Do Texas Republicans plan a surprise for Clinton and Obama?

Actually, we heard rumors about this a few days ago. But now the Dallas Morning News has found some.

They are tricky Texas Republicans. They have a choice in Tuesday's presidential primary election between Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who seems to have pretty much wrapped up his party's nomination with about a 700-delegate lead over former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.

So if there's no real point in confirming McCain or throwing it away on Huckabee, is there anything else to do besides stay home? Yup. Go vote in the Democratic primary.

It's no big deal paperwise to switch over for a year or two. And this way -- wait for it -- these Republicans could vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Yes, that one.

Now, why would Republicans cast a ballot for a woman they've loved to hate for oh so long? The point would be to give her ...

... a Lone Star victory over Sen. Barack Obama and prolong the increasingly bitter Democratic struggle until, say, at least late April's primary in Pennsylvania. Or potentially even until the August convention in Denver.

That not only gives McCain more essentially uncontested pre-convention time to unify a GOP with a doubting wing of conservatives. It also reduces that low-key run-up time for a Democratic nominee by some six weeks and maybe boosts the lingering hard feelings among Democrats on the eventual losing side. Polls also indicate McCain doing better against Clinton come fall than against Obama.

It's not that easy to get sufficient hard-core partisans of either party to break their usual habit and switch over to join, say, the Democrats for a day in sufficient numbers to affect the outcome of the election.

But there's been some publicity about it now. "Don't do it!" pleads a news release from Chris Peden, a city councilman challenging Rep. Ron Paul in the 14th District's GOP primary. Peden needs all the Republican votes he can get to unseat Paul, who's simultaneously still running for the Republican presidential nomination as well.

But advance voting has been under way awhile in Texas. You won't likely hear Clinton make any overt appeals to Republicans, although she didn't need to in order to already get the early vote of loyal Republican Ryan Murphy.

"The optimal outcome," said the college student, would be "to create more tension on the Democrat side and hopefully push it to the convention."

On the other hand, given Clinton's slide in the polls and the precariousness of her political position if she loses both Texas and Ohio on the same day, you probably won't see her getting all picky and turning away any votes that come her way.

In a political season that has produced more than its share of surprises, wouldn't that be something to have loyal Republicans help push Hillary Clinton to her party's nomination? What an amazing campaign!

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Rick Kendle]

Republicans are already affecting the Democratic Primaries. They have been voting for Barack Obama, even though they plan on voting for McCain. That is well known mischief.

[athy]

Members of 4th estate-WE URGENTLY NEED U 2 ASSUME ROLE THAT U SUPPOSED 2 PLAY IN OUR DEMOCRACY. JOURNALISTS PLSE HELP INFORM US. INVESTIGATE CANDIDATES' LEGISLATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS.ESP.SEN OBAMA ASK TOUGH QUESTIONS--how did they help their constituents. GO TO ILLINOIS AND ASK AVG. CITIZENS WHAT GOOD OBAMA DID FOR HIS COMMUNITY in his ELECTED role.ANALYZE background of legislation that has been credited to him.Who sponsored/cosponsored,did bill accomplish what it was intended to do or was it hollow resume builder.How much support/resistance did bill get? from who?LOOK AT TIMING-when was bill initially introduced-when did it pass?did bill have prior history-ie did it fail in past & is being reintroduced -who involved with earlier version(look back to day 1)?What is the value added of new bill?Who REALLY benefits from bill?Is new bill merely a tweaking of an existing bill's content.CHECK WEBSITES,PRESS RELEASES ETC...HOW HONEST IS CANDIDATE WHEN STATING THEIR ROLE IN BILL'S CREATION/SUPPORT/PASSAGE?,ASKQUESTIONS...
ANALYZE ANSWERS.YOU WILL SEE PATTERN.

[Ryan]

What a surprise. Republicans are acting like immature high school drama queens.

