Bonilla says he'll seek Hutchison's job, if she leaves

[PDittie]

U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla said today he would seek Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's job if she decides to leave office.

Bonilla, R-San Antonio, made the announcement from Washington during telephone interviews with Lubbock radio stations.

Bonilla, 50, has represented the 23rd District, which includes most of West Texas, for more than a decade.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3019243

[sonias]

1. Screw Bonilla and the horse he rode in on

Here's another "Alberto Gonzales wanna be" begging for repuke crumbs. Most Latinos won't be fooled. He no more represents us than bu$h does.
I just wonder if the TX repuke party is going to sit still and let Bonilla take the spot. There are many in the repuke party that won't vote for a Hispanic or an African American. Could prove to be ugly.

Sonia

[GOPisEvil]

2. Damned Henry Vanilla...he's as useless as tits on a bull.

Can you think of a more brain-dead, sorry-ass pair of senators than Cornhole and Vanilla?

[NoPasaran]

3. Blast from the past

Jon Stewart engages in a battle of wits with an unarmed congressman...
http://www.comedycentral.com/mp/play.jhtml?player=realplayer&type=v&quality=high&reposid=/multimedia/tds/celeb/celeb_9012.html

[sonias]

5. He's got the weasel language down pact

I had forgotten about that show. Vanilla is such a puppet. Repeat a lie enough times and people will believe it. Marches lock and step with the party.
(repeat the lie about Kerry being the most liberal Senator and Edwards being the 4th most liberal)

Jon: Who is they?

Vanilla: The groups that rank these things

Jon: What is the group and how to they track this?
Which group says they're the most liberal?

Vanilla They, they blah blah blah

Jon: I'll go ahead and say it for you sir, the National Journal ranks them.

Vanilla: They're just a magazine, blah, blah
(Must not think, just repeat talking points or head will explode)

Sonia

[cloud75]

12. that was a great clip!!! and stewart is correct the republican..

party takes advantage of the "sad little man" who doesn't think
and it's not their fault or our fault we are out here working our
butts off for our family and we all we hear are sound bites...
by the way i don't remember a hispanic ever being elected to a state wide office they have all been appointed..bonilla can't win the primary.

[PDittie]

13. That's interesting

I was kinda thinking that Henry had the inside track, but you're right; the competition will be formidable, he has no base of support (his W. Texas district and agricultural expertise won't translate well to the urban areas of the state), and he's about as inspiring a candidate as Tony Sanchez.

[johncoby2]

4. My parents are in his district and cant stand the idiot!

He is not an embarrassment to the hispanic community, he is an embarrassment to the community.

[PDittie]

6. More from Charlie Kuffner:

(bold emphasis is mine)

================================

Former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and Tom Loeffler, a former Republican congressman from San Antonio, will play a role in the campaign, Bonilla said.

"Phil Gramm is my co-pilot on this. He's coming off the bench and has been very encouraging," Bonilla said.

*snip*

In addition to Bonilla, other members of Congress mentioned as possible Senate candidates include Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas.

Political observers say Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, and former U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans also are potential candidates. Houston attorney Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Democrat and partner in the Vinson and Elkins law firm, announced on Jan. 10 that she is a candidate for the Senate seat.

Other Democrats mentioned as possible candidates include Ron Kirk, a former Dallas mayor who ran for U.S. Senate in 2002, and former Rep. Ken Bentsen of Houston.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA020105.bonilla.online.66fa7840.html
(reg. req.)

================================

(these are Kuffner's comments)


I'm beginning to wonder where former Rep. Jim Turner is going to wind up. We know what Chris Bell is aiming for; the speculation about Turner had always been for a Senate run. Who knows?

I feel pretty confident that Barbara Radnofsky will put in the time, money, and effort to make a serious challenge, but as a first-time candidate with (so far) little name recognition, her climb is steeper than most. Hell, her officially-announced candidacy for the Senate didn't even warrant a throwaway mention in a story on who may or may not be running for the Senate produced by her hometown paper (the Express-News at least acknowledged her existence), which is as good an illustration of the challenge before her as anything. There's much work to be done, that's for sure.

http://www.offthekuff.com/mt

[crispini]

7. Kuffner and I went to college together.

There's a small world for ya!

