 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
April 2009
More KVUE Blogs
Political Blogroll
|
February 2008 ArchivesI've been waiting for one of the campaigns to start going nuclear here in Texas, and the wait is over. First, the Clinton campaign comes out with an ominous ad by Austin ad-man Roy Spence. "It's 3a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Something's happening in the world. Who do you want answering the phone?" (Cut to shot of HRC with her glasses on, talking on the phone.) See it here. Senator Obama hit back during a campaign stop. "We've seen these ads before. They're the kind that play on peoples' fears to scare up votes... Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle already made clear who he wants to see succeed him as DA -- Rosemary Lehmberg. Now, he's taking a role in the Democratic primary contest for CD-10, the seat currently held by US Rep Michael McCaul. "It is unusual for me to make an endorsement in a race that is not solely about law enforcement," Earle said in a statement. "But crime trickles down, and the tone of corruption at the top is reflected in violence on the streets. In order to avoid the latter we have to clean up the former." Earle cites Grant's civilian work in Iraq and Afghanistan as "boots-on... Senator John McCain, the presumed GOP nominee, stopped by Dell's Round Rock headquarters to take questions from employees in a pretty informal town hall. Only, when we wanted to ask employees what they thought of the candidate afterwards, they said they were prohibited by Dell Corporate Communications from talking to us. So, I can't actually report what the people in the audience thought about the candidate.
Reporters covering the Obama campaign have gotten to know Ian Davis quite well -- he's the indefatigable leader of a grassroots, all-volunteer group called Texans for Obama, which grew out of a book club in 2006. The group has since been organizing meet-ups and sign-making parties and policy talks... then, when the nomination battle actually came here, Davis surged into action, helping drive the "people power" part of the Obama Texas campaign. In today's Wall Street Journal, the ever-humble Davis finally gets some love...
It's night number three of our Belo Texas Tracking Poll. Barack Obama now takes the lead over Hillary Clinton (46% to 45%). "The race continues to trend slowly but steadily toward Barack Obama, keeping in mind these changes are slight and within the margin of error," writes pollster David Ianelli of Public Strategies.
>> Continue reading: The Lead Changes in the Belo Tracking Poll We have the new Belo Texas tracking poll for today... and tonight it will feature a geographic breakdown to show how well each candidate is doing in different Texas regions. It's embargoed until 10pm but be sure to check back at 10:01pm. There are small shifts that the pollster says indicate a larger trend. If this tracking poll is news to you, here's the overview: The four TV stations of Belo Texas commissioned a tracking poll that surveys 400 registered voters in Texas each night. It started Sunday night. Each night's results are cumulative numbers based on the previous three nights of polling.<... Senator Barack Obama snuck into a dressing room/bathroom at the Austin Convention Center to do a quick interview with me this morning before an Austin Town Hall meeting. (Click on the image for the video). I asked him whether Texas might actually be in play for Democrats, especially after Senator Hillary Clinton conceded to Evan Smith last week that Texas is "usually not in the electoral calculation for the Democratic nominee", but that Florida and Michigan delegates should be seated because they ARE in play. "It's true that it's... Obama's now taking questions from the crowd. He started with a question I haven't heard before...A UT computer science major asked about the US Patent Office being too slow to issue patents. Obama gave a tiered answer, and has continued to do so pretty gracefully ever since the town hall began. His answers fall into a general pattern: 1.) General exposition on the topic Senator Obama took the stage a few minutes ago and started speaking, but from the place where the press tables are, it's nearly impossible to make out what he's saying due to a pretty bad echo. He sounds all muffled, but I think he just mentioned "corporate lobbyists" and "making college more afforable", to which he recieved cheers and applause.
Here's something we don't usually see at Obama events -- empty seats. I'm told this was a ticketed event -- the tickets were free, but supporters had to take extra steps to get them.
This is a view from where I'm sitting at today's Obama event at the Austin Convention Center. I'm behind the press risers... we'll have more photos throughout the day.
Another superdelegate defection to Obama. Longtime State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, joined a growing list of superdelegates who are leaving Senator Hillary Clinton's camp. See the AP story here. Just last Thursday, you could find Thompson in the Texas debate spin room talking up Clinton. Just another example of how fleeting superdelegate support can be.
