Wendy Davis Is One Step Closer To Turning Texas Purple

[LanternWaste]

A new poll shows Wendy Davis within single digits of her Republican opponent—one more sign that Texas’s voters are no longer reliably red.

Let’s start by stating the obvious: It is hard for a Democrat to win statewide office in Texas today. Recently, Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from San Antonio, pointed out that Texas has gone longer than any other state in the union without electing a Democrat to high office. Which makes Wendy Davis’ ascent in the Texas governor’s race all the more impressive.

This week, a new poll showed Sen. Davis within just seven points of her Republican opponent, Attorney General Greg Abbott. The poll shows that 42 percent of Texas voters back Davis, compared to 49 percent for Abbott. Now, put in the context of the 2002 Texas gubernatorial election—in which Republican Rick Perry won by almost 18 points over his leading Democratic rival—and the seven percent gap between Davis and Abbott is impressive. In the context of previous polls that showed Abbott widening his lead over Davis, this new poll is even more stunning. Wendy Davis has a serious shot at becoming the next governor of Texas.

That women, who historically lean Democratic, are tipping toward Abbott is also a warning sign to Davis. After all, Davis shot to widespread notoriety for her 11-hour filibuster of legislation that would severely restrict access to abortion services in the state. On abortion rights, Texas voters side with Davis—according to June 2013 polling, 79 percent of voters believe that abortion should be legal and available under certain circumstances. And among independent voters, there’s a 19-point gap between men and women—41 percent of independent women think abortion should be legal and available, compared with 22 percent of men.

More at...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/18/wendy-davis-is-one-step-closer-to-turning-texas-purple.html

[Fantastic Anarchist]

1. Hopefully, she makes it.

We'll see who counts the votes.

[bluestateguy]

2. She has a very good chance to lose by a respectable margin

You'll forgive me if I am not optimistic about that state.

[Bandit]

3. That women, who historically lean Democratic, are tipping toward Abbott is also a warning sign to Da

Say what??????

[Historic NY]

11. From the guy that pays his "women" less than men...

okay.....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/19/greg-abbott-equal-pay_n_4992380.html

[okaawhatever]

4. K & R nt

[Gothmog]

5. Go Wendy, Go

I am really hoping that we can turn Texas blue and elect Wendy Davis as governor

[Gothmog]

6. The women vote is going to break for Davis

The GOP is doing its best to run away the women vote with two days of stupid comments about equal pay. First, one GOP idiot told us that women were too busy to worry about equal pay. http://www.juanitajean.com/2014/03/17/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-republican-woman/ The next day, an executive director of the Texas republican party told women voters that they are bad negotiators and that is why they are paid less than men http://www.juanitajean.com/2014/03/18/and-its-our-fault-when-we-get-raped-too/ Both of the GOP women making these statements are surrogates of Greg Abbott. It is going to be very easy to turn each of these clips into very effective ads to run during the general election.

The other fun fact is that Wendy will have sufficient money to compete with Greg and get her message out. Even Bill White admits that Wendy is far ahead of his efforts in raising funds.

Battleground Texas is making a major difference in Texas. Battleground is registering voters and is doing the field work that helped President Obama win Ohio and other key states. I have seen a dozen or so battleground volunteers running a phone bank at my county party headquarters and I was impressed.

Finally, Greg is a bad speaker and campaigner. Rick Perry/Goodhair may be an idiot but he can give a good speech. Greg is not able to match Perry/Goodhair in giving a rousing speech. Back in his insurance defense days, Greg relied on procedural tricks and motions to win and that section did not take cases to jury trials that often. I have listen to or watch all of Greg's commercials and have not been impressed. Greg is running a weak campaign and I doubt that he will dare debate Wendy Davis.

I am looking forward to this campaign.

[Excelsyor]

7. Did this pollster conduct any polls before this one?

I see the article says the gap was closed.

[littlewolf]

8. the latest one I see on RCP is Rasmussen

so take it for what it is worth
but it shows Abbott up by 12
it was taken on 3-5-14

[lovemydog]

9. Go Wendy

Go Texas voters. Turn Texas purple and eventually blue!

[Gothmog]

10. Wendy is being helped by Greg running a really bad campaign

The author of this blog is one of our own DU members who I admire and agree with on this issue http://brainsandeggs.blogspot.com/2014/03/all-bets-are-off.html

#t=56

“We are seeing something none of us has anticipated, and that is the Abbott campaign is on the defensive. First, they had the Ted Nugent experiment... which was supposed to be about the Second Amendment and ended up being about child predators. The second event was the Lily Ledbetter Act, which is about equal pay. They want to talk about process. But the message that is breaking through now anyway is about equal pay for women. If you have a series of additional issues like that that seem to put the Republicans on the wrong side of women, then all bets are off as to how this election will actually turn out.”

Republican women pinch-hitting for Abbott that are saying women are too busy to be concerned about their pay inequality -- or need to be better negotiators -- is just digging his hole deeper.

Abbott has always been a lousy lawyer and an even worse human being, but now it appears his vaunted political instincts are failing him. The ladies doing the talking for him this week must have been trained by Todd Akin, or maybe Ralph Reed. I am amazed that Abbott is making these kinds of mistakes because he's never, ever made them in his political career before. Like Noah and Charles, I didn't believe that Emerson College poll had enough of a track record to be legitimate, but if another one that does reports a similar tightening of the race, there will be a massive surge in momentum to Davis. Her press shop is now firing on all twelve cylinders, and that -- as much as Abbott's stumbling (is that insensitive to a man in a wheelchair?) -- has moved her campaign forward in the past week.

Abbott's failings in policy and tactics have been clear to those of us who follow these things closely for some time, and now they're getting more attention, such that the low-interest, low-data, low-participation voters might begin to take notice. None of this addresses the Democrats' historical turnout problem, but Battleground Texas keeps grinding away on that also.

Greg is running a bad campaign. Goodhair is an idiot but he ran smart campaigns and could give good speeches. Greg is making mistake after mistake. Greg always had the benefit of having Goodhair at the top of the ticket. It is saw but without Goodhair, the Abbott campaign is having some major issues