This would almost be funny if the joke weren’t on us. The pre-Xmas “new way forward” in Iraq has been put off until January.
With 55% of the vote in, Ciro Rodriguez (D) leads Rep. Henry Bonilla (R) in the TX-23 runoff 57%-43%. More important, Rodriguez leads 58%-41% in the most populous county in the district, Bexar (pronounced “Bear”).
There’s still some room for caution, though. In 2002, in a differently-drawn but still very similar district, Dem nominee Henry Cuellar was leading Bonilla until the very last results came in the next day, from overwhelmingly Republican pockets, giving Bonilla a 51%-47% win. So far, though, it’s looking very good.
Late Update: With 67% of results in, Rodriguez’s 57%-43% lead is holding.
Late Update: The AP has called it for Rodriguez, giving the Dems their 30th House pickup of the cycle.
The Associated Press has called the TX-23 runoff for Democrat Ciro Rodriguez against incumbent GOP Rep. Henry Bonilla, giving Dems their 30th House pickup of the 2006 cycle.
Remember that story from way, way back when about that lobbying money funnelled from Guam to Jack Abramoff through a cut-out in California, an attorney named Howard HIlls? 36 separate checks for $9,000 each to slip under the $10,000 reporting limit? The Superior Court of Guam just handed down indictments against Hills and his contact on the Guam side, Tony Sanchez — “unlawful influence, conspiracy for unlawful influence, theft of property held in trust and official misconduct.”
So, Democrat Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX) upsets Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX) to settle up the last outstanding race of the 2006 midterms. Rahm Emanuel has a statement out tonight saying, “Voters sent a message in November and they sent another one tonight, that change is coming to Washington.” Absolutely. But there’s another wrinkle to this story. We pick up the story from Chris Cillizza in the Post …
Rodriguez’s victory is doubly sweet for national Democrats, since they not only pick up another seat but also scored another direct hit on the legacy of former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas). DeLay engineered the congressional re-redistricting in 2003 that led to a six-seat Republican gain in Texas in 2004. But those gains came at a price. Portions of the 2003 map, including the removal of 100,000 Hispanic voters from the 23rd District, were ruled in violation of the Voting Rights Act by the U.S. Supreme Court last June. The resulting changes in the district’s boundaries reinstituted a strong Hispanic presence in the 23rd and led to Bonilla’s loss.
Karma.
House Dems wonder if Congress can enforce its own ethics rules. That and other news of the day in today’s Daily Muck.
Huge immigration raid at Swift meatpacking plants in six states Tuesday. The union for the plant workers tells TPMmuckraker that legal immigrants were caught up in the sweep.
Just about everyone is holding their collective breath to see how serious Democrats are about earmark reform. So when Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), the man who put the pork in “pork barrel,” announces he’s going to forgo this year’s earmarks for his beloved West Virginia, that’s a huge symbolic gesture.
CNN’s resident funny man, Jeff Greenfield, protests that he was just making a joke when he compared Barack Obama’s jacket-but-no-tie attire to the fashion choices of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:
“Talking Point Memo,” the home of Joshua Micah Marshall, pronounced the observation “weird.” “The Daily Howler” saw it as party of the same media instinct that ridiculed Al Gore for his “earth tones” clothing choices back in 2000. The Columbia Journalism Review Web site weighed in with “character assassination.” (It acknowledged that the effort might have been a weak attempt at humor).
Is some of this my fault? It has to be, for the same reason famed Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach liked to say that when someone misses a pass, 90 per cent of the time it’s the fault of the passer.
I figured there was no way on planet Earth that anyone could possibly take such a presentation at face value. I was wrong.
Most of what happened here, I think, is a demonstration of the hair-trigger instincts that have grown up among some of the bloggers (not to mention the need to fill all that space every day, or hour, or 15 minutes).
Sigh. Of course, it was a joke. Just a weird joke, poorly executed. Watch the clip (the link is on the left in the middle of the page) and decide for yourself. Then check out this second CNN clip, about Obama’s name.
So is the joke on the media? Or on Obama?
(By the way, it’s cable news that has space to fill, 24-7. We can write as much–or as little–as we want.)