Posted on 12/12/2006 8:36:19 PM PST by MplsSteve
Former U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez defeated seven-term Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla in a runoff today, adding another Democrat to Congress and deciding Texas' final congressional seat.
With more than half the precincts reporting in the state's largest district, Rodriguez had 57 percent to Bonilla's 43 percent.
The two were the top vote-getters in a special election held Nov. 7, but neither got 50 percent, prompting the runoff.
Rodriguez's win gives Congress another Democrat after the party won control of Congress in the November elections. Texas added one Democrat already in the suburban Houston 22nd Congressional District once held by Republican Rep. Tom DeLay.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
After November 7th, this is insult to injury.
Unfortunately, Bonilla was forced to run in a district that was not nearly as hospitable as his previous one.
Comments or opinions - anyone?
If this is the last undecided race than "finally" I'm tired of the dirge music already.
I hope this sinks in though, so we can avoid this in 08.
All of this. Every bit. Would have been avoided, with a simple fence.
Why is that so difficult to understand?
Republicans need to stop trying to be "pretend" Democrats.
Republicans need to stand up, loud, and proud, and be the Red White and Blue patriotic party - which means no, we're not secretly building a North American Union, and no, we're not secretly enabling illegal immigration, and no, we're not driving away OTHER REPUBLICANS because they've got strong opinions.
Where is another Ronald Reagan??
It's important.
His district boundaries had to be redrawn because some judge or panel of judges determined that it was racist to expect Hispanics to be represented in Congress by a Republican, even if that person happened to be Hispanic.
Ciro Rodriguez is pathetic, Bonilla was far more articulate and a much better congressman. This does not bode well for the Republicans, we didn't get the vote out in San Antonio, despite pleas from Laura Bush and many others.
I'd have loved to have voted again for Bonilla, but I was gerrymandered out of his district by judges. I'm very sorry to see him go - but I imagine that he'll be back for a rematch, or running for Senator if a spot opens up.
Never mind.
Let's just try to win next time.
There is an old saying in politics You can't beat somebody with nobody. That is true. It is also true that you can sometimes beat somebody with a nobody.
Pathetic is a good was to describe Ciro Rodriguez. Clueless. Dimwitted. A bad politician. A braying Jackass of a liberal. He lost his old District in the primary two years ago, probably to vote fraud, then got trounced in the rematch this year, because nobody wanted him back, except his close family, and few ward-heelers on the Southside of San Antonio.
So how did Henry Bonilla manage to lose to this guy?
First, the Democrats had momentum. Republicans were still dispirited from the losses in November, while the Democrats were still enthused.
Second, Gov. Perry and his bunch in Austin has managed to alienate so many independents and sometime Republicans that too many people were indifferent to a Republican loss of this seat.
Third, Bonilla was criticized for not going negative on Rodriguez in the hybrid Special/General election. He launched a series of ads accusing Rodriguez of having very close ties terrorist figures. Bonilla backed up these claims with documents, and he went all over the radio talk shows to defend the charges. Rodriguez hid from the talk shows, and relied on lame "he's attacking my patriotism" replies, without addressing the specifics.
Politically, it is a fact that when Democrat makes serious charges against a Republican, the press says that seriousness of the charges requires they be investigated, regardless of the nature of the evidence. On the other hand, when a Republican makes serious charges against a Democrat, the press says that the seriousness of the charges requires that they be denounced as Republican dirty tricks, regardless of the nature of the evidence.
I'm not saying I know how to square that circle, but I heard far too many people saying they would not vote for Bonilla because of of the charges he raised. Bonilla tried, and failed, to get out the message "Don't vote for me if you think the charges are false, but at least look at the evidence."
Fourth, the Washington Democrats hit Bonilla hard with charges that he had not voted to support the troops, and that he had voted pay raises for himself. The first charge was spurious, and the second failed to state that Rodriguez voted for all the same pay raises when he was in Congress. But the ads worked. They weren't trying to convince conservatives that that the liberal Rodriguez was a better candidate, they were trying to convince conservatives that Bonilla wasn't worth the effort of voting for.
Conclusion: If ever there was a guy to vote against, it was Rodriguez. Republicans have to offer people a reason to vote for their candidates. Actually, a reason to be enthusiastic about taking off work and standing in line, even in a special election, to vote forRepublicans.
Seven-term Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla lost to former U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in a race that had angered some as it was held on December 12, which marks Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most important dates in the Mexican calendar.
That was seen by some as a Republican ploy to depress the Hispanic vote in a bid to benefit the conservative Bonilla, a strong supporter of President George W. Bush.
From Chron.com: "Tuesday's runoff stemmed from the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last June that Texas Republican leaders breached the Voting Rights Act by slicing 100,000 Hispanics from the district in their 2003 remap. A three-judge panel answered by removing several largely white Hill Country counties and pulling heavily Hispanic south Bexar County into the district.
The move put Democrats on equal footing with Republicans and increased the Hispanic population to 61 percent."
The unelected judiciary strikes again.....
Election '06 PING
"His district boundaries had to be redrawn because some judge or panel of judges determined that it was racist to expect Hispanics to be represented in Congress by a Republican, even if that person happened to be Hispanic."
The US Supreme Court ordered a 3 judge circuit court panel to redraw the boundaries.
The final results gave the liberal Rodriguez a 54% to 46% win, with Bonilla hurt by low turnout and ads that backfired.
I'll be so glad when this year is over.
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