OVERVIEW from pollster David Ianelli: Six days out from the Texas Democratic presidential primary, the race remains a statistical dead heat with Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama by a slim 46%-45% margin, narrowing slightly from 46%-43% since yesterday. The race continues to trend toward Barack Obama, though these changes are slight and within the margin of ... Former President Bill Clinton is back in Austin, and since I'm out here at UT where he will soon hold a rally for students, I'll liveblog between responsibilities for the 5 and 6pm newscasts. 7:48pm: And Clinton wraps up... "He cheats us out of four and half minutes of a sixty minute speech!" The AP reporter jokes. 7:47pm: We're almost at the one hour now. The Time reporter goes, "Doesn't it feel longer, though?" 7:39pm: "We've been very serious tonight," Clinton admits. "THink about what being president is like... if you're not careful you ... We can stop the unofficial Clinton Texas Campaign Response Time Tracker at 31 hours and 30 minutes. Kamyl Bazbaz called just after my 6pm liveshot tonight to clear things up, after I blogged yesterday about my failed attempts to get the Clinton Texas campaign to respond. "I'm so sorry about that, we really apologize," said Bazbaz. "That's not our reputation and I will personally do my best to get back to you." So for the remaining six days of this primary race, we have established a reliable Texas contact for the Clinton campaign. The Response Time Tracker is now stopped. UPDATE: >> Continue reading: Re: Clinton Texas Campaign Response Time Tracker One's in English, one's in Spanish. The first highlights ethics reform efforts in Washington (which our tracking poll shows is a trait that voters like in Obama by a fifty point margin). The second ad is about college education. Here's the one in English, which uses footage from what looks like the Houston rally last week. (Was that ju... Deja vu all over again. Remember the dust-up during the 2006 gubernatorial race between Kinky Friedman and Chris Bell, when Kinky's campaign started touting that Ann would have voted for Kinky... but then the Democratic candidate, Bell, came back with "Ann always voted a straight Democratic ticket"? Now there's "What Would Ann Do" questions again, this time, regarding the tight Texas presidential primary race. The Clinton campaign's Women for Hillary group is promoting a video showing that former Texas Governor, the late Ann... Since the arrival of the competing presidential campaigns, I have had a difficult time getting a hold of the Clinton campaign's Texas press contact, Adrienne. It's rather difficult to include the Clinton campaign in stories when we cannot connect. For example... -- A February 8th email to establish first contact went unreturned. This morning, I called for a response on the House Democratic Caucus leaders taking issue with Clinton's co... Whew. The embargo of our KVUE presidential primary poll is finally over. Bottom line? The Texas Democratic Primary race is a toss-up. (And definitely no telling how the caucuses will go.) Clinton leads Obama in this poll 46% to 43%, within the 4% margin of error. Austin-based Public Strategies is performing this daily tracking poll for all four Belo Texas stations, and started polling Sunday night (during the Oscars). Watch the video here. 9:38pm: And we're out. A big round of applause from the quietest debate audience this cycle. Were they even there!??! 9:34pm: In closing, both are asked for the "fundamental question" that the other must answer in order to be worthy of the nomination. Obama says that Clinton is indeed worthy, so she doesn't need to pass a test, but that he is a better candidate. HRC gets an applause line for saying it would be a "sea change" for her to be the first woman president. The question she has is "Who can actually change the country?" This is the same Clinton argument abou... The Brian Thompson campaign is calling attention to the latest campaign finance reports out today, which show incumbent State Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, took another $24,000 from "Swift Boat" financier and mostly Republican donor Bob Perry. An email blast from the Thompson campaign points out she also took money from the following: $10,000 from Michael Stevens - one of the largest Republican donors in Texas - TPPF Board Member - gave to the controversial Craddick-funded Tx Jobs PAC - Republican appointee to Sunset Advisory Commission Sorry for the lack of posts today, we're trying to make sense of all the poll data provided to us by our pollsters at Public Strategies. But a busy night tonight, and I hope you'll come back and visit because I'll do my debate night liveblogging, as well as detailed poll results and analysis (after 10pm.) Sorry the poll stuff can't come sooner, it's embargoed until 10:01pm. (How specific, right?) ...The four Belo Texas stations, KVUE Austin, WFAA Dallas, KHOU Houston and KENS San Antonio have together commissioned a daily tracking poll of the Texas primary race. It's in the field daily until Sunday. The first results will be reported by all four stations simultaneously tonight at 10pm. Obviously this breaks my one-man-blog-policy of not reporting on polls. But since it is the poll our station paid for, I'll be reporting on it tonight at 10pm on television and in some form throughout the week. Results will also be available on www.kvue.com. Details to come... tune in at 10pm. ...In an exclusive with our Dallas sister station, WFAA, Hillary Clinton addressed the controversy over the photo of Barack Obama wearing a Somali headdress. Clinton said she didn't know who leaked the photo, but accused her rival for using it as a distraction.
"I know nothing about it," Clinton told WFAA's Brad Watson. "This is in the public domain. But let's just stop and ask yourself: 'Why are you -- why is ... I would totally make some Lord of the Rings references here if I could remember the trilogy well enough not to offend any superfans. So, we'll just play it straight here and say that actor Sean Astin, well known for his role as Sam in Lord of the Rings, will be in Austin to talk about his candidate-of-choice, Hillary Clinton. I don't know why I just now got this press release, it could be my server or something, but apparently Astin is at the Hillary Clinton HQ on Ben White RIGHT NOW. 5:00 p.m. CST The problem with Brian Thompson's campaign ads is in the details, says Nelson Linder, the man who filed the complaint. The documents show the ad was purchased by a third party on behalf of the Brian Thompson campaign. In the commercials, the ads say they are "paid for by the Brian Thompson campaign" rather than paid for by the third party. This amounts to an in-kind campaign contribution, which we will see if Thompson lists on his campaign finance reports. But Linder's problem with Thompson is broader. "Brian Thompson has so little scrutiny," Linder said of his motives to file a com... The ethics complaint against HD 46 challenger Brian Thompson accuses his campaign of failing to disclose its commercials are "political advertisements" and who paid for them. But here's a screen grab of the last shot of the ads:
In his email, the complainant, Dukes supporter Nelson Linder, says he filed the complaint to "bring more scrutiny to tactics being employed [by the Thompson campaign] and not reported" by the press. Not sure what kind of tactics are being alluded to h... I've been getting a lot of emails from folks about the picture on the Drudge Report showing Barack Obama wearing traditional Somali dress. The Clinton campaign does not deny that it circulated it. First, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe responded: Then, Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams: Now both candidates in the HD 46 primary have complaints against them at the Texas Ethics Commission. East Austin resident Nelson Linder has filed a complaint against HD 46 challenger Brian Thompson for an infraction similar to DA candidate Rick Reed's complaint about Rosemary Lehmberg's signs. The complaint says Thompson's latest television ads do not clearly say they are political ads and who paid for them. ...They are both off to Ohio on Tuesday, for the only debate before March 4th. But surrogates and spouses will be here in Texas until Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton return to Texas later in the week. In Austin tomorrow -- Caroline Kennedy. JFK's only surviving child will make a campaign stop for Barack Obama at Serrano's Mexican Restaurant on Red River. Doors open at 2pm. She heads to the border on Tuesday. Michelle Obama will be in Beaumont, Galveston and Houston on Monday. Former President Bill Clinton spends Tuesday in Dallas and Fort Wor...