[Kruzshander Scott]

I am a New Orleans native that believes that Barack Obama is not the best choice for President.Obama hasn't voted for issues that matter to us in Congress, so he doesn't deserve my black vote, or any other vote for President. I am voting based solely on their effectiveness in Congress and the community.Hilliary has him beat. The media caused this monster, but as usual the taxpayers will foot the bill. If Hilliary was not Bill Clinton's wife, or female she would have won already. Don't allow Barack to do what Bush did 7 years ago- made in dream into our nightmare.

[NorCal Mom]

I'm sorry but there is no way any Republican is going to win in November 2008. Especially not "Bomb bomb Iran " McCain.

A vote for Hillary Clinton brings her a vote closer to the White House.

[Michael Cathcart]

Any Republican willing to turn Democrat for a strategy that has been tried many times and always fails - is no Republican, But then again any of them that would have otherwise voted for McCain is no Republican in my book anyway, so I guess let the Democrats have the RINOS. The Democratic Party is where they belong.
Besides true Conservatives will be casting there votes for Ron Paul in this Tuesdays Primary/Caucus. By the way, because of the complicated Primary/Caucus system the grassroots has the greatest odds of becoming delegates, so we are likely to see most of the delegates supporting Ron Paul, even though they may be bound to another candidate.
Hopefully Huckabee wont go the way of Romney and give up for "the good of the party," if the Huckster has the fortitude to stay in it we have a chance for a second ballot come convention time and that is where having Paul supporters as delegates will count, and Paul can pull the major upset.

[Chris Taylor]

Yea I hope all the Republicans who are McCain fans think he is going to do well enough and help Clinton or Obama out for all I care. That way the true Conservatives who are loyal to Huck will overpower the election and get over 60% of the voters. This would ensure Huck stays in!! He will then get a huge boost in the following primaries/caucuses to keep McChicken from getting 1191. It will the go to the convention and Huck will get the nomination easily when the GOP realizes he's the real deal and the only one who can out-shine and out-debate either Shrillary and Osama Hussein.
Plus, his Fair Tax appeals to everyone!

www.mikehuckabee.com
www.fairtax.org

[some guy]

This article just goes to show that democracy is a complete failure. Like mega-corporations that co-opt sincere youth trends the moment they hit the street, the political machine will do anything to undermine the very things that are supposed to give it credibility. I give up. I'm moving to Norway.

[Paul]

I'd like to see the number of people who switched parties for this year's election and who they voted for. No actual names, just numbers so that privacy is preserved. We are in the information age, so why is it so hard to get this information?

[Meg]

I agree - I was actually thinking about it.

REPUBLICANS GO AND VOTE IN TEXAS FOR HILLARY!! GO IN MILLIONS! :)

[business gurus have failed us]

hopefully Obama pulls some more victories and lets Hillary move on to other important things. she could, for example, help combat AIDS in Africa or something.

[Kathy Giannini]

An Obama campaign organizer in Nevada was supposedly distributing tracts to get Republicans to vote for Obama during that primary. If you look at total numbers of voters on the Democratic and the Republican sides of the fence in the various primaries, it certainly looks lke this has been happening in more than one state. The Republicans probably overdid it on the Obama side and now want to balance things out

[Kathy Giannini]

At the risk of repeating myself, I'm rewriting this comment because I'm not sure it got posted. An Obama campaign prganizer supposedly distribiuted tracts to get Republican voters to vote for Obama in the Nevada primary. When you look at the discrepancy between the number of people voting on the democratic side compared to the Republican side, it certainly seems like Republicans may have been doing this in more than one state. Guess they overdid it with Obama.

[Annette Keller]

So much for the Obamatons' argument that the superdelegates (Democratic Party Elders) should follow the caucus/primary votes because those votes demonstrate the grass-roots will of the Democratic electorate. 10% of Democratic primary/caucus voters this election cycle have been Republicans!

Some are voting in the Democratic Primaries to play mischief, to protest their own candidate, and some are crossing over to support a black man or oppose a Clinton dynasty. But the fact is that 10% is a big number of infiltration of Democratic primaries by Republican voters. What are the superdelegates going to do? Follow the choices of the Republicans?

