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The post has dropped off of the front page, but a lively discussion is still going on in the George Lopez comment thread. Drop in and leave your two cents.
Live-blogging the debate
Showdown in Austin tonight! We’re watching and reacting in real-time. Read our full liveblog below the fold.
(image from CNN.com)
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Chris Bell for Senate?!
Chris Bell, former US Congressman and 2004 Democratic gubernatorial candidate was at the University of Houston tonight to announce his endorsement of Hillary Clinton. We caught up with him after the rally and asked him about his future plans. He says that he will not be running for TX Governor again. When asked if he’d be running for Hutchinson’s Senate seat, he grinned and claimed that it was one of several possibilities they were looking at.
The winds of change are blowing, and if things go well, there’s no reason why we couldn’t see a Noriega/Bell Senate delegation from Texas in 2010. Here’s hoping.
Bill Clinton Stumps for Hillary In Houston
Chris and I just got back from the Bill Clinton Rally for Hillary. The crowd was decidedly smaller than the Toyota Center for Obama yesterday, but no less energetic. In fact, it was a mostly younger and extremely ethnically diverse group of students, reflective of the UH demographics.
A full account and more pictures below the fold:
Bill Clinton Rally in Pictures
Bill Clinton spoke tonight at the University of Houston, trying to solidify support for Hillary in what has become a must-win state for her campaign. Michael and i were in attendance, and he’ll have a more complete write-up later. In the meantime, there are more pictures and some of my impressions from the rally below the fold.
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Obama Rally Houston Photos
The crowd started gathering about 4:30 — more than an hour before doors opened.
More past the jump!
Bill Clinton Rallies at University Houston : Texas is Do or Die!
Bill Clinton will be at the University of Houston tonight in the Hoffheinz Pavillion! It’s raining quite a bit today. So stayed tuned for some pictures and impressions from the rally. We will post later tonight.
“If she wins in Texas and Ohio, I think she’ll be the nominee,” Clinton told several hundred supporters during a campaign appearance for Hillary Clinton in a downtown Beaumont parking lot. “If you don’t deliver for her, I don’t think she can be.” Bill earlier today.
Obama Rally in Houston
Today, Obama began stumping deep in the heart of Texas, where he drew 19,000 suporters to a rally in downtown Houston. I imagine it would have been more, but they ran out of tickets quite quickly, and still had lots of people on standby, hoping for a chance to get in.
An hour before the doors opened, the line looked like this:
People were wrapped all the way around the Toyota center!
Here are some quick first impressions about the rally:
- This was probably the most diverse crowd I’ve been in since coming to Houston. Young and old, black and white, asian and latino - they were all there. I’d estimate about 60% of the crowd was African-american, and there seemed to be a relative scarcity of latinos.
- When Obama made his entrance shortly after 8:00 pm, the place went absolutely NUTS. I’d wager that crowds at most Rockets games don’t get nearly that fired up. This guy is a rock star. It took him almost 3 minutes to get the crowd quiet enough to start his speech.
- The crowd had a very southern-church feel at times, with people yelling things like “oh, yeah!” and “preach it” back at Obama throughout his speech. Obama plays off of this dynamic well, and the crowd ate it up.
- It was interesting to see the media machine up-close. The dozens of television cameras were jockeying for position, and one large section was reserved for journalists who sat pecking away at their laptops prior to the speech. (Interesting sidenote - an overwhelming majority of the press corps were using Macs)
- Obama gave a strong version of his usual stump speech. On the Obama scale, it was only average, which is exceptional by any other politician’s standard. It’s clear why people are so moved by his rhetoric.
- Shortly before his entrance, they played the will.i.am video on the big screens. It was clear that most of the crowd was familiar with it and many were singing along. That a viral internet video has achieved such penetrance makes evident the power of the internet as a tool for building a movement. Make no mistake - this isn’t just a campaign. With his record numbers of small donors and capacity crowds waiting hours to see him in every city, Obama has clearly set off an avalanche of support, and has built a bona-fide movement.
Better quality pictures and video coming in the next day or so. It’s likely that some of us will also be at the Bill Clinton rally for Hillary tomorrow, so it should be an interesting opportunity to contrast their styles.
Update
More pictures here
Early Voting Starts in Texas Today
Voters can begin to start voting in Texas today ahead of the March 4 Primary date. Harris county has 35 polling locations that you can visit.
See the Early Voting schedule. The hours are from 8 to 4:30 pm until Feb. 22nd. See the detailed hours in the schedule.
Latest TX Poll: statistical dead heat
Obama continues to become more competitive in Hillary’s firewalls, mirroring his increasing, statistically significant national lead.
- Clinton 50
- Obama 48
Of course, things are still in rapid flux as both candidates start campaigning seriously in the state, which is shaping up to be the most important prize in this contest — Texas contains enough delegates to tip the count and momentum towards either field in the wake of a decisive win.
However contested the primary, though, Democrats remain excited about their prospects generally, in contrast to the ambivalence about McCain among Republicans:
Sixty percent of Republicans say they’ll definitely support the candidate they are now backing. That number climbs to 76 percent for Democrats.
Likely Democratic primary voters view Clinton and Obama on roughly equal terms. Seventy-nine percent say they would be satisfied if Clinton were the nominee; an equal number feel the same way about Obama. Seventy-nine percent say it’s likely Clinton can win the nomination; 82 percent say the same about Obama.
Update: SurveyUSA has Clinton 50, Obama 45 in TX