Looking at the primary voting histories of the voters who have cast ballots in early voting so far, here's how the parties are stacking up so far:

'Independents' = voters with no primary voting history (26,287 voters)*

'Republicans' = voters with Republican-only primary voting history (38,468 voters)

'Democrats' = voters with Democrat-only primary voting history (47,112 voters)

'Crossover' = voters with mixed primary voting history (10,430 voters)**

(* - some of the voters in the 'Independent' category may be staunch partisans who are nonetheless impossible to classify owing to absence of any primary voting history)

(** - certain of the voters in the 'Crossover' category are politically-engaged voters without a particular party loyalty.  Many--and likely a majority--of the voters in the 'Crossover' category are traditional Republican primary voters who voted in the 2008 Democrat primary in order to support Hillary Clinton)

According to the Texas Secretary of State:

"It is the opinion of this office that people simply wearing a t-shirt or button with the wording “Don’t Tread on Me” displaying the coiled rattlesnake and nothing else are not electioneering for (nor does such action relate to) a candidate, measure or party and such action does not relate to the conduct of the election."

Click the image to download the opinion in pdf:

Huge thanks to everyone who worked to get this issue addressed--and particular thanks go to Jackie Mumaw of Garland Tea Party for standing up for her rights, to Jeff Turner for his excellent legal work and to Katrina Pierson for staying on top of the issue from the beginning.

Fellow Tea Party Patriots and Common Sense Citizens:

If you've been reading the newspaper, you know that turnout in Dallas County is up somewhat as compared to 2006 levels.

Turnout is up in many Republican-aligned areas up north.

Turnout is up in many Democrat-aligned areas down south.

The early voting rosters are showing substantial numbers of Republican-aligned voters are turning out.

Those same rosters are showing substantial numbers of Democrat-aligned voters turning out, as well.

According to one political consultant we spoke to, there appears to be at least a slight edge in turnout for the Republicans at this point.

The same counsultant informed us, however, that evenly-balanced turnout in early voting is likely to be good news for the Democrats, as Democrat-aligned voters tend to cast their votes on Election Day rather than during early voting.  Democrat-aligned voters also tend to cast straight party ballots, which provides them with an across-the-board advantage in the down-ballot races.

In other words, if present turnout patterns continue through the early voting period, the Dallas County Democrats may have many reasons to be celebrating on November 2.

At this point, the election in Dallas County is ANYBODY'S BALL GAME.

Your thoughts?  Please weigh in below.

Fellow Tea Party Patriots and Common Sense Citizens:

As most of you know, the yellow Gadsden 'Don't Tread on Me' rattlesnake flag is a popular symbol of American liberty.  This early flag of our nation embodies a classic American symbol, dating back to at least 1751, expressing American defiance to government intrusion and meddling.  Although it was later supplanted by the 'Stars and Stripes' after the Revolutionary War, Americans have always had an affinity for the earlier flag and its defiant message.

As you may be aware, Texans wearing or displaying likenesses of this early American flag are being turned away from the polls in early voting if they refuse to submit and remove the flag from their person.  As set forth below, the legal rationale for this practice is not particularly clear.

VOLUNTEER to help get out the vote this election season!:

If you're willing to help out with this effort, just CLICK HERE to sign up!

Despite the media hype this election season, many races in North Texas may end up being very close.  Many of you are already involved in particular campaigns.  Others of you may be trying to decide how to most effectively use the time remaining between now and the November election.

If you are interested in advancing your principles at the ballot box, we encourage you to give a significant degree of thought to the very best way of leveraging your own limited time and resources for maximum effect this election season.

The key is to find a race (or races) in which your own effort will make a real difference.

Unfortunately, owing largely to the advantages of incumbency and the heavy use of gerrymandering in drawing districts, the substantial majority of political races in any given cycle are not in play, even in this tumultuous year of political upheaval.

This active political races in North Texas fall into at least three general categories:

1. Local County Races (especially Dallas County)

2. Texas State House Races

3. Congressional Races

Each of these categories is broken out in detail below.

Across the country, Republican candidates are savoring the results of public opinion polls showing that they are on track to win races in swing districts and place longtime incumbents in political jeopardy.