[PDittie]

8. He's got the best blog in town

H-Town, that is. Swimmin' pools and no movie stars.

[flaminbats]

9. Any rumors about Gene Green running?

Green could crush Ron Kirk in the primaries, most importantly he could win an open Senate race. He would also be a powerful advocate of abolishing the Electoral College.

from thomas.loc.gov

"January 4, 2005
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas (for himself, Mr. BAIRD, and Mr. DELAHUNT) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the electoral college and to provide for the direct popular election of the President and Vice President of the United States.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein),

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This joint resolution may be cited as the `Every Vote Counts Amendment'.

SEC. 2. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

The following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

`Article--

`SECTION 1. The President and Vice President shall be elected by the people of the several States and the district constituting the seat of government of the United States.

`SECTION 2. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of Senators and Representatives in Congress from that State, except that the legislature of any State may prescribe less restrictive qualifications with respect to residence and Congress may establish uniform residence and age qualifications.

`SECTION 3. The persons having the greatest number of votes for President and Vice President shall be elected.

`SECTION 4. Each elector shall cast a single vote jointly applicable to President and Vice President. Names of candidates may not be joined unless they shall have consented thereto and no candidate may consent to the candidate's name being joined with that of more than one other person.

`SECTION 5. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any candidate for President or Vice President before the day on which the President-elect or Vice President-elect has been chosen, and for the case of a tie in any election.

`SECTION 6. This article shall apply with respect to any election for President and Vice President held after the expiration of the 1-year period which begins on the date of the ratification of this article.'."

[PDittie]

10. I like Gene

and he has defied logic, defeating all challengers for his seat for years now.

But what is it that makes you think he could "crush" Ron Kirk? I don't see that...

Continuing the speculation, Dewhurst has a pretty good job; I don't see him trying to jump up again so soon. Count on Don Evans and possibly Carole Strayhorn, now that she's being nudged out of the gubernatorial race. Jim Turner should go for the Dems, and probably Martin Frost. That would split the DFW vote if Kirk also ran. Barbara Radnofsky won't finish in the money.

[flaminbats]

11. Kirk is no longer Mayor, he no longer has a monopoly on Dallas Democrats..

IMO this means Green could win all the primary votes in Houston and still be competitive in Dallas. More importantly, he could use the proposal regarding the Electoral College to win the majority of Democratic primary voters statewide.

The real question is will Ron Kirk run again?

[PDittie]

14. And that's a good question, because

the scuttlebutt seems to suggest he won't. I think he's the early frontrunner if he does, however.

People who lose elections tend to run again and win (this was the case with W, if you recall).

[crispini]

15. I wonder if

the KKKarl Rove / Shrubya 'machine' would crank up against Kirk in a governor's race the same way (rumor says) it did against him in the Senate race....

Someone made an interesting point to me the other day. Ask 10 of your nonpolitical junkie friends who Ron Kirk is. Then ask them who Cornyn is. Of course, I live in Dallas, but almost everyone knew Kirk and only one person knew Cornyn. Bwahahahaha!

[PDittie]

16. The real answer is probably NO

according to Vince Leibowitz, posting at BOR:

Today, through three separate and independent sources, one of whom is close to Kirk, and another who is close to (law firm Vinson & Elkins, Kirk's new employer), and another who defies classification but is always a good source for all political stuff in Dallas County, I understand Kirk has told V&E he will not run for U.S. Senate in 2006.

Whether he'll run for anything else, who knows? All I know is that my sources say he's not going to be in the race for U.S. Senate.

http://www.burntorangereport.com/archives/003244.html#more

[crispini]

17. Oh, man, if it's Sessions,

then this is REALLY going to get entertaining.