The first confirmed death in the US.
Fron CNN:
A child in Texas has become the first fatality from swine flu in the United States, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
“I can confirm the very sad news out of Texas that a child has died of the H1N1 virus,” the [...]

“Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that.”
- Texas Governor Rick Perry hinting at secession at a Tea Party rally today
And here’s the audio…

First off, he’s wrong. Texas never had an option [...]

So, maybe it will be the year of the moderate Republican.
Here in Texas, longtime Republican Speaker of the House Tom Craddick has resigned his position due to opposition from the moderate wing of his own party. Poised to replace him is Joe Straus, a 49 year-old representative from San Antonio known for his willingness to [...]

Over two months since Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast, there is still substantial damage and many state authorities are accusing FEMA of dragging its feet. Texas Governor Rick Perry has even announced he’s giving up on waiting for FEMA and will pay for the cleanup out of state coffers. He plans to stick FEMA [...]

Barack Obama lost Texas by eleven points. That’s why my state is always such an afterthought in presidential politics. We’re crimson red, right? Hold that thought.
Something interesting occurred in this election. While Obama improved on John Kerry’s overall state numbers by just six points, he won the counties where the state’s four largest cities are [...]

The word “maverick” has long been used to describe John McCain. His campaign has even embraced the term, labeling the senator “the original maverick.” I’m not sure what they mean by “original,” but I do know they’re wrong. Maverick – the word and the family that made the word part of our lexicon – comes [...]

The Republican Party in Texas is concerned it may lose control of the state House in this or the next election. Republicans currently occupy 79 seats and the Democrats 71. The House handles the redistricting for the state, including Congressional districts.  A political party’s electoral fortunes depend on how creatively a political party draws the [...]

McCain – 48%
Obama – 39%
I don’t think anybody believes that Texas can turn blue this election cycle, but last month McCain was leading by 14, and the fact that we’re not seeing single digits is definitely unexpected.
How has Obama made up ground in this solidly red state?

She lost 1 to Obama and picked up 2 undecideds, so that’s +1 for today.
So who was the super? Rep. Ciro Rodriguez from Texas:
“A big reason is because his district voted so overwhelmingly for her, that’s one of the biggest reasons,” said Rodriguez’ spokesman Josh Rosenblum.
Rodriguez said in a statement issued by the Clinton campaign [...]

From Politico:
A Texas DNC member, Jaime A. Gonzalez Jr., is coming out for Clinton, a campaign source says.
The move by Gonzalez, a trial lawyer, gives her a net gain on the day.
ALSO: He’s on Rules & Bylaws, which could be handy in a fight over Florida and Michigan.
I didn’t hear about any other superdelegate pickup [...]

Ask Paul Silver…
Our Travis County gathering of 8,000 was important enough to attract dozens of speeches by local candidates, elected representatives and included Terry McAuliffe of the Clinton Campaign. State leaders of the Clinton and Obama campaigns participated in our convention. The credentials committees that deal with disputes resolved scores of issues . My particular [...]

Personally, I never thought Rush had this much pull, but if we’re talking about 60,000 people here or 80,000 people there, it begins to make sense. Not a lot of voters are needed to really swing these things or make them closer than they would have been. And closing the gap even by 5% is [...]

I missed it (obviously), but here are the details (audio here) …

Apparently Rush had a guest host that day because he was “sick.” Heh, okay…
Folks, this is an ex-President! That is absolutely nuts! But he apparently wanted to get all those ditto heads to come vote for Hillary so she could stay in the race. [...]

When the caucus votes are FINALLY tallied, that’s the probably outcome.
From NPR:
[...] one-third of the 193 delegates at stake this week were not awarded by the primary but by the caucuses held after the polls were closed. A record 4 million voters showed up for the primary, and a record 1.1 million also stayed for [...]

With around 39% precincts reporting, the political world is wondering when the other 61% come in.
TPM has the answer (emphasis mine):
Eric Kleefeld called down to Texas, and the Democratic Party tells him, in so many words, that the caucus reporting was voluntary.
Precincts were not required to report results to the state party, but they set [...]

I don’t think so, and the numbers don’t either…
- Obama won Republicans more narrowly than usual, 52-47. In vote terms, that translates to roughly 134,000 to 123,000.
- Overall, Clinton won Texas by just under 100,000 votes.
It’s a close call, but unless the vast majority of Republicans who voted for Clinton (more than 80%) did so [...]

I’m looking at the county-by-county numbers in Texas at CNN and I think Clinton could very well win this. Travis County, home to Austin and its energized youthful voters, has almost 2/3 of the vote in and Obama has just 63% of the vote. I thought Obama could get as much as 75% of Travis [...]

The Texas Democratic Party has seriously embarrassed itself tonight as the caucuses have been a complete disaster. Reports include voters shut out because of fire code violations, ridiculously long waits, too few ballots, police called out to calm crowds and numerous voting irregularities. Did they not think people were going to show up for the [...]

Well, they’re technically tied 49% to 49%, but she has more votes now.
Clinton – 731,235 – 49%
Obama – 723,944 – 49%
The biggest caveat with these numbers? They don’t include Dallas, Houston or Austin. So we might see a big swing back toward Obama after those come in.
Keep checking back!
UPDATE:
She pulls into the lead for real…
Clinton [...]

From CNN:
Clinton holds roughly a 10-point advantage over Obama among those in Ohio who decided who to vote for in the last three days. Among those voters who decided before that, Clinton and Obama are split.
In Texas, Clinton holds even a larger advantage among late deciders. Those who decided in the last three days [...]