This exuberance can be seen around us right here in Dallas County, where many Republicans appear to have a newfound spring in their step while Democrats seem to be doing their level best to stay out of the limelight.

Based on prior voting patterns in Dallas County, we advise the Republicans not to be counting any unhatched political chickens.  Most of the federal and statewide incumbents are, of course, not in any serious jeopardy, and can probably count on cruising to a comfortable early lead on election night.  If prior Dallas County voting patterns are any guide, however, the state and county-level Republican candidates may not have it quite so easy on Nov. 2.  The reasons are set forth below.

[MORE BELOW THE FOLD]

As y'all hopefully know, OCT.4th is the LAST DAY to Register to Vote in the November Election!

If you've been putting it off, PLEASE REMEMBER TO REGISTER by Oct. 4th--and remind your friends and family, as well.

There is an online application posted at the following link--but PLEASE NOTE: this application must be printed out and mailed by Oct. 4th to be valid.

https://webservices.sos.state.tx.us/vrapp/index.asp

Here are some other helpful links:

Information on Registering to Vote:

http://www.votexas.org/register_to_vote.html

Dallas County Elections Department:

http://www.dalcoelections.org/

Collin County Elections Department:

http://www.co.collin.tx.us/elections/index.jsp

Tarrant County Elections Department:

http://www.tarrantcounty.com/evote/site/default.asp

Denton County Elections Department:

http://elections.dentoncounty.com/go.asp?Dept=82

Further to our message yesterday about the role Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison played in preserving former Republican Lisa Murkowski's committee leadership position, we've been receiving conflicting reports from our members as to what Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's staff is telling the people of Texas.  Sen. Jim DeMint recently sent the following message about the events in question:

As you know, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski lost the Republican primary to her conservative challenger, Joe Miller, in a fair fight. But instead of graciously conceding and endorsing the Republican nominee, Murkowski announced that she will continue her campaign as an independent write-in candidate.

 

Senate Republicans held a closed-door meeting yesterday afternoon to elect someone to replace Senator Murkowski as the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Or so we thought.

 

Rather than taking away Murkowski's leadership position on the committee, Senate Republicans decided to let her keep it. One senator after another stood up to argue in favor of protecting her place on the committee -- a position she will no doubt use in her campaign against Joe Miller, the conservative Republican nominee.

 

It was bad enough to watch my colleagues work to support her in the primary after she had built a record of betraying conservatives principles. But watching them back her after she left the party and launched a campaign against the Republican nominee was more than I could bear.

 

I spoke out against the motion and I voted against it. But the good ol' boys Senate club, which always protects its own, prevailed. The motion was adopted by secret ballot and the final tally was not disclosed.

Sen. DeMint's message doesn't reference Sen. Hutchison specifically, but other accounts of that meeting do reference Hutchison specifically.  According to the other accounts, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was an outspoken advocate for allowing former Republican Murkowski to retain her Republican leadership position on the Senate Energy Committee despite the fact that she is running a third-party write-in campaign against the Republican Party's own nominee.

It bears noting that Murkowski resigned her leadership position within the Senate Republican caucus, but that's a different leadership position. 

Thanks to the help of Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski--who is now running a third-party campaign after losing the party primary to Joe Miller--will retain her leadership position in the U.S. Senate. 

Many pundits predicted that mounting a third-party run after losing the party primary would be enough to get Sen. Murkowski booted from the Republican leadership, but apparently not:

After debating her future during a closed-door meeting, the GOP conference voted to let [Lisa]Murkowski keep her committee position despite the [third-party] write-in challenge she has mounted against Joe Miller, the winner of her state’s Republican primary.

 

Republicans worry Murkowski’s candidacy could cause their party a safe seat by splitting the GOP vote with Miller, who upset Murkowski after receiving support from the Tea Party movement and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

 

But several of her colleagues argued Wednesday that Murkowski should get to keep her committee position as she fights to retain her seat in the Senate...

 

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) and George Voinovich (Ohio) were among several senators who spoke in her favor, according to Republican aides. They said the conference should not do anything to harm her following Murkowski’s resignation as vice chairwoman of the Senate GOP conference...