State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte and Ohio Governor Ted Strickland are joining Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson on conference call right now, to unveil two new C... 10:01pm: And as KVUE hits the air, we're over and out! Tune into the Nightbeat! 10:00pm: Obama finishes with the "this is our moment" line... he went a full hour. 9:46pm: Fire marshal estimates crowd at 20,000 plus. The crowd stretched W to E from Congress to Brazos, then N to S from 11th street all the way down to 7th street. 9:45pm: "Don't tell me about speeches and solutions," he says. "Because those two things go hand in hand." 9:42pm: All right, for those of you who have heard this stump speech ... Senator Barack Obama's been campaigning all over the state today, but should be back just after 9pm to appear in a massive public rally that has several downtown streets blocked off already. Since he won't be here for a while, the campaign has hired a lot of pre-entertainment. At Obama's rally at The Backyard in November, we heard from the band Fastball. Sorry to disappoint, but Fastball is not in the lineup tonight.<... Hey, it's everyone's favorite feds! A throng of TSA agents are standing in the TXDOT parking lot below me milling about. I guess they are getting ready to make us take off our shoes and present our boarding passes before going through the metal detector.
It looks like the press risers, the head-on pool camera riser and the risers for the people who are going to be standing behind Obama are now up. Here's a shot from my office window.
CNN/Univision drew in 7.6 million viewers for last night's Democratic primary debate from UT. It's the second higest rated primary debate yet -- the only debate more-watched than ours was the one in California, starring Leo DiCaprio and Josh Lyman from The West Wing as "audience members". The debate drew 7,576,000 total viewers; 1,257,000 18-34 viewers; 2,812,000 18-49 viewers and 2,986,000 25-54 viewers. Out of the all 19 debates broadcast this cycle, the Texas debate ranks second in viewership. Not too shabby. Just think, almost eight million people saw a brief shot of State Rep. Craig Eiland sta... Our Capitol office has huge windows that directly face the south side of the Capitol, so stairs and scaffolding and tents and port-a-potties for tonight's massive Barack Obama rally have been literally going up right before my eyes:
Hillary Clinton canceled her Fort Worth appearance this afternoon after an officer in her motorcade died in Dallas this morning. He was killed when his motorcycle, traveling at the back of Clinton's motorcade, slammed into a viaduct. If you've seen these type of motorcades, you know how fast they go and how quick they take these curves. It's the third police motorcade death in three years, after two separate casualties in President Bush's motorcades. ...State Senator Kirk Watson, D-Austin, has inspired a t-shirt. Technically, his performance on MSNBC Tuesday night inspired the shirt, now available on cafepress, the same site where you can buy the Rick Perry Adios Mofo t-shirts (and mugs). The black shirt features a logo of Watson's face (it looks like it's a screen grab of his expression during questioning the other night), with the text "Hardballed" written across it.
Found Obama campaign guru David Axelrod in the middle of a massive press throng and I didn't hear a word he said because he was surrounded by too many people. The same thing happened when I tried to hear Mark Penn, Axelrod's nemesis in the Clinton campaign.
The spin signs are out. Young UT students are holding up big signs on wooden stakes with the names of people who are going to be downstairs any moment now to spin for their respective candidates. I saw Clinton pollster/campaign guru Mark Penn's sign just now, I'm sure he's gonna have a boatload of people squeezing in to get him.
I've gotta get up from my creaking seat in the media filing room soon cause the clock says this thing is about to wrap up. I'm headed out into the hallway of spin, where the campaign surrogates will be furiously talking up the performances and points of their candidates tonight. I'll get some shots and put them up after my 10pm television piece is in the can. ...Hillary just made a mention of Kirk Watson's self-described "stunning television defeat", in which he couldn't name any of Obama's legislative accomplishments. She said she "thought it was funny". Watson is sitting right in front of her right now... in floor seats, about four rows back. ...Since both candidates seem to be "playing nice" as the Star-Telegram's Jay Root said, we had time to take another few photos. Here's the dude I'm sitting next to, the Star-Telegram's John Moritz. (He's also a good friend of mine, so I'm glad we're row mates tonight, makes things more fun.)
