texas

Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) may have won the Florida Republican primary, but it is doubtful that he can do so anywhere else in the South. Most Southern States are much more like South Carolina than Florida, which does not bode well for Romney. And whether you consider Texas a part of the South or the West (a case can be made for both), the same is true of the Lone Star State.

According to a recent poll, Romney gets no love from Texas Republicans. In fact, he only finishes in third place. Here are the latest poll numbers for Texas (taken February 8th though 15th):

TEXAS TRIBUNE/UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS POLL
Rick Santorum...............45%
Newt Gingrich...............18%
Mitt Romney...............16%
Ron Paul...............14%
Others...............6%

Wall Street Willie has to be breathing a sigh of relief that the Texas primary has been pushed back. It was originally scheduled to be held on Super Tuesday (March 6th). But the Republican gerrymandering of districts in the redistricting process has thrown the primary on hold. That's because the redistricting process is currently in federal court, and no one knows what the final district lines will look like -- and the primary can't be held until the district lines are known.

There was some talk of holding two separate primaries in Texas -- one for the presidential nomination and another later primary for all other offices. But the state, due to Republican incompetence, is broke. Holding two separate primaries would double the cost and Texas just can't afford that right now. The latest thinking is that the Texas primary won't be held until around the end of May, and could even be delayed further than that (depending on what the federal court does and when it does it).

Will Texas even have a voice in determining the Republican presidential candidate? That all depends on how quickly the nomination is wrapped up. If Romney can stage a comeback and score a string of victories soon (which appears unlikely), then it will all be over before Texas holds its primary. But if the race is stretched out with both Santorum and Romney (and maybe Gingrich) winning states and Paul picking up delegates in caucus states, then Texas could be the deciding factor with its late primary.