State Democrats really should put some work into eliminating caucuses and closing their primaries to non-Democrat voters, so that they have more coherent primaries.

[Philly_dog]

What's wrong with Republicans seeing the light and changing parties? I did, I'm now a registered Democrat, ready to pull the Donkey's tail in the upcoming PA primary. And I'll be voting for Obama.

[political world]

The republicans have been heavily voting for Obama and swaying the election his way since the start of this race.

Rush wants to keep Hillary's campaign alive!!

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_022608/content/01125110.guest.html

[laura]

Such tactics will feed the ego of Rush Limbaugh, who has recommended that his listeners play this game. Aren't people getting sick of entertainment talk radio trying to drive up its ratings at the expense of voters' voices HONESTLY being heard? This egging on of a food fight for one's personal amusement is not good for our democracy. Vote for who you want to be president--not for who you do NOT want to be president. This is just a back door version of voter suppression. Shame on you!

[Gary]

Obama is not sincere. He has skeletons in his closet but yet he judges others. Look at Rezko and Obama's dealings with 1960's terrorist but yet he says its about "hope and change." Please dont vote for him. I have changed my own vote, I will be voting for Nader if he gets the democrats nomination. Forget experience, he is just power hungry because where did he come from. Obama could have put in more time in the senate and then run for president but he decided to run for president after just 1 year in the senate. Obama is breaking and spliting the democrat party and not hillary. Please check Obama's record before you make a decision. You should know who are electing!

Vote for hillary and change the country.

[patriciad37]

I am white, female and 71, not wealthy, have most of my wits about me, and am not part of a cult. I am proud to have voted for Barack Obama. He is such a welcome change, and has an air of competence about him. He will end payback nominations and other accepted political practices that do not benefit us, the people they are supposed to represent. He will, as I am sure you are aware, be under the most intense scrutiny ever faced by a candidate before he takes the oath of office as President. We don't need a dual presidency, yet Bill appears to have "implied in campaigning for Hillary and using the pronoun "we" intentionally that it's "them" you would get. No more Corporate Clintons, no more disastrous plans like NAFTA to help big business reap more profits. How would Hillary get anyone to agree with her on her mandatory health care plan, or any other hidden agenda she is entertaining. Do you think I don’t trust her? You bet I don’t. America is broken, and the Clintons helped get us there with NAFTA, free trade , China, outsourcing. How often do you see “made in USA” on anything you purchase. We are the losers in this trade deal. We borrow money from China to fight in Iraq. How long before China uses some of their military might against us or other nations. Right now we are helpless to defend ourselves or any other country in need. The Clintons had a chance to stop Osama bin Laden, but were too busy with their hidden agendas actively and persistently pursue osama bin Laden. This “war on terrorism” may have been conceived of by Bush, but Bush wouldn’t have had an excuse if the attacks on 9/11 had been averted. The plan for the attacks had already begun to take shape during the Clinton years. Unfortunately, the warning signs were ignored, and the invasion of Iraq has become a horrific shame to this country. The cost in lives will never be fully verified, and the horrors of this war will continue to haunt us for years to come. We have saddled our grandchildren with a never-ending debt. Hillary voted for this war, possibly because she did not want to risk being regarded as weak, and that concept would not be good for her goal of becoming POTUS. Barack Obama cautioned against this war, said it was a bad idea. Barack Obama is highly intelligent, has integrity and the ability to listen to others and solve their problems. Hillary hides behind a mask, and she has one goal she is determined to attain at any cost. She trades on the Clinton name but won’t accept any of the Clinton blame. She has a powerful political machine behind her. I hope Hillary’s supporters pay more attention to her “experience”, and reconsider. This is not the right woman to elect as First Woman President. This "First Lady" had her chance, and blew it. Vote for Barack Obama, let's bring back the pride we once could boast about...simply put, I am an American! YES WE CAN.

