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Today's pic from Branch says it all...
He should have made Cuellar appear as a Looney-vigilante legislator, out to arm the border and vigilante groups like the Texas Militia. You can't win if you can't get voters to the polls, and once again poor Bexar county south-side Hispanics who have the most to lose by a Cuellar win showed their cynicism and apathy for politics by staying home...You get the government you deserve...
Cuellar defeats Rodriguez in congressional grudge match
By T.A. BADGER
Associated Press Writer
My San AntonioSAN ANTONIO (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar defeated former congressman Ciro Rodriguez early Wednesday in the Democratic primary in House District 28, riding phenomenal strength in his home county to avoid an April runoff election.
With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Cuellar had 53 percent of the ballots tallied. Rodriguez, who narrowly lost to Cuellar in the 2004 primary in the South Texas district, had 41 percent. Victor Morales had 2,534 votes, or 6 percent.
Cuellar, a Laredoan who had trailed most of Tuesday night, took the lead when the early voting results in Webb County were tabulated.
The tabulation of Webb's early votes was delayed several hours because of software problems with the vote-counting machines, according to the Texas Secretary of State's Office, and the delay continued in the count of election day votes. One precinct remained uncounted in Webb County early Wednesday.
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"It's a clear and convincing Cuellar win," Cuellar spokesman Colin Strother said Wednesday morning.
No Republicans were on the ballot in District 28, which runs along Interstate 35 from San Marcos to Laredo, so Cuellar is almost assured of victory in November.
Rodriguez had expressed hope he could force a runoff when the outcome was still in doubt, and he was su ious of the Webb vote-counting problems. But he congratulated Cuellar on Wednesday, saying, "I hold no bitterness or ill will."
"I do hope, however, that he takes seriously the message sent by over 47 percent of the voters - and by a community of progressive donors from across the country - that a Democratic congressman's first responsibility is to stand up for the needs of seniors, of children and of working families," Rodriguez said in a statement.
In 2004, it looked like Rodriguez was the winner until hundreds of untabulated ballots - most for Cuellar - turned up in Webb and neighboring Zapata County. Cuellar ended up winning the race by 58 votes.
"It seems like they're holding off (the final count) to see, exactly like they did last time, to see how many votes they need," Rodriguez said Tuesday night. "It's unfortunate that I have to say that, but it seems that's the way it's occurring."
Strother called Rodriguez "paranoid" and said the issue was nothing more than computer trouble.
"There's nothing untoward happening - everything's aboveboard," Strother said. "He should be ashamed of himself for once again being a sore loser."
Rodriguez, who lives in San Antonio, took nearly 75 percent of the votes in Bexar County.
He pinned a lot of his hopes on significantly increasing the turnout in Bexar, the district's most populous county but where in 2004 fewer than 10 percent of eligible voters actually cast ballots.
Early voting in the county was up more than 25 percent, but the total number of voters appeared to rise only slightly.
Rodriguez was running a low-impact, low-budget campaign until President Bush affectionately greeted Cuellar before January's State of the Union address by playfully grabbing Cuellar's face while the congressman smiled. A newspaper captured the moment in a photo, energizing Democrats who maintain that Cuellar is too close to the White House.
Morales, a Dallas-area schoolteacher, is best known for winning 44 percent of the general election vote against GOP Sen. Phil Gramm in 1996 after crisscrossing the state in an aging pickup. He grew up in Atascosa County, which Cuellar carried on Tuesday.
Today's pic from Branch says it all...
Yep, bad day for you Dan and others. Delay wins his and Cuellar won his.
Wonder why boy wonder Ciro isn't fighting this one.
Actually Delay winning is good. Why would the Dems want a viable Repub in the race when they could run against the sleazemeister?
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