 

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a leading conservative in the upper chamber who has backed a number of Tea Party candidates this year, spoke in favor of stripping Murkowski of her committee leadership post. He argued that Republicans should be supporting their own candidates, according to several GOP aides...

 

Hutchison ended the discussion by moving to hold a vote on not doing anything, which passed. The vote was by secret ballot and the vote count was not announced, aides said. 

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/120299-murkowski-to-stay-on-energy-panel

More discussion here:

“It’s going to help [Murkowski],” Gerald McBeath, a veteran political scientist at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, tells E2. “It indicates she’s liked and good to work with and that’s real important in the Senate.”

 

Plus, Alaska-based consultant Jean Craciun points out, it takes away a messaging point from Republican challenger Joe Miller. “Miller's been telling everyone that she's lost all of her power in D.C.,” Craciun said. “Well, now that’s not true.”

 

Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee though said that he and “our entire conference, as far as I know, strongly support the Republican nominee, the winner of the Alaskan primary.”

If you have an opinion on Sen. Hutchison's efforts on Sen. Murkowski's behalf, Sen. Hutchison can be reached via any of her offices below:

The following set of charts lay out, in stark detail, why a tax hike is the wrong idea for the City of Dallas (click image to open):

We thank the Mayor's Office for providing them.

As of today, we are only 54 DAYS out from election day.

Hopefully, all of you are planning to take the time to vote, and most of you are working to get your friends, family and neighbors to vote.

Voting is critical, but going down to the polling place and turning in a ballot is not enough.

Every election, hundreds of thousands of North Texas voters go to the polls and cast votes, but most fail to cast votes in the county and state level races having the most direct impact on their lives.

Because informed voters routinely neglect to vote down the ballot, the winners of down-ballot races are often determined by local political machines rather than informed voters.

If informed voters don't vote down the ballot this election, the machines' may again control the outcome.

Just a few examples:

The Dallas County Commissioners Court is preparing to raise property taxes again--and yet, most voters won't inform themselves or weigh in on the County Judge or their County Commissioner this November.  Whoever you may decide to support for county government, CAST A VOTE.

The District Attorney's office stands accused of blocking external investigations of local corruption.  The office's defenders claim the accusations have no merit.  Either way, most voters won't take the time to cast an informed vote in the District Attorney's race.  Whoever you may decide to support for D.A., CAST A VOTE.

Despite the many scandals from the ranks of Dallas County Constables (see, e.g., "Report Accuses Dallas Constable Of Corruption," "Dallas County Precinct 1, Precinct 5 Constables Investigated," "Special Prosecutor to Examine Corruption Allegations Involving Dallas County Constables") most voters won't bother to look into the facts or cast a vote for constable.  Whoever you may decide to support for constable, CAST A VOTE.

Two years ago, a local race for State Representative was decided by a margin of only 19 VOTES--roughly 1 vote per precinct.  Whoever you may support for State Representative, CAST A VOTE.

 
From top to bottom, EVERY RACE ON THE BALLOT is important.  EVERY RACE ON THE BALLOT affects your life, your family and your pocketbook.

Showing up to vote is good, but simply "going through the motions" is not enough.

If you fail to vote in the down-ballot races, you're handing your vote to political machines which have anything but your best interests at heart.

Inform yourself, get to the polls, and VOTE IN EVERY RACE ON THE BALLOT.

Via the Wall Street Journal's Capitol Bureau:

The GOP establishment has been shipping out reams of opposition research and links to negative news stories [on GOP primary candidate Christine O'Donnell]. A longtime political consultant in the state, O’Donnell was the party’s own candidate against former Sen. Joe Biden two years ago. But that hasn’t stopped the state’s party apparatus from working to slam her this time around.

 

State Republican Party chief Tom Ross tells the Associated Press that O’Donnell is “not a viable candidate for any office in the state of Delaware,” including dog catcher. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is also piling on, briefing reporters on negative aspects of O’Donnell’s record. She has been accused of failing to pay back taxes. There are also questions about whether she graduated from college, and whether she supported herself over the last year using campaign donations.

 

In reply, O’Donnell sends an email Friday to reporters and supporters, calling on her fellow Republicans “to stop the thug politics.”

Full article here.

Your thoughts?  Please weigh in below.