A Turnout Report from Rural Republican Texas- Gillespie County (Whoa!)

[crispini]

You have to read the whole thing. This is amazing.

A Turnout Report from Rural Republican Texas- Gillespie County (+)
by: Karl-Thomas Musselman
Fri Feb 22, 2008 at 08:30 AM CST

(snip)

Gillespie County, in the good times, is 20% Democratic. It has had no Democratic candidates run for local office in decades (other than Daniel Boone for state rep which covers multiple counties. My father, a city councilman there, is the only (non-partisan) elected and open Democrat in town. We do have a great county chair in George Keller who has helped build the local organization from a half dozen people meeting in the backroom of Gatti's Pizza to regular meetings of about 40 active Democrats of a more diverse nature.

(snip)
This is what amazes me. I know Gillespie County and the average age of the Democratic primary voting electorate is probably 65+. These are folks who knew LBJ personally (who was the last Democrat to carry the county, in large part, because he brought the Chancellor of Germany to town before his election). According to the census, there are only about 70 African Americans that live there out of ~20,000 residents so it's whiter than Iowa & New Hampshire. And yet given all that, it was 80-6 Obama/Clinton in yesterday's meeting? I can't explain it. It's not normal.

(snip)
Democratic mail ballot requests were 37% of the total. That just doesn't happen. And this is even in the face of hotly contested GOP primary races- a 4 way contest for the open seat of county Tax Assessor-Collector and a contest for County Commissioner which normally pulls over all the Dems to vote in the GOP primary so they can decide their local elected officials.

Whole thing here:
http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5107

[babylonsister]

1. "It's not normal."

:rofl: No, it's remarkable! :applause:

[Whisp]

8. Obama supporters are 'not normal'!

the new meme.
:rofl:

[IDemo]

11. I'm Obnormal and proud of it!

:hi:

[Whisp]

13. LOL! me too, Obsolutely.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. thanks for this report

shows that folks really want change.

[Arugula Latte]

3. I love these stories.

Can't get enough of 'em.

[cloudbase]

4. More good news from Harris County

While Houston is reasonably blue, Harris County is pretty red. Here are the vote totals after three days of early voting;

26,723 Dems, 8,885 GOPers

[Elidor]

5. It's refreshing to see that racism isn't as widespread as I had imagined it to be

Along similar lines, Hillary's victory in Tennessee was impressive. I hadn't expected her to do well here, but she had a solid win. Even before Edwards dropped out, she was polling pretty high.

Our country is not as closed-minded as I've thought it was. I'm reminded of those polls which show upwards of 70% of the country is in agreement with fundamental liberal policies, as long as they aren't associated with the word 'liberal.' This country is not nearly so right-leaning and conservative as the media portrays it. All our news is skewed by the corporate behemoths who control the airwaves. I need to have a bit more faith in my fellow citizens.

[monmouth]

6. It's a nice way to tell Tom DeLay and other repugs they suck....n/t

[BringBigDogBack]

7. That is outstanding.

Thanks for the article.

[babylonsister]

10. Rec'd! nt

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. Please, oh please, let some of this continue on a local level.

We needed something to get the blood flowing back through the hearts of our Democrats here in Texas. So many of them in counties such as Gillespie say they don't bother to vote because no one they vote for ever wins.

I know the primary going on for so long has been hard on those here at DU, but I really think it's been a good experience for the Democratic Party.

[crispini]

12. It has been SO GOOD FOR US.

I was thinking about writing more about that. Maybe I will later. I only have one OP left today, it has to be good, LOL.

[crispini]

14. .

:kick: