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 anybody concerned about this?'"
Click above to see the full interview, which includes a lot more.
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
Sean Astin Hosts Rally with Clinton Supporters
Austin Hillary Clinton for President Headquarters
701 East Ben White Boulevard
Austin, TX
So if you want to meet him.... hurry on out there!
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:
"It’s exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties and diminishes respect for America in the world.”
Then, Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams:
“If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely."
Some critics have questioned your patriotism. Is that fair game?
It typically is based on this scurrilous e-mail that's been going around, which is completely false. So to the extent that it's a vicious, false rumor that's deliberately being spread over the Internet, no, that's not fair game. But nobody said politics was fair. It is important for us to dispel it ... I am not a Muslim and never have been. I've been going to the same church for the last 20 years. I was sworn in on my family Bible. And I have been pledging allegiance since I was 3. And in fact you can see it on C-SPAN sometimes. When I've opened up the Senate and am presiding over the Senate, I lead the Senate in the Pledge of Allegiance, so these are just the kinds of, I think, dirty tricks that you see crop up periodically.
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 Worth, and comes back to Austin on Wednesday for a rally on the University of Texas campus. The event's on the main lawn and starts at 5:30pm.
Barack Obama returns to Texas on Wednesday and plans to be in San Marcos, then Fort Worth on Thursday and San Antonio on Friday. No word on Hillary Clinton's plans after Tuesday night's debate.
Clinton Campaign's Saturday Morning Conference Call
MSNBC screen grab
Wolfson and his lucky sweater
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 Clinton ads to air in Texas. I'm not sure if he's wearing his lucky sweater.
The campaign's been emphasizing Clinton's "strong closing", aka "very very powerful close" during the debate Thursday. It's using that closing statement in its first new ad, "Resolve". See it here.
"It was a great example of the quality and the inner core of Hillary Clinton," Van de Putte said.
The second commercial, "Deliver", features a Texas straight-talkin' type narrator. Watch it here.
"It really focuses on action rather than talk," Van de Putte said. "We appreciate the talk but Texans have always been exposed to talk... but who does the walk? Who goes beyond the bull to get to the cattle? Texans expect their leaders to fight for them, not just talk about it."
But reporters this morning didn't want to ask about the ads. Instead, Wolfson was asked to comment on a new Washington Post story about how the Clinton campaign's preparing for surrender.
"The storyline is nonsense. The mood is upbeat, Senator Clinton is working hard everyday. Momentum is a media storyline, but that is not an issue on which voters vote," Wolfson said.
Reporters also asked about whether the campaign has enough money to run these ads anywhere, but Wolfson maintains the ad buy is "expansive".
"These ads are up, and we are obviously hoping to have as strong as possible buys," said Wolfson.
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 a gazillion times, he's almost done, he's on the "needs some seasoning" part.
9:37pm: Obama is a tall guy, but looks pretty small when he's surrounded by a sea of humanity.
9:28pm: How cold is it out here? I can't feel my fingers. The traveling photographers on the riser (who have been in subzero temps in Wisconsin recently) were making fun of me.
9:25pm: Stock stump speech stuff at this point, so it's smooth sailing. Re: Texas-tailored talk -- He started with thanks to locals - the Texas Congressmen who have endorsed him, and a shout out to Ian Davis, and then called for a moment of silence for the officer killed in Clinton's motorcade this morning.
9:19pm: Obama has made that joke about how Dick Cheney is his cousin in every stump speech. But every time he makes that joke he seems to crack himself up.
9:16pm: "I am here to report my bet has paid off.. because you have told me you want something new, that you are ready for change, that you want to move in a new direction," Obama said. "THat's what you told me."
9:01pm: Right on time! Barack Obama takes the stage to some swinging bluegrass music!
8:57pm: It's Larry Burchette, the man who is supposed to introduce Barack Obama tonight. I guess that means he's on time for his 9ish arrival to the stage.
8:56pm: Crowd has stretched a total of five city blocks, from Congress to Brazos, and from 11th to 8th street and in every nook and cranny in between.
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.
The campaign tells me we will hear from:
-- A band that's playing right now that I don't recognize
-- Black Joe Lewis
-- A mariachi band of some sort
-- Larry Burchett, retired Navy SEAL, Vietnam Vet and a realtor in Austin, who will introduce Senator Obama
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 standing up in the audience at the conclusion of the broadcast event. (OK was I the only one who saw Craig Eiland?)
