Rep Ralph Hall (D-TX) To Switch Parties

Fox News Channel | 01-02-04 | Tall_Texan

[Tall_Texan]

This just mentioned on FNC. No other source at this time.

[Bonaparte]

It's about time.

[NYS_Eric]

You just beat me! I saw that. Good news (even though he's already got a pretty conservative voting record). Now if only the redistricting in TX gets past the courts...

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[NYS_Eric]

Breaking news, perhaps? (If for no other reason than to stop the duplicate posts...)

[Torie]

Actually the new Hall district is a bit more Dem than the old, but does have a lot of new territory for him. Just why Hall was a Dem in any event, since his record largely tracked that of the House majority leader, is not entirely clear to me. In any event, I guess he wants to run for reelection, as the oldest sitting member of the House, and maybe if he hangs on for another decade or so, win the silver, and beat Congressman Greene of Rhode Island, who served I think until he was 91. Of course, the gold in Congress goes to Strom Thurmond, and he will probably hold the gold for near forever.

[billhilly]

This kinda reminds me of Quadafi after Saddam was unearthed. It is interesting to see what incentives are required to cause "leaders" to make the right decisions. Could we call it "Delayed principle syndrome."?

[Dan from Michigan]

More symbolic than anything else. I think he voted for the GOP committees anyway. A DINO.

[CounterCounterCulture]

U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall of Texas will be switching parties from Democrat to Republican. He is being pushed into a heavily GOP district with the new boundaries and he is known as a conservative Democrat.

Hmmmm...so....if his district didn't tilt Republican, one could assume he'd stay a Democrat? More about personal survival?

Course I'm a natural-born cynic and maybe he'll be freer to support conservative positions and nominees than as a Democrat. We'll see.

All the best and GO TEXAS!

[Steel Wolf]

Any guesses on how Tom Daschle will feel about this?

(HINT: Rhymes with 'deeply saddened')

[quantim]

Maybe he got a call from Howie Dean looking for support?

[Pubbie]

"More symbolic than anything else."

It's Still nice to accept his unconditional surrender!

: D

[No Dems 2004]

I'm very happy to hear this news!!! It's about time that the Republicans expand their numbers in Texas!!

Congressman Hall has a strong anti-gay and a 100% pro-life voting record. And he seems pretty straight-laced. This, of course, has a positive impact on the GOP's ability to hold the House in future elections. Yahoo!!

[mathluv]

With the primaries coming up, he has to file. If he stayed dim, he would be running against another incumbent, Max Sandlin. I think (hope) he could beat maxie.

He is a conservative, and often voted that way. Redistricting changed a lot here. Of course, the courts still have not ruled on that.

[Vigilanteman]

Ralph Hall has a lifetime conservative voting record only 1% less than Ron Paul. We should can the cynicism and welcome him. He's a good guy.

[demkicker]

Wonder what's taken him so long to make the switch?

[adam_az]

A big freepin' welcome to Rep. Ralph Hall!!

[leadpenny]

http://capwiz.com/c-span/webreturn/?url=http://www.house.gov/ralphhall

[Trajan88]

I've got my fingers crossed the Fed. judges reviewing Texas' new congressional map will give the green light in the next few days.

I will then look forward to reading the Doggett and Frost *issin' and moanin' sob-fest in the conservative Bible of the SW (aka The Dallas Morning News).

Trajan88

[MEG33]

His momma was a dem,his poppa was a dem.At one time years ago,the election was over once you knew which dem won the primary.