Okay here we are about half an hour in. Hillary Clinton's a better debater, but Obama hasn't slipped up. Clinton projects confidence better and appears a lot more energetic than Obama tonight. She's also much better at dropping lines that are red meat for democrats. Meanwhile, that Jorge Ramos is an attractive man. ...Candidate are taking their seats, and reporters have too. I am in one of two equally large media filing rooms. Here are the folks in the rows behind me, as Clinton namedrops Barbara Jordan and Ann Richards in her opening statements of tonight's debate. Also - apparently there will be "no hard and fast rules" tonight.
This is an overhead shot of the stage where the candidates will be sitting tonight.
I'm not sure who's sitting where, but we will know in no time. ...This press filing room's filling up fast. Everyone's pretty much in place now, here's a look at the dudes sitting next to me watching all the flat screen TVs broadcasting CNN at once.
The "public" started getting in line for the debate tonight around four o'clock, but I only now got around to putting it a shot of it online. (There's the whole matter of doing liveshots for the five and six pm newscasts.) I said public in quotes because people in line included former Texas House Speaker Pete Laney, who is actually in the shot below but I've sized it down so much that you can't see him.
After the 5pm liveshot I ran into State Rep Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, in th... A Capitol staffer friend of mine said employees at the Capitol got this memo today regarding tomorrow night's Obama rally at 11th and Congress. It might be useful info for any of you who work or drive downtown (emphasis mine): Information Concerning Barack Obama Rally Dinner at tonight's democratic debate will be fajitas. CNN bought dinner for the press which is pretty much stuck in here tonight because going in and out will be a real hassle in about two hours.
If you aren't one of the lucky 2,000 sitting inside the gym-turned-debate-hall tonight, or one of the 2,000 at the downtown Hyatt to watch the debate with the Texas Democratic Party... here are some other spots: Keep Austin Blue will throw a candidate-neutral watch party at Mother Egan's Irish Pub, 715 W. Sixth (6.30pm). Texans for Obama will be holding a rally and watch party at Scholz Garten, 1607 San Jacinto starting at 4:30pm. The Alamo South Lamar is also throwing a non-partisan viewing party -- but I hear that it too, is sold out. Please post other parties in the comments! ...No one's really here yet. Here's our empty media filing center.
The day we've been overhyping for the last week and a half is finally here. I'll liveblog the day -- kind of. A lot of much more able journalists will be seated near a computer all night long, so it's going to be easier for them to handle the nonstop liveblog. We TV folks are going to be jumping through logistical hoops to try and get on the air at 5, 6, and 10. So in my in between time, I'll be photo-liveblogging... just trying to give you a look at the scene from inside the hall or any quirkiness that might pr... My building management was right and scoops us all. Barack Obama will hold a massive outdoor rally at 11th and Congress (the South side of the Capitol) at 9pm Friday, February 22nd -- tomorrow night. Gates open at 6pm, and the event is free and open to the public. But the area is going to be gated off for security and for road closures and stuff. Which means you must RSVP for a spot here. ...
Curious where the lawmakers and other special people will be sitting during the debate? Their chairs are already marked off with tape, so I picked one ra... Somehow the building management of our KVUE capitol office (1005 Congress) informed us of a Barack Obama rally before the Obama campaign did. I went back to my office today to find this memo up by the elevators: MEMORANDUM A strong throng of press filled the UT Recreational Sports Center to get a preliminary look inside the debate hall and the filing centers. (As usual, they keep broadcast and print in separate rooms. Obama's all about "no more red states and blue states", how about no more print filing rooms and broadcast filing rooms! I'm sick of the division, we need unity.) Here's a shot of the debate hall... more pictures are here.
Kirk Watson's humiliating appearance on live national TV didn't send him into hiding. Instead, he's responding to all the newfound national attention with a message on his website. My mind went blank. I expected to be asked about the primary that night, or the big one coming up in Texas on March 4, or just about anything else in the news. When the subject changed so emphatically, I reached for information that millions of my fellow Obama supporters could recite by heart, and I couldn't summon it. The Clinton campaign's going to keep Austin State Sen. Kirk Watson's embarrassing MSNBC appearace alive, at least for another few hours. Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson is doing a conference call right now to discuss Watson's appearance during coverage of the Wisconsin returns last night. (They are calling it an appearance on the program Hardball, but it was not.) Last night in my post about the cringe-inducing interview, I said that everyone would quickly forget about him not being able to name any of Obama's legislative accomplishments. (Some of those >> Continue reading: Clinton Campaign Extends Life of Watson Fumble One of the 100 winners of the public drawing for debate tickets is a woman named Cordera, who was kind enough to share her winning notification with me. In an emailed letter from TDP Chairman Boyd Richie, she is given instructions about RSVPing and details about taking her seat Thursday night. Winners notified today have until 2pm tomorrow to RSVP. If they do not do so in time, then that spot is given to "another Democrat". There are also no actual tickets to hold in your hand. The winners just get their names added to a master list of people allowed into the debate hall. Which makes the "tickets" non trans... "A fantastically awkward mix of dead air, stuttering, laughter and repetition ensued." --Huffington Post State Senator Kirk Watson, D-Austin, got stuck playing "hardball" with MSNBC's Chris Matthews tonight on live TV. Matthews pinned down Watson, asking him to name "specific legislative accomplishments" of Senator Barack Obama (who Watson supports). 11:46pm: Just before I retire for the evening, a final update. Obama's winning margin is up to 17 points over Clinton. And it looks like he'll take at least nine more delegates from Wisconsin than Clinton. 9:27pm: He finishes up... the crowd goes wild. Now, as for the Wisconsin win, the margin still looks like about 13% but not all precincts are back. This doesn't mean much of a delegate spread, however. So far, Obama has taken 21 delegates to Clinton's 17. 9:22pm: It's 9:... Polls in Wisconsin close in about one hour and twenty minutes. The Texas for Obama campaign folks invited the press to sit in on their election watch party at Scholz's, and I could use some barbecue, so I'll start the Wisconsin return liveblog once I get there. Don't count on the same treatment for the Hawaii returns, mainly because we'll see them past one in the morning. Aloha. ...It's that time again! To help make your early voting experience a little easier, I have taken the Travis County early voting locations and made them into a google map. View a larger version by clicking the link at the bottom of the map.
