Two-woman ticket in Texas goes for history in 2014

[Tx4obama]

Two-woman ticket in Texas goes for history in 2014

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Forget whether Hillary Clinton could win the White House in 2016. Women still have yet to run many statehouses, but in 2014 two Texas Democrats are going for a new kind of history: Winning as an all-female ticket for governor and lieutenant governor.

Woven into one of the nation's most intriguing gubernatorial races this year is whether Democrat Wendy Davis, whose 11-hour filibuster over abortion restrictions catapulted the state senator to national fame this summer, can not only overcome long odds in a fiercely Republican state but pull off a political first.

If Davis and fellow state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, who is running for lieutenant governor, prevail in their March primaries as expected, they'll form what political experts say is only the fifth time in at least the past 20 years that a party has nominated women for both governor and lieutenant governor.

None of these pairings has ever won - nor have a woman governor and lieutenant governor ever served concurrently. Arizona in 1998 picked five women to the state's top executive offices, including then-attorney general Janet Napolitano, though the state has no lieutenant governor.

-snip-

Full article here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_THE_FEMALE_TICKET?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-01-01-15-51-49

[Dustlawyer]

1. K&R! Go ladies GO!!!

[ancianita]

2. Watch TX drop and add genders like crazy from the voting rolls.

[Gothmog]

3. This is going to be an exciting race to work on

I am looking forward to working on this race. Both women are very well qualified candidates. There is a good chance that the Lt. Gov. race could be against a tea party nut case named Dan Patrick and the Lt. Governor is a more powerful position compared to Governor

[hamsterjill]

4. I am ready!!!

Lifelong Texan here, and I say "Bring It On"!!!!!!

Cannot wait for a change! Go, Wendy and Leticia!

[Javaman]

5. While I would love to see Davis win, I really want Sen. Leticia Van de Putte to kick ass...

anyone who knows anything about how the Texas legislature is set up, knows the real power is in the hands of the LT. Gov.

[CrispyQ]

6. These races will get money from me.

[Rozlee]

7. As a Texan, I'm wondering how this will play out.

Teabaggers are already savaging Wendy, bringing out gender politics at their ugliest. I can only see it getting worse as things heat up. Leticia van de Putte is Hispanic, as is almost 40% of the Texas population. That's more red meat for teabaggers. Right now, she's idolized by my family who live in San Antonio, as that's part of her district. The GOP lost the female vote by 12 points in 2012 with their anti-woman rhetoric and policies. They lost just about every minority out there, including Hispanics by 71%. I'm very curious to see if they'll throw caution to the wind and bring gender and race politics into the election for governor and if there will be a significant enough backlash to make a difference.

[xxqqqzme]

8. I know it is

apples & oranges, but we have had 2 women senators in California since '92. I cannot even imagine having a man as senator.

Good luck Texas!

[GeoWilliam750]

9. Get Out The Vote

This is the entire issue.

There is a pool of about 10 million people apparently eligible to vote in Texas that did not vote in 2012, versus the 4.5 million that voted for Romney. My guess is that the vast majority of people in this pool do not lean Republican. If the base line is the same as in the 2012 Presidential election, Wendy needs the votes of a little more than a million of the people in this pool to take the seat. An aggressive campaign to register voters and make sure the voter rolls match the IDs is enough to turn Texas blue. Perhaps the campaign could be as simple as to obtain passports for a million unregistered Texans and make sure the voter registration matches exactly; denying the validity of a federally issued ID may be a bit tough, even in Texas.

A blue Texas is not a pipe dream, it is doable, but will require lots of volunteers, time, money, effort, and probably legal assistance. The resistance from the national media and local political machines would be white-hot fierce.

Combined with a shift in the Texas state legislature, this could result in a shift of 10 or more US House seats after a redistricting in 2020. With the current districts, there is little hope of moving more than one or two seats, and even this seems a bit optimistic. Yet, imagine two Democratic senators from Texas, a Democratic governor, eventually an extra 10 Democratic House seats, and a 38 vote shift in the electoral vote.

However, when Texas tips, the Republican party is likely to undergo a dramatic nationwide transformation, probably moving back towards the center, or a serious attempt to shift the Hispanic population to the right.
------------------------------

The statistics according to Wiki and and the Texas Secretary of State:


Texas population in 2013

26,448,193 (July 2013 est)


Voting Age Population (VAP) 2012

18,279,737


Registered Voters

13,646,226


Turnout

7,993,851


Republican Vote for President

4,569,843


Democratic Vote for President

3,308,124
------------------------------


Nearly 40% of the population is Hispanic, another 12% African American. Less than 50% of the population identifies as Caucasian. The Caucasian population percentage is in steady decline. Whilst some percentage of the Hispanic population may be undocumented immigrants, the legal, documented percentage is rising fast. Not being a demographic specialist, I am unable to speculate as to when the state's Caucasian population falls below 40%, but it seems inexorable. The tide is rising against the Republican party in Texas.

Even if Wendy does not win, an aggressive voter registration drive in Texas this year will pay dividends for years to come. It is also the right thing to do.

[davidpdx]

14. Interesting demographics

What about independents? I'm curious how many there are and what proportion are minorities. The demographics are almost there, it is a matter a when it will happen in terms of for governor and lt. governor. I'd still bet against Texas turning blue in the presidential election in 2016. My prediction is 2020. It may be very close the next time around though (as in well under a million difference).

