This Texas Republican Party platform and its contrast with California is interesting. These folks have had control of the Texas party, I think, from the middle 90s, though folk who live in Texas now would know more. I do recall reading about serious struggles within the party and I think some of them were over whether Kay Bailey Hutchison would get the senatorial nomination or not. These people opposed her. They have now gained control of the party apparatus and she, no doubt, has made a rather tense peace with them.
These are clearly the same folk who can't get anyone elected in California but can get the party nomination for their folk, save, of course, the recall stuff. So, I guess the first order comparison is their ability to get their folk elected in Texas but not in California.
But to do that comparison seriously it would be important to look at the way the Bush people managed their relations with them and what has happened since he left the governorship. My impression on the first is that (a) they considered them folk to manage rather than soul brothers/sisters and that knowledge was reciprocated; (b) an obvious part of the management style of the Bush people was to try to avoid contradicting them on issues which concerned them deeply and to be a bit more aggressive about this than the Reagan people were.
Somewhere in there is a fascinating analysis someone needs to do with the tensions in the Bush family background--establishment east coast republican lineage--with these born agains. It is clearly a major aim of the Bush people to let as little space as possible get between themselves and the born agains. But there is the family background bit and, also, the need to keep the tent large enough to get reelected.
To what degree does this sort of thinking in the Texas Rep Party reach out nationally? Well, it clearly is DeLay. And the degree to which this platform can be publicized as DeLay's aims for the country, the better for folk like me. |