You know that video you seen in our newscasts of people voting? Mainly just the backs of their heads and shots from a distance? Well, you won't see it from any polling places in Travis County. The county elections coordinator has banned all cameras from polling places (even those in public buildings), per state statute. The Secretary of State's office says it is state law, but that counties kind of decide on their own what their individual policies will be regarding cameras. Some counties are more lax, which means our early voting video today will come from our sister stations in Dallas and Houston, which ... Registration to enter the online drawing for one of 100 public tickets available for Thursday night's presidential debate is now closed. 43,436 people signed up. That means if you signed up, your odds of winning are now about 1 in 434. So, if a meteor struck and killed one member of the U.S. House of Representatives while they were all actually meeting together, you'd have about the same chance of being that one member killed by a meteor. (This is totally a hypothetical. Please do not fear a meteor striking your house member.) ...Weird. I got an email earlier today from the Obama campaign declaring it was "building momentum" in Texas. Then, I got an email from the Clinton campaign saying it was "gaining momentum" in Texas. When you have to SAY you're building or gaining momentum, are you really? The Clinton Campaign's Case for Texas Mojo: 2.) More than 100,000 Texans have committed to volunteering for Hillary and hundreds ... Geez, you'd think the Toyota Center (where the Houston Rockets play) would be a big enough venue for Obama supporters. But I forgot how many people lived in and around Houston. On the eve of the presidential candidate's visit to San Antonio and Houston, I check his website to discover "tickets are no longer available" to the Houston event. They're out? According to various seating configurations, the Toyota Center can fit up to 19,000 people for concerts. According to the campaign, 6,000 paper tickets were distributed for free from v... I'm not sure how to precisely measure the love that some Texas Democrats have for the Kennedy's, but I think the John F. Kennedy portrait made out of velvet that you can find on the wall of East Austin's El Azteca restaurant might be a good gauge. Senator Ted Kennedy is headed to South Texas to campaign for his buddy Barack Obama. I only have details on the Wednesday events so far -- but he's scheduled to be in Texas on Thursday as well. Wednesday, February 20th Mike Huckabee's Texas supporters aren't giving up. Sure, the delegate math shows Huckabee can't catch up to John McCain. And sure, the GOP establishment is coalescing around the presumed nominee, most recently with Bush 41's endorsement in Houston this morning. But that doesn't mean Huckabee supporters should be "denied a choice in this election", they say.
When early voting starts tomorrow, there will be a lot of other names on the primary ballots. You know, people running for other offices besides president. They are people we've neglected lately, ever since the presidential nomination stampede headed to our hood. So let's give a little love to the Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector race in the D primary. Incumbent Nelda Wells-Spears has headed the office (which oversees elections) for 16 years. Challenger, former State Rep Glen Maxey, says she's not doing her job very well. He found evidence of thousands of voters being accidentally purged from Travis Co... "Hell-oh my name is Simon... and I like to do draw-rings..." -Mike Myers, Saturday Night Live Number of tickets in debate ticket drawing: 100 Deadline to register is 5:00pm today, no duplicate entries, winners will be notified tomorrow. ...The day after the Wisconsin primary, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama plan on being in Texas -- but they probably won't be crossing paths. Clinton is expected to hit South Texas once again, specifically Hidalgo County. Obama does San Antonio and Houston on Tuesday, then DFW on Wednesday. And just in case you've been trapped under something large, early voting starts tomorrow. At the Clinton headquarters Saturday, we heard a lot of emphasis on getting supporters to vote early. Clinton did well in early and absentee voting in other big states, like California. ...The Washington Post weighed in with a story on our state's weird primacaucus this morning, and how that's worrying Clinton backers, who are behind in the delegate count. This is from the second page, regarding precinct caucuses: "...There are instances in which the person chairing the event can influence the outcome, party officials said. For instance, the rules say that only people who vote March 4 can attend that evening's caucus events. If a caucusgoer says he voted but does not show up on the rolls, t... As you know, Hillary Clinton's Austin HQ used to be Kinky Friedman's HQ during his 2006 run for governor. Not to be outdone, the Obama campaign is ALSO occupying a former Kinky Friedman office. Obama's new Fort Worth digs? Yep. Small world. ...Former President Bill Clinton arrived late, but managed to speak twice in Austin because the room in his wife's campaign office where he was set to stump for Hillary was too small for the crowds that turned out. My colleague Jessica Vess was there... and if you missed it here's some video of the scene. ...The weather turned absolutely miserable in Austin - the kind of cold, hard rain that pretty much makes you want to stay indoors and curl up watching infomercials. But the excitement of the Texas primacaucus got hundreds (maybe thousands?) out of their houses to help volunteer at Obama and Clinton's new Texas headquarters. I shot a few photos of each campaign office, just click on either photo below for a look at our day. >> Continue reading: Campaign Offices Open: A Photo Essay Make it two grand openings tomorrow for the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters in Austin. The first grand opening will be in the afternoon, sans Bill or Hillary. The second will feature former President Bill Clinton. The schedule has Bill Clinton arriving at 9pm Saturday night for a rally at the furniture-store-turned-Kinky-headquarters-turned-Clinton-headquarters. The address is 701 East Ben White Boulevard. Look for it next to the strip club and the Bill Miller barbeque. ...