[NNadir]

10. Well, you did give us Ann Richards.

And of course, Lyndon Johnson...

But I don't know. From here, it looks like Texas doesn't offer us much hope.

[Tx4obama]

11. Don't forget about Barbara Jordan and The Castro Brothers

Wendy Davis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Davis_%28politician%29

Leticia R. Van de Putte http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leticia_R._Van_de_Putte

Julian Castro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Castro

Joaquin Castro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Castro

Cecile Richards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecile_Richards


Ann Richards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Richards

Barbara Jordan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Jordan

Molly Ivins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Ivins

Lyndon B Johnson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B_Johnson

[NNadir]

12. Yes, Barbara Jordan. I remember her. A great woman.

I have to tell you though, I never had much use for Molly Ivins.

I have never forgiven those people who in 2000 pushed that tiresome paranoid fool Ralph Nader. The result was a tragedy.

[niyad]

16. "never had much use for molly ivins" really? why was that?

[NNadir]

17. In spite of her mocking him, George W. Bush had wonderful praise for her...

...according to her New York Times obituary.

I can see why.

She wrote, after all this:

http://freepress.org/columns/display/1/2000/166

The first decade of this century was an tragedy, probably an irreparable tragedy.

I get the impression though, that we came into that tragedy by making jokes that weren't funny.

I have no use for people - and I'm not saying that I would ever agree with Roger Moore's or Molly Ivins definition of "perfect" - who make the perfect the enemy of the good.

Would Al Gore have been a "perfect" President? A good President? We cannot say. But at the risk of raising a historical contingency argument, I very much doubt that Al Gore would have been a disastrous President, but because of misguided "jokes" what we had was a disaster.

Nader, by the way, was a paranoid fool, and apparently he appealed to other fools.

Other people may have gotten over all this, but I haven't, and I won't.

[Tx4obama]

20. Huh? Your link is to an article about her wanting to get Nader into the 'debates'

... not about supporting him to win.

I do not see anything in there about anyone being perfect.

Did you post the wrong link?

[niyad]

21. so let me understand this. in part, you dislike molly because of something chimpy said after she

died??

and what is "she wrote, after all this:" after all WHAT? that article was written in july 2000. what, exactly pisses you off about it, because apparently the rest of us understood it for exactly what it was.

[Paladin]

15. Was your lip curled in scorn when you composed that post? (nt)

[niyad]

22. one particular image did come to mind. . .

[BlancheSplanchnik]

13. there was never a time or place that needed them more.

Now is definitely the time.

Let's hope a loooooot of women in Texas have looooooong memories!

[cinnabonbon]

18. That is so exciting!

Looks like 2014 is going to be a very eventful year indeed.

[rdking647]

19. if we can GOTV

and get hispanics to the polls in numbers approaching white turnout then the dems win..

the key is getting them to the polls

[DFW]

23. GO WENDY!!!!!!!!!!!!! N/T

[Firebrand Gary]

24. "None of these pairings has ever won" Pard my language, that's fucking atrocious!

In all of the years since our nations founding, in all 50 states, never has two women won a Governorship and Lieutenant Governorship on the same ticket. Instead of dropping another F-Bomb, it's bleeping ATROCIOUS!

American exceptionalism my ass! We're going to change this in 2014, we have a lone star in the state of Texas.

[Tx4obama]

26. We need more women everywhere

At the moment there is only ONE Democratic female Governor: Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
There are currently 45 male state governors. There are 5 female governors: Jan Brewer of Arizona, Mary Fallin (R) of Oklahoma, Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Susana Martinez of New Mexico. Of those, Brewer, Fallin, Haley, and Martinez are Republicans, while Hassan is a Democrat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_%28United_States%29#Sex

And the number of women in the U.S. Senate is still way too low. Of the 100 senators only 20 are female.
Women in the United States Senate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_United_States_Senate#Senators_from_the_same_state

And the number of females in the U.S. House is too low too.
As of January 2014, there are 79 female representatives, or 18% of the body.
Women in the United States House of Representatives: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives

[Firebrand Gary]

28. We've got a lot of work to do!

My sleeves are rolled up, 2014 has got to be a game changer for us. Enough is enough, women's rights, women's representation is what we in the democratic party are all about.

[Tx4obama]

25. The women of New Hampshire

New Hampshire does not have a Lieutenant Governor, but...

Governor: Maggie Hassan (D)

U.S. Senators: Jeanne Shaheen (D) and Kelly Ayotte (R)

U.S. House: Carol Shea-Porter (D-CD1) and Ann McLane Kuster (D-CD2)


Would love to see more states like that

[oldandhappy]

27. How Exciting!!

Do it!!

Guess Texas will be trying to take women off the voting roles. Sob.

[bigdarryl]

29. Unless the national Democratic Party has a massive get out the vote drive

With young Hispanics who are not registered to vote who could be forget it this race is not winnable

[Coyotl]

30. K&R

[Bucky]

31. In Texas, Gov and Lt Gov don't really run as a ticket.

It's two separate elections. The LG's race is no more tied to the governor's race than the Railroad Commissioner's.

[Cha]

32. Kick for Wendy and Leticia!

Thanks Tx

[Donald Ian Rankin]

33. When did a Democrat last win governor of Texas? N.T.