Sunday, July 28, 2019

Worth a try


This sort of analysis can be analogized to Texas, although Denver area is 3 million, and Houston is 4 million all by itself (Dallas-Fort Worth is 6.8 million).  The urban areas of Texas (San Antonio, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin) are blue (Austin ain't the blueberry in the cherry pie, by a long shot).*  The Valley is blue, as well.  The other cities (Midland-Odessa, Lubbock, Amarillo, Abilene) are probably more red; certainly surrounded by red.  Of course, Texas has 254 counties, so there are a lot of people spread out over a lot of land, especially in West Texas and the Trans-Pecos (Yeah, Texas has:  Central Texas; Hill Country; South Texas; the Valley; Trans-Pecos; West Texas; East Texas; North Texas; Panhandle, so about 10 distinct regions.).

But Texas went for Trump by less than double digits; had the Democrats tried, even barely, they might have flipped it.  Beto's epic run and near-success created coat-tails that flipped Houston/Harris County distinctly blue, although we are right next door to distinctly red counties.  Still, a good showing has inspired people that Democrats can win, and will inspire them again.  Any effort by the Dem candidate (especially if she picks a Texas running mate like Julian Castro) could actually pay off in electoral college dividends.

There's a lot of people down here who despise Trump, and just need a reason to vote against him.  Rick Wilson keeps saying this race is a referendum on Trump; that would actually sell pretty well in Texas, where good turnout could swamp the people who elect Louie Gohmert (East Texas, where I was born and mostly raised).

Worth a try, anyway.  Texas is an ATM for campaigns; might as well drop a little of that coin back in the local economy.  It might multiply.

*CO is definitely more liberal than TX; it even has its own version of Berkeley:  Boulder.  I love visiting Boulder, but I think it would drive even me a little nuts to live there.  It's also expensive as hell, and for urban Colorado, that's saying something.

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