The Texas Observer

Democrat Rick Noriega’s campaign for U.S. Senate received a huge boost this morning. A new poll from Rasmussen shows Noriega within four percentage points of Republican incumbent John Cornyn (47 percent to 43 percent). The margin of error is 4 percentage points. (Hat tip to Quorum Report.)

The numbers are sure to change in the six months leading to Election Day. But the poll may help Noriega raise the campaign money he so desperately needs. Cornyn has nearly $9 million on hand – compared to just $329,000 for Noriega, according to their latest campaign filings. To have any chance of pulling the upset in November, Noriega will have to raise about $10 million. He must convince not only big donors in Texas, but perhaps more importantly, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that Cornyn is beatable. The DSCC will likely decide this summer which races it will endorse as worthy of investment both by the committee and its extensive network of donors.

For Noriega, he couldn’t have asked for anything better than the first sentence of the Rasmussen analysis:

“It’s time to add United States Senator John Cornyn to the list of potentially vulnerable Republican incumbents in Election 2008.”

The price of oil continues to skyrocket today with a barrel of crude going for $120. Remember back in the day when the media kept warning that oil would bypass the $100 a barrel ceiling? Yeah, well those days are long gone.

Leave aside whether the U.S. can ever wean itself off its dependence on foreign oil, how about simply curbing subsidies and other corporate welfare perks for oil companies? An army of high-paid oil and gas lobbyists know the best way to forestall action is to win the hearts (these can usually be located next to their campaign accounts) of politicians. Oil producers are doling out some of their record-breaking profits to fund the presidential race. The Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit, runs a database called Oil Change International that tracks oil and gas contributions to the presidential candidates.

Republican candidate Senator John McCain is in the lead with $291,685, while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is close behind with $289,950 in contributions.

Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama trails the two with $163,840 in oil and gas contributions.

The biggest recipient of oil and gas largess is former Republican presidential nominee Rudy Guliani who collected $659,158 in political contributions. The campaign contributions are current as of March 3, 2008, according to the database.

Oil giant Exxon Mobil is not taking any chances in its lobbying and has given contributions to all three candidates. Long a target for environmentalists, Exxon has given the most, $23,550, to Senator Obama and the least to Senator McCain with just $7,950. Senator Clinton received $15,700.

Hmmmm. Is that about mitigating a worst-case scenario or do they know something we don’t?

I thought I’d leave this one to everyone else. How ABC chose to handle this debate was so appalling that I felt sure that most blogs, if not the mainstream media, would call them on it. Our country faces serious challenges, but rather than focus on them, Charlie Gibson and former Clinton staffer George Stephanopoulous decided to dwell on the trivialities of gotcha politics for the first 50 minutes. After that, it wasn’t much better. This was embarrassing for everyone who watched it, let alone the participants. Viewers went away feeling soiled.

Not surprisingly, the outrage in the mainstream media was muted, with some exceptions. To critique the handling of last night’s debate would involve accepting an implicit rebuke of all the horse race blather and minutiae that passes for most campaign coverage. Yet still unsatisfied after my morning reading, I decided to take a look at ABC’s own site. I wondered what comments the network collected from viewers. The first six I found restored a measure of hope for our democracy after a dismal evening. Below are some excerpts.

This is from the first comment:

ABC you are disgusting. That was the most biased debate I have ever seen. Half way through I wanted to turn off my TV and gouge my eyes out.

The second:

I can’t imagine why anyone feels betrayed by ABC news for their terrible debate questions. They are just doing what they exist to do: Trivialize important matters, sensationalize petty garbage, and generally distract their viewers with utter nonsense. They help keep the public as sheep.

The third:

I’m done with ABC, done with Disney. I want a list of the advertisers for that sham last night, so I can write them, let them know they didn’t get lot for their money.

The fourth:

It appears I will have to switch to Katie Couric for news, though I have avoided it for so long, Charlie. Tim Russert will also be the benefactor, though I always enjoyed George Will’s point of view on Sundays, I can’t support this junk journalism.

The fifth:

As a service member who has been deployed to Iraq and having a family member who is going through brankruptcy i found the hosts of the debate utterly direlect in their duties. Why it took 45 minutes to get to a single relevant issue is beyond me. I think ABC news should be ashamed of themselves for such a tabloidial (don’t know if thats even a word) opening half of the debate.

The sixth:

ABC SHOULD BE ASHAMED of how they handled this debate.

 The Texas primary runoff elections were a hiccup compared to the March 4 presidential primary. Turnout reverted to its normal dismal lows. Statewide, according to the secretary of state, it was just 1.55 percent. But history was made nonetheless.

In the closely watched race for Travis County District Attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, Ronnie Earle’s hand-picked (some would say anointed) successor, won handily, slamming challenger Mindy Montford 64.5 percent to 35.5. Lehmberg has served under Earle as First Assistant, and now, she will be Travis County’s first female DA — taking the reins of the Public Integrity Unit along with the other powers of the office.

Montford, who took a leave of absence from the Travis DA’s office (all of the candidates worked under Earle in some fashion), will presumably head back to work Wednesday — and that will certainly be an interesting conversation, given how heated the campaign had become between the two during the runoff.

The final numbers for the DA’s race came in just before 10 p.m. They show Lehmberg with 65.21 percent, or 19,197 votes, to Montford’s 34.79 percent, or 10,243.

Out in the Panhandle, Tryon Lewis beat incumbent state Rep. Buddy West of Odessa. This race was all about the power of West’s Midland rival Speaker Tom Craddick. The speaker’s money helped knock out West who only got 23.97 percent of the vote.

In the statewide contest, Texas Democrats continued to support a political newcomer. Voters favored Mark Thompson over Dale Henry 59 percent to 40 percent. Thompson is a therapist for blind children and former Austin Capitol and Park Police officer — who had spent (as of April 4) only $200 on his entire campaign.