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:
Clinton Cancels FW Event After Cop Killed in her Motorcade
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.
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 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 the "spin room" area on the first floor. (The debate hall is on the second floor.) He was standing near those fajitas I showed you earlier tonight, and I watched as he snagged a flour tortilla and put it in his pocket.
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
There will be a political rally on Friday, February 22, 2008, at 11th and Congress Avenue. The rally is scheduled to occur from 9:00 pm to 10:30 pm or upon Senator Obama's arrival. The crowd size is estimated to reach 30,000 or more.
Set up for the event will start no later than 5:00 pm on Friday. The Austin Police Department will close Congress from 11th street to 6th Street. The following streets will be closed from Brazos to Colorado: 11th, 10th, 9th, 8th, and 7th streets. The exact time of the closures has not been determined, but they will definitely be in place by 5:00 pm. The South Drive entrance and the South Drive exit will be closing at midnight, tonight (Thursday, Feb, 21, 2008). The south grounds of the Capitol will be closed to foot traffic beginning at 5:00 pm, Friday.
Employees who park on the south side of the Capitol drives will be able to access their vehicles but will need to exit via the west exit of the Capitol Drive on Friday. The south doors of the Capitol Building will be locked at approximately 5:00 pm on Friday. Exit and entrance will need to be gained through the north, east, or west doors of the Capitol Building. Capitol DPS, in coordination with U.S. Secret Service, has arranged for Texas House Members and/or their family members who wish to attend the event to be admitted into a limited access area in front of the stage.
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.
All the satellite trucks lined up in front of the debate site...
Man, we keep having to wait in these long lines to get into the building because of the security checks... I think the secret service is tougher than the TSA. Is that possible? Corrie MacLaggan from the Statesman just got her granny smith apple taken away. What could be wrong with an apple? I'm pretty sure apples don't carry bird flu. Not positive, but pretty sure.
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!
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 present itself. Stay tuned!
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 random row and wrote down the seat assignments:
Facing them, L to R: Solomon Ortiz, Sheila Jackson Lee, Ciro Rodriguez, Kirk Watson, Judith Zaffirini, Royce West, Chet Edwards, Charlie Gonzales, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Silvestre Reyes, and Lloyd Doggett on the end.
It appears most of the seating is going to be up in the basketball bleachers (ouch, no seatbacks). But the extra special people from the campaigns, candidate families and some Texas lawmakers are going to be on the floor.
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
We have just been informed that Barack Obama will be having a rally at the Capitol at 9:00pm on Friday, February 22nd. Please be aware that there will be some traffic delays and road closures in the downtown area on Friday.
[Stuff about road closures, etc...]
We have also been advised by the Secret Service that people should stay off of the tenant balconies.
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.
The place still smells like B.O. It is a gym, after all. But it looks radically different than last week, when I wandered in to find a bunch of college dudes playing basketball. I made another picture album, you can see it 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.
My most unfortunate gaffe is not, in any way, a comment on Senator Obama, his substantial record, or the great opportunity we all share to elect him President of the United States...
In the meantime, let's not lose focus on what's important in this election. It's not my stunning televised defeat in "Stump the Chump." Thankfully, it has nothing at all to do with me.
He goes on to list some of Obama's legislative accomplishments (which we're sure he has memorized down to the bill number now.)
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 accomplishments are here, btw.) I guess our attention spans are a little longer than I thought. Watson told the Statesman it felt like a bad dream.
So the Clinton campaign is getting more mileage out of it, at least here in Texas. Is this a total distraction? Yes. But is this what happens in campaigns? Yes.
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 transferable.
See the letter after the jump. Oh yeah, Richie says no weapons are allowed.
"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).
Watson looked stunned and uncomfortable before responding with... nothing.
"I'm not gonna be able to do that tonight," said Watson. "What Obama is able to do is inspire," Watson said.
It played right into the woman spinning for Clinton, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who says that Clinton has a real record of accomplishments.
Then Matthews gave Watson another chance to list Senator Obama's accomplishments. Another awkward moment, and Watson is stumped again. But Matthews gives him the last word, to talk broadly.
After the pretty painful interview came to an end, Olbermann tried to deflect a little.