[Bruce Barney]

Actually, I have read another report today about two elderly Republican gentlemen who wanted to vote for Obama but were dissuaded by another Republican friend who is running for office and needed their vote. The reason the gentlemen gave for trying to vote for Obama was that they did not want to risk Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic nomination and somehow beating McCain in November. They could not deal with the thought of a third Clinton White House, no matter how accidental. I have also read of Republicans voting for Obama because they believe he would make an easier target than Clinton. Yet a third report in a major daily quoted a young Democrat who said her fiance, a Republican, voted Obama with her because they're both enamored of his message of change. So, it breaks both ways. The fact is that Republicans have been voting Democrat and their reasons differ. There is no coordinated, vast right wing conspiracy behind this. There's only one problem with Republicans voting Democrat in Texas, and this is something many of them may come to regret: in Texas, if you change your affiliation, it must be at least a full year before you can change it again. In effect, Republicans who switch to vote Democrats now cannot vote Republican in November. And, given the numbers, Republicans will need every vote they can get to win in November. They may find many such votes unavailable because some switched for March 4.

[MLE]

Please, Gary. Both Bill Clinton and top Hillary cheerleader Antonio Villaraigosa have ties to Rezko also. Your excuses for not voting for Obama are weak. If experience is so important to you then why not support McCain, who has far more experience than Hillary?

Bill didn't have much experience when he ran in 1992. Also even yesterday Bill was trying to portray Hillary as an outsider who had little elected experience. So apparently her campaign now wants to be about "hope and change." Will you still support her?

And you think Hillary is sincere?! Like she is sincerely willing to release her tax returns promptly?

The inanity of HRC support and supporters paints a sad picture of the Democratic Party.

[Jason]

Anyone who would vote falsely or advocate that others place a false vote are undermining the very essence of our country and our political system. We are a country ruled by the will of the people, a collective voice that values the wishes of the many over the few. A beautiful thing no tto be taken lighty. When you cheat that system you are cheating this country and cheating democracy itself. This is the most un-american thing I've ever heard of. It's shameful; It's unamerican; It's a disgrace.

[bestcandidate]

Why is it that you assume that Clinton is the one that the republican votes for? Obama has been going around tooting his own horn about his ability to capture republicans.

The scenario as you painted may be true for either candidates. Please maintain your objectivity!

(No objectivity here. This is a blog. Re-read the item. They would vote for Clinton because recent polls show she would do worse against McCain than Obama would. So why would Republicans want to help get Obama into the general election? They wouldn't.)

[Matha Davidson]

Let us not forget the crime statistics associated with the last Clinton administration:

Crime Stats:

- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
- Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33
- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
- Number of congressional witnesses who have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 122

Forgetful Clinton "friends":

Number of times that Clinton figures who testified in court or before Congress said that they didn't remember, didn't know, or something similar.

Hillary Clinton 250.
Bill Kennedy 116
Harold Ickes 148
Ricki Seidman 160
Bruce Lindsey 161
Bill Burton 191
Mark Gearan 221
Mack McLarty 233
Neil Egglseston 250
John Podesta 264
Jennifer O'Connor 343
Dwight Holton
348 Patsy Thomasson 420
Jeff Eller 697

Folks, this is a the prefect example of the old adage, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, chances are, it is, indeed, a duck.

Will Americans vote for a person that has such close associations with fraud and crime and fugitives?

Hillary can claim all she wants that there is some vast right wing conspiracy against her, but if her actions didn't warrant such close scrutiny then what would this vast conspiracy have to use against her?

She believes the statement alone, the words "vast right wing conspiracy" is a get out of jail free card for her to accept questionable donations, be associated with fugitives and criminals, have a fugitive host her campaign fund raisers and to claim under oath 250 times that she couldn't remember, didn't know or something along those lines.

If the Democrats are foolish enough to make Hillary the nominated candidate for presidency, that is the best news the GOP could ever get.

[A Texan]

Brucey, You are out of your mind. I'm a Texan. There is NO WAY you can't vote Republican in Texas. The general election is secret--remember?

That is the most ridiculous statement I've ever seen.

And in the sixties and seventies, the Democrats routinely voted in the Republican primaries to try to get the weakest candidate elected to oppose.

I love that it's coming back to bite them.