Posted on 03/06/2004 7:33:40 AM PST by sockmonkey
Local Democrats are hoping a planned visit by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry will minimize any dip in voter turnout following the departure of John Edwards from the top-of-the-ballot race.
Kerry is scheduled to be at a 2 p.m. rally at La Villita on Saturday with local Democrats, said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign in Texas.
Kerry also planned a stop in Houston earlier in the day.
Officials with Rep. Ciro Rodriguez's campaign are looking to the event as a way to bolster local turnout and aid the incumbent in his bitter primary race with Laredoan Henry Cuellar, said Rodriguez campaign spokesman John Puder.
"We are glad this is one of (Kerry's) first stops now that he is going to be the nominee," Puder said.
The Cuellar campaign said it also welcomed Kerry's visit.
"We believe higher turnout will benefit us," spokesman Colin Strother said.
Kerry's Democratic stump is intended "to rattle the cage" of President Bush, who'll be finishing up a two-day visit by Mexican President Vicente Fox in Crawford, said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin.
"There are deep pockets in Texas that are open to Democrats," Buchanan said. "And we're talking about denying Bush Hispanic votes in Texas that could be part of a larger strategy targeting Hispanics."
Presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich is also making a South Texas trip, visiting San Antonio on Friday from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Milam Park.
Texas' role in choosing the Democratic presidential nomination already was minimized by its late primary date, a full week after delegate-packed Super Tuesday.
And it was feared the withdrawal of Edwards could depress Texas turnout, even though analysts said the impact was unclear.
"Part of what you need to discuss this intelligently is a strong sense of the Edwards pull in Texas," Buchanan said. "I don't know of any polls that show what his appeal was."
Early voting for the primary ends Friday.
Edwards raised more money in Texas than any other candidate, but neither he nor Kerry had a strong Texas organization until recently.
"My impression is that turnout will go down, but not so much in areas where there are highly competitive races," said Tucker Gibson, chairman of the Trinity University political science department.
That would include Rodriguez.
The four-term congressman, who is fighting to defend his seat against Cuellar, a former Texas House colleague, is hoping for a heavy Bexar County turnout to offset typically heavy turnout in Webb County.
In 2000, turnout in the Bexar County portion of District 27 was about 12 percent, or 15,000 votes. Rodriguez has said he would like to see that increase to about 18 percent, or 22,000 votes.
That same year, Webb County turnout was 36 percent, or about 31,500 votes
Just keep Ketchup Boy away from the Alamo. OTOH, if he gets much closer to it than La Villita, the ghosts of the Alamo defenders might just rise up and smite the SOB, doing us all big favor.
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