I wrote about Thompson’s inexplicable Mar. 4 victory and have spoken with him on several occasions. He says he is running a campaign on issues and he says he will not take any money from oil and gas interests.

Thompson told me Tuesday that he intends to court those voters who supported his opponents and to raise money for the general campaign. He has consistently refused to “go negative.” He even neglected to mount a campaign to debunk the allegation that he hadn’t voted since 1996 (a charge floated by the Henry campaign). In fact, he did vote in Austin in 2005 and 2006.

Thompson’s victory shows Texas Democrats don’t always follow the leads of bloggers — since most of the progressive blogging community had piled on Henry’s bandwagon. Thompson even beat Henry in Travis County, 51-49.

Thompson will face Railroad Commission Chair Michael Williams in November. Expect Williams to raise a ton of money from the Oil & Gas industry and anyone else who will fork it over.

On Tuesday, Austin Democrats will elect a new district attorney for the first time in 30 years.

Long-time DA Ronnie Earle is retiring, and the original four-candidate field has been winnowed to two: Rosemary Lehmberg and Mindy Montford. Both work in Earle’s office. With no Republican in the race, the winner of Tuesday’s runoff election will be the next DA.

Why should all Texans care about a local DA’s race?

The office is charged with investigating corruption in state politics — the beat cop of Texas politics. It’s one of the most powerful elected positions in the state. Here’s our dispatch on the race from January.

The race has become heated in recent days. Montford, who has a significant money edge, has blanketed Austin airwaves with ads promising a tougher approach to prosecuting criminals than under Earle’s regime (in which Lehmberg has been a long-time second in command).

Lehmberg has responded by portraying Montford as beholden to the corporate lobby and some state legislators — the very people she would have to investigate in office.

In fact, Montford raised some eyebrows in January when she told the Observer she wanted a closer relationship with lawmakers.

“We’ve got to educate the Legislature and the lobby that, ‘Look you’ve got nothing to be afraid of if you’re following the law.’ We’re not on a witch hunt here,” she said. “I think you have to be visible and have constant meetings with people who could be before you as a witness or a suspect, and let them know how the unit operates. Then they will trust what you do, and they won’t care what political party you are. It’s going to the Capitol and meeting. You’ve got to be able to be welcomed down there. It obviously wouldn’t be possible to meet with every elected official, but it wouldn’t be bad to have a forum where we explain to them how the process works and ask them what improvements they want to see.”

Montford has received significant contributions from corporate interests and major Texas lobbyists (some with Republican ties), according to her campaign finance filings at the county clerk’s office

She’s raised $564,362 for the race. The largest share comes from Dolph Briscoe, the rancher and former Texas governor, who’s contributed a stunning $120,000 to Montford. She’s also received checks from businessman and San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt ($2,000), lobbyists Stan Schlueter ($1,000) and David Sibley ($250), and from construction magnate H.B. Zachry ($1,000), whose Zachry Construction firm holds contracts to build the controversial the Trans-Texas Corridor. Top executives at AT&T, where Montford’s father is a top lobbyist, contributed at least $5,000.

Then there’s Herbert Kelleher, chair of the board of Southwest Airlines, who chipped in $750. You know you’re connected when the chairman of a major company contributes to your campaign for county office.

When asked about lobby contributions, Montford has pointed out that her opponents — and Lehmberg in particular — have received huge donations from law firms. And that too could be a conflict of interest. Lehmberg has raised $302,250 for the race. This includes numerous contributions from the defense bar, including $5,000 from high-powered attorney Roy Minton (a self-avowed Liberal who defended Tom Craddick) and $10,000 from Minton’s firm.

Lehmberg’s contributors are also generally more progressive, including long-time Democratic consultant George Shipley ($5,000), the interest group Progressive Action ($5,000) and the national Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund ($10,000).

The Obama campaign declared victory in the senatorial conventions held yesterday. This just in, the Clinton campaign has declared… something else. See below.

And of course, the counties are still counting.

Statement by Texas Campaign Chairman Garry Mauro

Austin, TX – Following the Democratic Party’s county conventions in Texas this weekend, Clinton Campaign Texas Chairman Garry Mauro issued the following statement.

“Our delegates came out to their county conventions in full force over the weekend, and as a result, we gained at least two delegates to the national convention, with the possibility of picking up two more. Barack Obama did not make threshold in at least 20 counties, and we out-performed in many areas throughout rural Texas, where Hillary Clinton’s support is strong.

“We continue to be grateful to the enthusiastic support Hillary continues to receive throughout the Lone Star state, and look forward to a strong showing at the Texas State Convention in June.”

This in from the Obama Campaign. It might be a bit premature. When we get something from the Clinton Campaign, we’ll post that as well.

Meanwhile, once again the national media is shaking its head at the bedlam produced by Texas Democrats…

Caucuses Guarantee Obama Win In Texas

AUSTIN - With more than 56% of the results tallied from today’s 284 Democratic district conventions across Texas, Senator Barack Obama currently is projected to earn a 38-29 pledged delegate win in the Texas caucuses, exactly as projected on the day after the March 4th precinct caucuses. The nine delegate margin in the caucuses means Obama will gain a net margin of five pledged delegates from Texas because Senator Clinton narrowly won the Texas primary by only four delegates, 65-61.

“Despite the Clinton campaign’s widespread attempts to prevent many Texans from participating in their district convention, the voters of Texas confirmed Senator Obama’s important delegate win in the Lone Star State,” said Obama spokesman Josh Earnest. “Today’s record-shattering turnout sends a clear message that the American people are ready for change in Washington and new leadership in the White House that will stand up for working families.”

The Obama campaign will release a more detailed tally of the results tomorrow.