Austin Mayor Will Wynn (possibly the best political name ever) hopes Barack Obama will win the Democratic nomination. The campaign an... Unprecedented turnout is expected for the Texas Democratic primary on March 4th, and the state's complicated primary/caucus hybrid could make election night a cluster. Chillax, says the state party. Party chairman (and unpledged superdelegate) Boyd Richie will meet the press Friday morning to discuss "the steps the Texas Democratic Party is taking to prepare for this historic turnout". Speaking of superdelegates, Gardner Selby at the Statesman put together a list of Texas superdelegates...
We're double-booked. Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns are doing their official Austin office grand openings on Saturday. Here's your choice of events and their features: The Clinton Office Opening The Obama Office Opening Ready... Get Set... Enter. Click here to put your name in the drawing for the 100 tickets available to next week's Democratic Presidential Debate. You must be a registered voter in Texas. The drawing happens Monday evening and winners will be notified next Tuesday morning. Good luck. ...First off, if you tried to visit this here blog during the lunch hour and were rudely "forbidden", I apologize, we had some server troubles. Anyway. Clinton's latest Texas television ad will feature her commitment to servicemen and focus on her experience in "helping fight for those who fight for us". Here it is: Former staffers of the quixotic Kinky Friedman for Governor campaign say they will soon share something in common with Hillary Clinton -- an office. The Kinky campaign moved out more than a year ago and sold all of its office furniture in a massive garage sale type close-out. But now, the same furniture-store-turned-campaign-office located conveniently near a men's club and Bill Miller barbeque will become the home of the Clinton campaign, according to former Kinky staffers. Not sure whether this is an official campaign office, or a volunteer office. (There's certainly a difference, >> Continue reading: Clinton Gets Kinky So, the TDP didn't take my idea about wrapping the golden debate tickets into candy bars a la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Instead, they will use their website to conduct the drawing for the 100 presidential debate tickets available to the public. Party spokesman Hector Nieto says you can probably start putting your name in the drawing late this afternoon. "As soon as our webmaster can get it up," he said. The only qualification so far is that you must be a registered voter in Texas. Drawing winners will be announced by next Tuesday (the debate is next Thursday). ...Stiles and I are both trying to watch the live stream of the Democratic US Senate debate on our computers and neither of us can hear anything. It looks like 186 viewers are online right now, trying to watch this debate. Can y'all hear it? Please let me know. UPDATE: Livestream viewership down to 138. Perhaps Stiles and I aren't the only ones having audio trouble. While it's fun to watch Karen and Eileen sitting there and mouth some questions, I'm not getting anything out of this. ...Scratch that earlier announcement about the Democratic Presidential Debate in Austin being completely closed to the public. The Texas Democratic Party changed its plans a little, deciding today to make 100 tickets available to the general public through a drawing. Details on how to enter the drawing available later. Perhaps the party can conduct the drawing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style. Why not wrap the 100 tickets into random chocolate bars, and let people take their chances? How much fun would that be? ...Democratic US Senate candidates Rick Noriega and Wrey McMurrey will meet for their only scheduled debate before the March primary in about half an hour. The debate starts at 8pm on the UT campus, and will be moderated by the DMN's Karen Brooks and Texas Monthly's Eileen Smith. Don't feel like actually going to UT and probably getting a $25 parking ticket? Watch the debate from your own living room. All you need is an internet connection. Here's a link to the streaming video. ...State Rep. Valinda Bolton, D-Austin, is joining her colleagues State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin and State Rep Donna Howard, D-Austin, in endorsing Hillary Clinton for president. "Health care reform is one of the most critical issues facing our country today,” Representative Howard said in a statement. “As a former nurse, I support any candidate with a clear vision of how to fix our current system and make it more affordable and accessible. Hillary Clinton's plan is the best way to blend public and private coverage and ease the financial burden on families and small business." ...Lots of meat to feed the beast today, outside of the debate-related announcements. We'll just hit each camp and latest developments in each: The Clinton Campaign Doh. Bad news for those of you who have been wanting to score tickets for the Democratic presidential debate in Austin next week. Tickets will be available by invitation only, meaning lots of big donors and party bigwigs will get the invites and regular folks probably won't. But the Texas Democratic Party, in order to accomodate viewing, will host a watch party open to the public at the Hyatt on Barton Springs. The cost to attend that? $50, which includes food. The TDP also invited both candidates to stop by the watch party after the debate is over that night. "This was all produced by CNN, we have ... The political news beast must be fed, but I'm sorry, it's nearly impossible to break away from this captivating Roger Clemens testimony on Capitol Hill right now. Is Henry Waxman gonna throw down? Will Debbie Clemens have to testify? "If I'm guilty of anything it's being too trusting of everyone... too nice to everyone," Clemens says in his opening statement. ...It's all about the Latinos in Texas now, as they could make up anywhere between a quarter to one-third of Democratic primary voters next month. In California, exit polling showed Latinos picked Clinton by a 2-1 margin, and she's counting on deep roots with