Why won't myth of conservative TX die? (Houston, Dallas: house, cabinet)

[Ankhharu]

I have lived in Texas for 15 years. El Paso, Austin and Dallas. It is very much conservative. There are some liberals here but it is still vastly conservative.

[SickOfTheSunbelt]

Originally Posted by calid00d

its cities are vastly different from Phoenix

Sure, it's a weakly gop-leaning state. But uber conservative it is not.

Have you ever been to PHX or DFW? Aside from weather and geography, they are similar in many significant ways.

[Spade]

There is an article where a member of the Texas Republicans believe their party's stronghold of the state has already peaked and now the democrats are starting to gain more popularity in the state. The state as of now is still very much conservative. Who knows what it will be in 2020. With new transplants from the coasts and urban areas of the midwest, Hispanics pouring into the state and driving their influence more northward as the years go by, Texas seems to be in a collision course as a liberal and democratic state.

I can find the article and post it here. It is very interesting and Texans need to read it.

[Spade]

This is an article about stating that while McCain will win Texas, it won't be as big of a margin as Bush won in 2000 and 2004. It also mentions that young Texas democrats running for office stand a great chance of winning important positions in the state.

State of Play: Texas Monthly August 2008
and here's that article I was talking about. It's a must read for Texans.
Democrats Stage a Revival in Texas

[ajf131]

If you ask me, the myth won't die because Texas was that way for so long. I honestly think Obama is going to win in a landslide over McCain. There was a Newsweek magazine I read the other day suggesting he may penetrate the South's so-called conservative barrier. I am predicting he could win Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida and even Virginia. Kentucky has been a historic swing state, so I'm not sure. The simple fact that Obama is so close to McCain in Texas to me suggests he could win. I am predicting he could wind up taking the entire Midwest and Northeast and parts of the South as well as much of the west.

[calid00d]

Originally Posted by Ankhharu

I have lived in Texas for 15 years. El Paso, Austin and Dallas. It is very much conservative. There are some liberals here but it is still vastly conservative.

All three of those cities heavily favored Kerry in 04. Austin and Dallas are known for being liberal. El Paso is hispanics.

What could you possibly be talking about?

Source:
http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/statesman/...081205libs.pdf
page 31

[EclecticEars]

Here are things that people from out of the state of Texas (well, okay, I'm from KY, so I should be careful) don't understand:

• Austin: Twice, a homeless transvestite (named Leslie, usually hanging around 6th & Congress as I understand it) ran for mayor unsuccessfully. However, b/c of his popular street "cred," he actually accrued a significant number of votes from the 6th Street "scene" folks. (My question is: if he's truly homeless, how could he have registered for mayor twice?) Oh, Austin and Travis County each have property tax rates about 4x and 2x, respectively, above the average than just the rest of Texas--which means much higher than taxes in about 40-42 states.
• Dallas: Dallas County went for Kerry by a larger margin than did Los Angeles or Contra Costa Counties. Dallas County is in the process of reelecting (probably) a Democratic, hispanic, lesbian sheriff; the latter two descriptives are the first in county history.
• Houston: Harris County is much more spread out and has more of a "suburbia" mindset. That is reflected in the electorate. However, inside I-610 is a strong "sea" of blue. Sure, Mayor Bill White may be Republican, but the majority of Houston's population (and consequently its electorate) lives outside of I-610. But, Montrose itself puts to rest any allegations that some Austinites have about Houston being a "Bible-thumpin'" town.

I'm an out-of-state conservative, but just thought I'd give my honest analysis.

[Franklyn]

This OT seems based on biased reporting enhanced by several biased posters. Attempting a serious discussion here by "assuming facts not in evidence" - the POV of the OT - is a waste of time, imo. And the thread should to be moved to the Political forum, imo. But that's just me.

See y'awl in November.

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by calid00d

The latest polling

RealClearPolitics - Election 2008 - Latest Polls

has McCain up by only 8 points. Bush carried so heavily because he was their governor - Hitler could win in California if he had been governor.

Idaho, Kentucky, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Montana, and a ton of other states are more conservative. And it's only because the state is so huge with lots of country-club republicans in the suburbs, and lots of hicks in the country. The cities are liberal. TX is roughly equal to Florida in terms of liberal/conservative overall. Yet there is this myth of it being "the reddest of red states" when in fact it is far, far from that - both empirically and from the stanpoint of culture - its cities are vastly different from Phoenix, SLC, Lexington, etc.

Sure, it's a weakly gop-leaning state. But uber conservative it is not.

You act as though Texas leans slightly to the right. Most of the counties around the state are extremely heavily Republican. If you look at the 2004 presidential election results, the only counties that voted Democrat were in the Rio Grande Valley, 2 counties West Texas (El Paso County included), the Beaumont-Port Arthur area, and Travis County (Austin). Dallas, Houston, San Antonio all with CITY populations over 1 million failed to produce enough Democratic votes to turn those counties blue.

I wouldn't compare Texas to Arizona or Nevada. Arizona is basically a red state because of residents of Maricopa County (home of almost the entire Phoenix metro area) tend to vote MUCH more conservatively than any other area of the state due to heavy Mormon presence, an abundance of conservative Midwestern transplants, and low-tax loving long-time residents. Tucson, Nogales, and Flagstaff are all Democratic havens. In Nevada, the Las Vegas metro area is primarily Democratic. The metro also makes up nearly 70% of the entire population of Nevada. Therefore, I fail to see how Nevada is in the same league of conservatism as Texas.

Texas is heavily red and will stay that way for a LONG time.

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by jcm1986

[*]Dallas: Dallas County went for Kerry by a larger margin than did Los Angeles or Contra Costa Counties.

Dallas County didn't go for Kerry.