OLBERMANN: "In defense of Senator Obama, can you name one accomplishment of the US Senate within the last ten years?"
MATTHEWS: That's a broader question.
OLBERMANN: See, you can't name anything either.
"He's here to defend Barack Obama and he had nothing to say," said Matthews. "And that's a problem. We have to vet the guests occasionally."
Three thoughts:
1.) The takeaway from this is the Obama surrogates probably have to be a better trained before going live on national TV. To be fair, had it been a regular MSNBC anchor asking the questions instead of an overcompensating Chris Matthews, Watson would have been fine, he's a natural on television.
2.) Notice I said Chris Matthews was overcompensating. My takeaway on his pointed challenge to Watson is that it has more to do with Matthews than Obama. Matthews has been taking a lot of grief for his fawning comments about Obama on the evening of the Potomac Primaries:
That's right, Matthews called it an "objective" assessment when he said he "felt a thrill go up my leg" upon hearing Obama speak. Since then, he's taken a lot of grief for what appears to be a strong personal admiration of Barack Obama. He's probably trying to be harder on Obama as a result, which is what I'm gonna call overcompensation. Still, Watson could have been better prepared.
3.) It was awkard, but Watson has little to feel bad about. The viewership of MSNBC at this time of night is small, and Americans have short attention spans. I have already forgotten what I am writing about.
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 9:22 and he's still going. The crowds had to wait awhile for him, so I guess he's giving them their wait's worth.
9:11pm: As we get into foreign policy, Obama's speech hits the thirty minute mark. The crowd still sounds like it's into it though.
9:05pm: I was curious how Obama would look and sound tonight, because my Belo brethren at the Dallas Morning News blog observed that Obama was hacking and coughing today in San Antonio and blamed some sort of cold. He sounds a little gruff, and he's definitely red around the nose. But his energy level seems pretty good.
9:03pm: I'm also curious how much Wisconsin's same day voter registration helped catapult Obama to a strong win tonight. Same day voter registration is credited for helping vault Jesse Ventura into the Minnesota Governor's Mansion.
9:01pm: The way both campaigns were playing the expectations game, we were led to believe the final election results in Wisconsin would be pretty close. Instead, with about 20% of the precincts reporting, Obama is leading Clinton by double digits -- a thirteen percent margin right now. Wisconsin has the college town of Madison, but it's also a heavily blue collar state that I'm told looks demographically like Ohio. What does this mean for Obama's chances in Ohio?
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.
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:
1.) Three new endorsements - Former U.S. Congressman and Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox, former U.S. Congressman Jim Chapman, and former State Senator Gonzalo Barrientos.
2.) More than 100,000 Texans have committed to volunteering for Hillary and hundreds more are signing up daily.
3.) Plans to open 20 new offices statewide, "to accommodate Hillary’s tremendous level of support".
The Obama Campaign's Case for Texas Mojo:
1.) More than 4,000 trained in 20 communities to become Obama precinct captains this past weekend alone.
2.) Expanded television ad buy to the hamlets of Victoria, Abilene, Laredo, Wichita Falls and San Angelo.
3.) Texas Obama for America signed up over 38,000 Texans with accounts on the campaign's online organizing tool (including 20,000 since Tuesday, February 12th).
4.) An endorsement sweep of all major Texas dailies: Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, The Dallas Morning News, Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News and El Paso Times.
Which campaign has momentum we can believe in? I dunno. I have started a one-man policy of not reporting on polls on this blog, because I have found them to be so unreliable. So you decide. Early voting starts at 7am Tuesday.
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 various Houston locations like churches and what not. About 14,000 in online ticket registrations were accepted. Since they maxed out, that left 10,000 people having to sign-up for stand-by ticketing.
"It’s going to be a good crowd," said Obama Texas spokesman Josh Earnest.
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
CORPUS CHRISTI RALLY WITH SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY
Richardson Auditorium
Del Mar College
101 Baldwin Blvd
Corpus Christi, TX 78404
Doors Open: 12:30 PM
EDINBURG RALLY WITH SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY
University of Texas - Pan American
Student Union Theater
1201 W University Dr
Edinburg, TX 78540
Doors Open: 3:45 PM
LAREDO RALLY WITH SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY
Location TBD
Doors Open: 7:00 PM
