Texas Primaries Show Plenty of Fireworks After Long Wait

This past Tuesday in Texas were the Republican and Democratic primaries for county and statewide races and the anticipation leading up to election night packed the punch needed for political junkies around the country and not just in Texas.

Mitt Romney wrapped up the Republican nomination for President as he secured all 96 delegates offered by the Lone Star State. Ron Paul only pulled in 10% of the primary vote, but somewhere there is hope of the "Paulistas" that the good doctor can still win somehow. Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and former Solicitor General of Texas Ted Cruz had a hard fought fight and nasty fight that will continue with a run off. Dewhurst brought in 44% in the crowded U.S. Senate race and Cruz scraped back to a respectable 34% out of the field of nine candidates.

Dewhurst threw the Chinese kitchen sink at Cruz and still couldn't shake him in the polls. With run off elections, those who motivate their base the most will win almost every time. Dewhurst lost respect from much of the grassroots activists in the Republican Party for his attack ads and falsehoods on Cruz. As far as we know, Craig James did not kill five hookers but could have used them to bump his support higher than the 3.5% he earned statewide.

Around the state, conservative haters took several hits on the chin and were bounced out of the Texas House of Representatives. Republicans Vicky Truitt and Wayne Christian took big losses in their primary races and Speaker of the House Joe Strauss now has to rethink who some of his committee chairpersons will be.

Jim Landtroop staved off three challengers to face Ken King in a run off for HD-88 while Charles Perry flat out embarrassed former representative Delwin Jones by a 3 to 1 margin to win the nomination for HD-83.  Jones spent over $100,000 of his own money for this race and lost by a bigger margin than in 2010. No word yet if Jones will be making his weekly trips to Austin or not.

With the many run off elections in the state July 31st, look for many of the state races to become nasty and the fireworks of this Kabuki theater to be as exciting for political junkies.