the Texas Latino community to help carry her to a win in our state's primary. We spent lunchtime at the East Austin eatery, Joe's, where Austin Latinos have been gathering to eat enchiladas and talk life, love and politics for more than four decades. (Today's special? Carne Guisada, yum.) >> Continue reading: They're the Deciders John McCain, in his victory speech after sweeping the so-called Potomac Primaries: To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It is a platitude.... Hillary Clinton's first foray into Texas media will be in Spanish. An ad called "Nuestra Amiga" is airing today in 13 Texas TV markets. If you live in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, Harlingen-McAllen, Houston, Laredo, Lubbock, Odessa-Midland, San Angelo, San Antonio, Victoria, or Waco-Temple-Bryan, then you will see it. Here's the translation of the 30 second spot: Our voice and our vote will elect the next President of the great country. As Hillary Clinton prepares to make a two-day swing through Texas' heavily Hispanic communities, the Barack Obama campaign is beginning to air Spanish-language radio ads across the state. Obama today also earned the support of another former Edwards backer, State Rep Trey Martinez-Fischer, D-San Antonio. ...State Senator Kirk Watson, D-Austin, officially came out in support of Barack Obama for president today. He was a big Edwards backer for the last two presidential cycles but now that Edwards is out, Watson says Obama is the best choice. His full statement is here, but here's the last part: At this unique moment in our history, Senator Obama is focused on possibilities, not politics. He offers solutions that will unify our country and lead us into the future.
It's my one shot of the massive Obama staff training at the HoJo today. That's former Austin state lawmaker Glen Maxey in the front, talking about historic vote breakdowns in various parts of the state. Like the carpet? I thought it gave the whole training a lot of character. Looks like I captured a lot of backs-of-heads. You can see their faces in the video story here. ...I've been getting some emails asking about how to get tickets for next week's scheduled Texas debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The answer for right now is, wait. The debate will be at the LBJ Presidential Library on the UT campus. Logistics on ticketing have yet to be worked out between the hosts - the Texas Democratic Party, Univision and CNN. Once we hear anything about snagging some tickets, I'll be sure to let you know. Perhaps I'll try to get some and put them on stubhub. You think that would fly? ...The Travis County District Attorney's office just put out a statement regarding this morning's criminal complaint against Tom Craddick, which was filed by campaign finance watchdog group, Texans for Public Justice. From the DA's office: The complaint received today from Texans for Public Justice regarding Tom Craddick and the Texas Jobs PAC is being reviewed by the Public Integrity Unit.
Sweet. We won't have to travel to Houston for a Clinton vs Obama debate. The Clinton campaign had originally agreed to a debate set in Houston, but it lo... Obama for America staffers are all holed up in an Austin Howard Johnson (or HoJo, as I like to call it) for training on Texas' primary/precinct caucus system. About 150 staffers were stuffed into a Howard Johnson conference room that looked straight out of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, complete with the sixties carpeting. No fear and loathing among staffers, though. Everyone seemed eager to fan out across the state in which Hillary Clinton is said to have a built-in advantage because of the folks who tend to vote for her (Latinos, blue-collar folk, seniors). During my quick visit in the training ... Barack Obama staffers from the Iowa and South Carolina teams are running around Austin right now. They're undetected, but they are everywhere. Dozens arrived this weekend for an orientation meeting Monday morning before field teams disperse across the state. Texans for Obama volunteer coordinator Ian Davis says he is in the process of securing a volunteer field office in East Austin, while the official campaign staff tries for an office space downtown. But they are all here now, which gives the Obama volunteer group a chance to host a party. Texans for Obama is >> Continue reading: The Obama Onslaught Arrives Travis DA candidate Rick Reed filed two ethics complaints against his opponent, Rosemary Lehmberg, for putting up campaign signs that don't clearly indicate they are "political advertisements." The Lehmberg campaign says it's simply a printing error, and the printer himself put out a statement to that effect: We learned today that we failed to print from the proof that was approved by the Lehmberg campaign last month. We're embarrassed by our mistake, we accept responsibility for it, and we have called Ms. Lehmberg's campaign manager today to apologize. We plan to ship adhesive stickers with the requi... Travis County District Attorney candidate Rick Reed is a stickler for the law. After all, until last week he worked for Travis County DA Ronnie Earle's Public Integrity Unit. Now that he's dedicated to campaigning full time, he's found a problem with the campaign signs of his former boss/current opponent, Rosemary Lehmberg, and doing something about it. (Lehmberg is Ronnie Earle's candidate-of-choice.) Reed dropped two ethics complaints against Lehmberg this afternoon, for displaying and getting someone to make signs that don't include a notice saying they are "political advertisements". So, he's p... Looks like the Republican ranks are falling in line behind Senator John McCain. Texas Senator John Cornyn issued a statement supporting McCain, who is the de facto GOP nominee. (Huckabee is still in but he doesn't have enough delegates to catch up even if he were to win every contest from here on out.) “In this time of war and economic uncertainty, America must have strong, principled leadership. National security is the first and most important priority of the federal government. We must have a President who will be a leader in the war on terrorism, who will do