Political Slogans, Clinton's Chances, NAFTA's Success, Texas' Absence

Here are my most recent political posts up at Donklephant:

On the debasement of language in politics here.

On Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning here.

On Texas and protectionism here.

On how the primary campaign ignored most Texas-specific issues here.

McCain's Class, Buckley's Death, Clinton's Support & Texas' Craziness

If you haven't been checking Donklephant, I have four posts up over there since yesterday. Here are the links.

On McCain here.

Briefly on William F. Buckley Jr. here.

On Clinton's waning support here.

On the screwy Texas primary here.

Finally, Some Texas Polls

Texas primary poll numbers are finally available. As everyone expected, Hillary Clinton is leading Barack Obama ... but by less than 10 points. Both camps are opening campaign offices across the state, including right here in San Antonio where the Latino vote will get a LOT of attention. And they're both already running ads during primetime (heath care is the main topic on all the ads I've seen which, given this state's horrendous health care problems, is not surprising).

On the Republican side, polls show John McCain edging Mike Huckabee by 4 points. Of course, that race is all but over which is going to suppress what I think would otherwise be a large Independent turnout for McCain in our open primary system. Remember, this is the state that in 2006 gave two moderate, independent candidates for governor a combined 30% of the vote, the same amount the Democrat received.

It'll be interesting to see how these polls change as the election draws closer.

Stupid Texas Law Struck Down

We seem to have a lot of those. Dyre Portents has the details.

Grab Your Cowboy Hats

As some astute observers predicted, Barack Obama is surging heading towards Super Tuesday, with polls showing he’s closing the gap in a number of states. What’s this mean? The election is coming to Texas! That’s right, there’s almost no way Obama or Clinton will secure the nomination tomorrow. After that, Texas has the single largest batch of delegates left.

Get your cameras ready because you’ll be seeing a lot of a very rare creature – the Texas Democrat. Currently, no Democrat holds a statewide office and us Lone Star voters have gone red in presidential elections since native-son Lyndon Johnson won the White House in 1964. Despite all that, this a huge state and there are massive numbers of Democratic voters just itching to vote in a meaningful election. I expect record turnout. If the Republican nomination is also still undecided by March 4th, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a turnout exceeding the numbers who showed up for the last presidential election.

As a late primary state, our influence in the party nomination process has been minimal for well over a generation. Now we may be casting deciding votes. That’s not just exciting for a poli-head like me. That’s going to energize the whole state.

Lovin' the Border

I spent some time down on the border this weekend – always an educational experience. The land itself is thick with thorn brush, two raindrops shy of a desert and suitable for nothing more than deer hunting and hardscrabble ranching. With earth this unkind, it’s no surprise some of the nation’s poorest counties are down here.

If you don’t speak Spanish, you’re at a disadvantage. There is not even the pretense that English is the first language of the U.S. Many signs are only in Spanish. At least half the residents speak little or no English. White people are practically nonexistent. This is the nightmare of Tom Tancredo and Lou Dobbs.

As for me, I love it. The problems and challenges of illegal immigration aside, I love the cultural intermingling, the fusion of language and foods and religion and ideas. I like that I can get chicken-fried steak and a bowl of menudo from the same restaurant. I enjoy sliding between two languages to express ideas that either alone can’t contain. There is something so authentically Texan in the Rio Grande Valley. And it’s a shame so many can look at these cities and see nothing but Mexican infiltration of our culture.

It’s not infiltration. It’s fusion, a kind of assimilation that is creating its own vibrant culture. I always come back from the Valley feeling enlivened. I think we talk too much about the problems of the border and spend too little time recognizing its vitality.

Fiesta!

It’s the first day of Fiesta here in San Antonio and, as always, I’m excited. What’s Fiesta, you ask. It’s a 10 day citywide party celebrating … well, celebrating how good it is to be alive and living in San Antonio.

The event began back in 1890 with a parade to honor the heroes of the Alamo. Since then, Fiesta has come to include a huge array of events with a royal court, fancy balls, street festivals, numerous concerts, giant fairs and lots and lots of eating and drinking. It’s like our version of Mardi Gras, as culturally significant and marvelously strange as what goes on in New Orleans.

Most people outside of South Texas have never heard of Fiesta, even though the event brings in hundreds of thousands of people and several hundred million dollars every year. Down here, schools are even closed for the main event, the Battle of Flowers parade. And few of us put in much work at any point during these ten days.

For anyone looking for a good taste of some authentic American culture, there’s nothing like Fiesta. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I make this city my home.