Howard Dean Fires Up Austin Democrats
"We are going to take back Texas. And we're going to do it before we take back other states we've lost the last 15-20 years," Dean said during the rally.
The former Presidential candidate fired up the troops at Scholz Garten in downtown Austin.
Yeah, good luck with that Mr. Dean. You might have better luck someplace else.
According to the Texas Secretary of State the last presidential election saw an overwhealming support for President Bush, and the trend over the last twenty years is more and more conservative.
2004 George W. Bush Rep 4,526,917 John F. Kerry Dem 2,832,704 Michael Badnarik Lib 38,787 Michael Anthony Peroutka W-I 1,636 John Joseph Kennedy W-I 126 Deborah Elaine Allen W-I 92 Andrew J. Falk W-I 219 Walt Brown W-I 111 David Keith Cobb W-I 1,014 Ralph Nader W-I 9,159
According to Wikipedia:
The current delegation (109th Congress, 2005-2007) consists of two Republican Senators, twenty-one Republican Representatives, and eleven Democratic Representatives, making Texas's delegation solidly Red.
And
As of 2005, Republicans control all statewide Texas offices, both houses of the state legislature and have a majority in the Texas congressional delegation. The state has continued its Republican voting trend in presidential elections. This makes Texas one of the most Republican states in the Union. Two of the most influential Republicans in the nation, President George W. Bush and former House Majority Leader Tom Delay, are Texas Republicans.
Despite overall Republican dominance, however, there remain some cities and regions with strong Democratic power. The capital city, Austin, is a Democratic stronghold and a center of progressive political activism. The city of El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley both with heavy Hispanic populations, also remain loyal to the Democratic Party. In addition, the mayors of most major Texas cities, though running in "nonpartisan" races, are associated with Democratic party viewpoints. Cities like Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio narrowly voted for Democrats despite their suburbs being solidly Republican. During the 2004 election, despite heavy losses in congressional races, the Texas Democrats made a net gain in the state legislature for the first time since 1974 (albeit only of a single seat, along with a second picked up in a special election in 2006).
Maybe it was the net gain of two Texas Legislature seats or the election of some Democrat mayors that gave Howard Dean the idea that he could turn our state blue.
Yeah, really, good luck with that.