There were a few moments when it seemed that the governor’s race might produce some excitement, but reality quickly settled in. Greg Abbott buried Wendy Davis beneath piles and piles of money and videos, and there was nothing Davis could do to counter him. Texas is a Republican state and nothing is likely to change that in the foreseeable future.Davis didn’t run a bad race. She raised a lot of money and she chipped away at Abbott’s weaknesses with some effectiveness. But the Democrats’ much-ballyhooed ace in the hole — Battleground Texas — was, as I have written earlier, a mirage. Battleground accomplished nothing except to add to the Democrats’ long history of futility in statewide races. I see nothing that can change the current balance of power in the near future. Battleground can assemble a fair number of folks for a rally, but it hasn’t shown that it can field large numbers of voters who could alter the state of affairs in Texas elections, and I don’t think that it will ever make a difference in Texas.
Davis will have to shoulder some of the blame for the Democrats’ latest catastrophe, but in all fairness, the number one problem for the Ds was not Davis. It was Barack Obama. He is poison for Democrats in this state. The worst possible election outcome for Democrats is an unpopular Democratic president in the White House. All Republicans have to do to stir up the opposition is to mention Obama’s name ten or twenty times–which is exactly what they did.
