Texas Flood
DailyKos
Flood of votes, that is.
With 99% of the votes in, it looks as though the number of votes in the Texas Democratic primary will match-or slightly exceed-John Kerry's Texas vote total for the 2004 general election.
Kerry received 2,832,704 votes in Texas in (November) 2004. Clinton and Obama are at 2,807,811 between them so far (for the primary), splitting the counted vote 51% to 48%.
Hillary Clinton received more votes than all Republican candidates combined in Texas last night, Barack Obama received nearly as many. Clinton doubled the vote total of Republican nominee John McCain, Obama nearly did as well.
Remember, this is in Texas, home of George W. Bush, a state where we haven't won a Senate race since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, or a Governor's race since Ann Richards in 1990, where no Democrat has won the state's electoral votes since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Out of all the phenomenal turnout-related numbers we've seen thus far, these have shocked me the most. Texas is the largest Republican stronghold in the country, and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are generating unheard-of levels of excitement there.
This is borne out not by anecdotal evidence, nor by polling numbers, but actual votes cast by actual people.
Frankly, I wouldn't put money on it (unless I got good odds), but I'm starting to think that Texas' 34 electoral votes might be in play in 2008.
At any rate, the GOP has got to be nervous as hell.