what is needed to protect our country and it... Now that the presidential primary frenzy is headed to Texas, I asked my friend Otis in South Carolina to write a guest post, sharing his primary frenzy wisdom. He's been there and done that many times, since South Carolina has been home to the "first in the South" primary for a long, long time. His tips are for us lowly local reporters who will now have national press in our backyards and barbeque joints and bars. Enjoy... Five Ways to Enjoy Your State’s Presidential Primary 1. Embrace your worthlessness Looks like Romney's about to pull out of the race for president. He's about to speak to the CPAC convention. ...... To wish you a Happy Chinese New Year! May the new year be full of prosperity. If you were born in the Year of the Rat, be extra careful all year. Apparently you're more accident-prone when you're in your zodiac year. ...In the frenzy of liveblogging the entire Super Fat Tuesday, I forgot to update numbers on Monday's marathon voter registration drives across Travis County. Here's the update I got from Ryan Giggs, one of the organizers: Throughout the day we registered 4,500 voters total at our 9 locations around the city, with nearly 2,500 of those coming from the Co-Op location. This was a fantastic turnout considering people are registering for a primary, but maybe not so surprising since there is so much excitement about the current races, and how Texas is positioned to have some effect on the nomination come March.... "It should be a lot of fun campaigning there. Lots of Mexican food, and good times." --Hillary Clinton, on coming to Texas. Man, I don't think she could have said that any better. I've been freebasing enchiladas since I moved here at age 14. Good times. Now that Texas is in play in the presidential contest on the Democratic side, what does it mean for downballot races? If we see a wider-than-usual electorate and a bigger-than-usual turnout, who does that help and hurt in state house races, DA races, e... Already millions of voters have turned out to vote in this "closest thing to a national primary we've ever seen". (How many times have you heard that in the last week?) Instead of liveblogging only the returns, I'll liveblog the much-hyped day. Hopefully, it will include your thoughts and observations. I'll be on AIM as "elisewho" and on Gtalk as "elisehu". Comments are also open all day. Since it will be a long day, the full liveblog will be after the jump, with most recent entries at the top. Keep refreshing for new updates. Let's get this party started. ...So I just read that Hillary Clinton has agreed to a debate on February 28th in Houston, to be be broadcast on The Place for Politics. (Why bother with the actual network names anymore, let's just use their slogans.) I have no other details on this, but it sounds cool. ...The cool place to be on UT's campus today? The Co-op on Guadalupe, where at last count students helped sign up more than 800 new voters in a marathon voter registration drive today. It's the last day to register for the March 4th primary, in which Texas may actually be relevant in the race for President. Eight other spots in town were available to folks to sign up ahead of the deadline tonight at midnight. Scroll down to see them. I'll have totals on how the marathon registration day went when it's over.
Political media guru and proud Texan Mark McKinnon is counted among the John McCain inner circle that didn't jump ship during the campaign's darkest days. Now that McCain seems to be blazing a path toward the GOP nomination he's a happy guy. He talks to Time's Mark Halperin about how New Yawk ain't Tejas.
Halperin: What is the biggest difference between New York p... Earlier I put out an all-call for help with photos of the voter registration drive at the Co-op on Guadalupe, here's a reader submitted shot from this afternoon:
For those of you who still need to register, Deputy Voter Registrars will be registering folks to vote at the following locations from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Midnight: University Co-Op on the Drag @ 2246 Guadalupe
This only relates to CenTex because on its website, the >> Continue reading: The Phantom Democratic Club Mystery Anyone have cell phone photos of the registration drive at the Coop on Guadalupe? I'm told that "boatloads" of young people are getting registered in this final day to register for the March 4 Texas primary. Since I am currently bedridden, I can't actually do any on-the-ground reporting. Please help. I will post photos. ...The Obama campaign shelled out the untold million(s) to buy Superbowl ad time in the 24 states voting on Super Fat Tuesday. Obviously, those of us in Texas markets didn't see the ad, but the city of Austin and its Obama supporters did get a role in the commercial itself. Check out the first few shots below. The shot of Obama working the crowd and then the Austin skyline were from the February rally on Auditorium shores where 22,000 showed up. UPDATE: >> Continue reading: Austin's Superbowl Appearance Turns out I have the flu - the flu shot cost $30 I didn't have, doh. With "Super Fat Tuesday" (get it?) just around the corner, I'm going to hunker down and hope to get better so I can live blog the entire day. My friend, former TV journalist turned professional poker blogger, Otis, liveblogged the entire Election Day 2006* and wound up having interesting conversations with the readers vis-a-vis 113 comments. We're gonna try it just to see what happens. *That night, I liveblogged Election Night 2006 from Governor Perry's vi...
As the Los Angeles Times endorsement of Barack Obama makes national news, The Austin American-Statesman quietly did the same. I found out through a breaking news alert that someone at my work must have signed me up for, because I randomly started receiving these on Friday.What the States... |
|
|
Elise Hu is KVUE's Political Reporter and your dedicated blogger. There's too much politics in Texas to fit into a newscast, so the fun continues here. Email your ideas and feedback to ehu@kvue.com.
Categories
Powered by Movable Type 4.1 |
|
>> Continue reading: 
>> Continue reading: 
>> Continue reading: 
