When will Texas go Blue?

[cherish44]

Poll question: When will Texas go Blue?

[nevergiveup]

1. Not in my life time

but I am old so maybe there is hope.

[X_Digger]

2. Texas used to be a lot more blue, will be again..

Does nobody remember Ann Richards?

[Taverner]

3. I'm sorry my Texan friends and DUers, but Texas will NEVER go blue

And I'm willing to smack down a few Jacksons to back that one up

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to lose those Jacksons - it would be a bet I'd be happy to lose

But the thing about Texas is that it is more than Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso. It is a string of Biblically repressed small towns across a huge swath of land. It is the near vice grip those churches have on the minds of rural Texans. Its the assholes who cling to Gawd and Guns. When someone thinks outside the box, they are either run out of town, they leave for elsewhere or they are killed.

You think racism doesn't exist in rural Texas? Think again. I have experienced it first hand several times. This never happened in the cities, but in the rural areas - the part most Americans or DUers never see - they are still living the Jim Crow dream out there.

[derby378]

12. Read your Texas history

True, we produced Hiram Evans, but we also produced "Ma" Ferguson, a female Democratic Governor who was anti-Klan and anti-Prohibition when neither was considered "in." We have the potential to turn this mess around.

[Taverner]

18. Never said TX didn't produce/isn't producing some Great Liberal Minds

Jim Hightower, Barbara Jordan, Molly Ivins, Ann Richards (and I could go on...)

But they are lone voices in the wilderness.

I am talking about places like Vidor (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/08/oppenheim.sundown.town/index.html) and Linden. Those two places aren't alone.

And sure, there are racist assholes in the cities, as well as racist assholes here. The California NAZI party compound is less than 20 miles away from me in Tracy, CA.

But the majority - the amount needed to turn the state blue, I just can't see it happening.

Please prove me wrong

[MajorChode]

14. Texas is so much more than that

Sure there are many backwards ass rural areas that are going to be slow to change, but there's also lots of rural areas with a growing number of liberals and progressives. And while it might be much longer for those areas to come around, eventually they will.

In actuality the biggest thing keeping Texas red is the suburban areas and those are trending blue.

[Taverner]

20. What about Vidor and Linden, TX?

Those aren't suburbs - those are rural "Hick Towns" - and yes, the word fits. Any place where the unoffical rules of the town are for Blacks and Whites not to mingle seems stuck in the Jim Crow days.

[MajorChode]

23. As I said, there's still plenty of backwards areas

Vidor is actually more or less a suburb of Beaumont and Linden is little more than a wide spot in the road. There's definitely some hick towns with plenty of mouth breathers, but if you look at the population densities, they really don't amount to much. Southwest Texas is heavily Hispanic and even a few of those rural areas are blue. The hill country area is not all that red either.

If you draw a triangle between Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, you'll find 2/3rds of the population of Texas and that area is projected to grow much faster than the rest of the state and will be close to 70% in a few years.

[Taverner]

26. Very good to know

Heartening too

I hope you guys prove me wrong

[rainbow4321]

16. Red isn't go to mean much in TX anymore....

Look at the big picture.

Pres Obama has said that NO federal judges in TX will be recommended by him unless the candidate has approval from the TX Dem party. The TX repuke senators are pissed because they are used to calling the shots.

The federal attorneys in TX appointed by chimp are leaving their jobs (per the Dallas Morning News) and will be replaced by...the Obama administration choices for appointees.

Locally: The city of Dallas and Dallas County kicked out all of the repuke pols from office. There is not a county level office held by a repuke right now. All the county judges are now Dems.
And we all know how blue Austin and Travis County are...
Then throw in South TX..more blue.


So while there may be some red left in TX, locally and federally the Obama admin and local Dems are chipping at it away pretty quickly...to a point where while it may stay "red" on the election map you see on TV every 4 years, we are very much heading full speed to "blue".
You can't judge a state (or it's future, or it's residents) by looking a map put on your TV screen. Those talking heads don't know shit about the states they are "coloring in".

[Taverner]

21. Question - will it be a real Blue or Dixiecrat Blue

The Dems used to always take in the Southern states - not because of any progressive agenda, but out of Post Civil War grievances.

I don't want "Democrats" like Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond (who were Democrats until the civil rights struggles)

[tammywammy]

17. You need to read up on the big gains democrats have made in the last few years n/t

[Taverner]

19. There have been gains, that's for sure

And I hope its not a one off...

But call me cynical, I just don't see Texas going Blue...

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. The best we can hope for is purple.

There is not a state in the nation that has NO republican voters.

[Warpy]

5. Not until the last corrupt, pompadoured preacher is in the grave

and since there always seem to be fresh faced bible school grads to take over for the old guard in Texas, the best that state will achieve is purple.

[onehandle]

6. Dunno, but it would be long before Georgia does again.

We're "teabagger" central.

[cherish44]

7. One of the biggest prospects of Texas turning blue is its growing Hispanic populaton

and the fact the rednecks in the GOP friggin HATE them. I think we'll see a lot of those border states turn more blue in the next few elections. We already got NM

[99 Percent Sure]

8. My fantastic scenario?

Texas secedes, makes Shrub the Cruel its prez for life, and we finally grant Puerto Rico its long overdue statehood. After all, PR is nearly a guaranteed blue state.

We wouldn't even have to change the US stars on the flag.

I say let them people in Texas go be the separate republic that they are, with their incredibly stupid, unimaginably evil decider in chief at the helm - it's time to give the great PR possession the statehood it deserves.

[butterfly77]

9. When those who govern them..

stop stealing elections..

[UTUSN]

10. AFTER Hispanics become majority and WHEN they ACTUALLY vote in larger numbers n/t

[dkofos]

11. Never

At least not till we get rid of the DRE's

[anonymous171]

13. 2016 or 2020. nt

[MajorChode]

15. In Texas, McCain only beat Obama by 11%

Virginia had almost the exact same margin in 2004 and is now a blue state. Texas is not as red as many assume it is and it could very easily trend much more blue.

[TahitiNut]

22. When long-neck beer becomes brain food?? Everclear?

:dunce:

[MajorChode]

24. Actually alcohol use seems to be more prevelant the farther north you go

I think Wisconsin has the greatest usage rates. There's something about cold weather and drinking that seem to just naturally go together.

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k6state/Ch3.htm#Fig3-1

[Fire1]

25. When hell freezes over.