Texas Presidential Primary Round-Up: February 12, 2008

As we noted yesterday, we’re going to be rounding up media and blog coverage related to the Texas Presidential Primary every day between now and the primary. Here is today’s installment.

Texas Bloggers’ Takes

TXsharon at Bluedaze says she is Still Going to Vote for Edwards in the Primary.

Karl-Thomas Musselman at Burnt Orange Report notes that State Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin) has endorsed Obama.  Also, BOR’s David Mauro brings us up to speed on the Hillary Clinton appearance in San Antonio on Wednesday.

Dallas South Blog says that Barack Obama is planning a march and rally in Dallas for February 18.

Charles Kuffner at his Houston Chronicle blog Kuff’s World, notes that the Austin debate means there won’t be one in Houston (”rats,” as Charles says).

National Blogger’s Takes

Steve Benen at Carpetbagger Report notes that the Obama campaign did not endorse Che Guevera and rounds-up some of the stories that the appearance of a Che Guevera flag at an all volunteer Obama office in Houston generated.

The MainStream Media’s Takes

Rucks Russell at Houston’s KHOU-TV has a piece that examines the cost of television advertising and the impact it will have on the presidential contenders in Texas.

The Dallas Morning News calls the Clinton-Obama battle in Texas a “toss up” and gives a brief run down of the race.

John Moritz and Anna M. Tinsley of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram note that we’ll be seeing a lot more of Clinton and Obama in Texas.

The Texas primary is also making international news as BBC’s Justin Webb takes a look at the state’s delegate selection process.

Jay Newton-Small of TIME Magazine asks “Can Obama Keep The Momentum?” and offers an interesting take on Hillary Clinton shifting focus to Texas:

Clinton herself has already started to shift the focus away from this week’s contests to Ohio and Texas, which vote on March 4. With their large Hispanic and working-class populations, Clinton’s staff and many observers have believed the two delegate-rich states will be more friendly territory for her campaign, but increasingly they are viewed as must-wins, her last chance at the nomination—so much so that she is traveling to Texas on Tuesday. “I believe if you look at the states … upcoming, I am very confident,” Clinton told reporters after touring a General Motors plant outside Baltimore, before turning her fire on the media. “Before Super Tuesday you all were reporting on all the momentum. It didn’t turn out to be true. Let’s have the elections. Instead of talking about them, pontificating and punditing, let’s let people actually vote.”

US News & World Report’s Nikki Schwab writes about Clinton and Obama laying the groundwork for Texas and opines that we’re actually fortunate that legislative action to move up our primary stalled:

Luckily for Texas voters, legislation to move up their primary to Super Tuesday got killed by the state Senate, making their 193 Democratic delegates a bigger prize now that the race is essentially tied. Clinton was ahead by 10 points in one poll taken before Super Tuesday, and the party establishment in Texas supports her, according to Sabato. “Texas is tailor-made for Hillary Clinton,” he says. “It’s difficult to see how Obama would win it; he would have to make dramatic inroads with the Hispanic voters.” Hispanics made up 24 percent of Texas primary voters in 2004, though African-Americans, who typically favor Obama, made up 21 percent. However, the Obama campaign has more money and is opening 10 field offices in the state to “capitalize on the momentum” of Super Tuesday, says Obama’s Texas state director, Adrian Saenz.

CBS News’ Brian Montipoli writes about Obama’s new Spanish-language radio ad airing in Texas in Obama Courts Hispanics in Texas:

The Obama campaign has announced a new Spanish-language radio ad to air in Texas.

“Barack Obama is talking to me. He’s faced many of the same challenges that we’ve faced in my family,” an announcer says in the spot. “His parents weren’t rich, but through hard work, he earned a scholarship and found his way — graduating from Harvard Law School. And instead of accepting job offers that paid a lot of money, Obama decided to work with churches, giving a helping hand to those less fortunate in his community.”

Lubbock’s KCBD-TV reports that former Congressman Charlie Stenholm (D-Lubbock) has joined the Hillary Clinton team, offering his endorsement:

Former Congressman Charlie Stenholm announced his endorsement of Hillary Clinton for President Tuesday.

“Hillary has the type of pragmatic leadership we need to get our country back on track,” said Stenholm. “Hillary’s always been a ‘doer,’ and she has the experience we need to lead our country on Day One. My wife Cindy and I are proud to support Hillary and look forward to campaigning for her throughout Texas.”

The Stenholm endorsement was notable enough for the Boston Globe’s Political Intelligence blog to pick up on it as well.

The El Paso Times offers full coverage of Hillary Clinton’s tour and appearance in that city today, including the “rules” for attendees.

The San Franscisco Chronicle’s Karen Lockhead also weighs in on Texas’ hybrid primary-caucus system on her Below The Beltway blog, and makes some notes about minority turnout and what it means for Obama:

Clinton is also banking on Texas’s large Latino population. But unlike California, which is only 6 percent black, Texas has a large African American population that votes in much larger numbers than Latinos. Because delegates are distributed based on past turnout, heavily African American districts have more delegates than Latino districts. That gives Obama a much stronger edge in Texas than has been widely believed.

The Dallas Morning News’ William McKenzie weighs in on the impact of WMD’s (White Male Democrats) in past presidential primaries in Texas.

In “Hillary Clinton Comes Alive” Slate’s John Dickerson says that Hillary Clinton may find an indicator of how she’ll do with Texas Hispanics in…Wisconsin:

Clinton is banking on her loyal constituencies for her comeback day on March 4, where she hopes working-class whites in Ohio and Latinos in Texas will give her victories. An early test of whether blue collar voters are holding for Clinton might come in pockets of Wisconsin, which votes next week. The college towns will go for Obama, but much of the state resembles Ohio. These areas should back Clinton. If not, she’s in trouble.

And, The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan opines that Clinton should quit the race now, because even with wins in Texas and Ohio, it will be impossible for her to win the nomination. (We disagree.)

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