Bill Hobbs on the Job

I'm not a regular reader of HobbsOnline, but he's been keeping track of the AWOL Dems very well. Especially for a Tennessean. *grin*

Due to the Blogger archive bug, I'll link to his current archive rather than the eight posts he's made so far.

However, one deserves a direct response.

Here's a question I'm hoping some Texas blogger will try to answer:

How many of those AWOL Texas legislators plan to run for Congress some day and would like to do so from a safe district - but whose current home within a currently-safely Democratic district is at risk of being shoved into a Republican-leaning district by the redistricting plan?

The answer will tell you how many of the Runaway Democrats are doing this solely out of naked personal ambition rather than any concern for what's best for Texas.

The current map (PDF) and the proposed map (PDF) can be examined to correlate the changes with those who were absent Monday and Tuesday and the results from the last general election. I combined the list of AWOLs into this:

Dawnna Dukes, Austin
Jim Dunnam, Waco
John Mabry, Waco
Elliott Naishtat, Austin
Eddie Rodriguez, Austin
Patrick Rose, Dripping Springs
Roberto Alonzo, Dallas
Kevin Bailey, Houston
Lon Burnam, Fort Worth
Gabi Canales, Alice
Jaime Capelo, Corpus Christi
Joaquin Castro, San Antonio
Norma Chavez, El Paso
Garnet Coleman, Houston
Robby Cook, Eagle Lake
Yvonne Davis, Dallas
Joe Deshotel, Beaumont
Harold Dutton, Houston
Al Edwards, Houston
Craig Eiland, Galveston
Dan Ellis, Livingston
Juan Escobar, Kingsville
David Farabee, Wichita Falls
Jessica Farrar, Houston
Kino Flores, Mission
Pete Gallego, Alpine
Timoteo Garza, Eagle Pass
Helen Giddings, Dallas
Ryan Guillen, Rio Grande City
Scott Hochberg, Houston
Terri Hodge, Dallas
Mark Homer, Paris
Chuck Hopson, Jacksonville
Jesse Jones, Dallas
Pete Laney, Hale Center
Glenn Lewis, Fort Worth
John Mabry, Waco
Trey Martinez-Fischer, San Antonio
Ruth Jones McClendon, San Antonio
Jim McReynolds, Lufkin
Jose Menendez, San Antonio
Joe Moreno, Houston
Paul Moreno, El Paso
Rick Noriega, Houston
Rene Oliveira, Brownsville
Dora Olivo, Missouri City
Aaron Pena, Edinburg
Joe Pickett, El Paso
Robert Puente, San Antonio
Chente Quintanilla, Tornillo
Richard Raymond, Laredo
Allan Ritter, Nederland
Jim Solis, Harlingen
Barry Telford, DeKalb
Senfronia Thompson, Houston
Carlos Uresti, San Antonio
Mike Villarreal, San Antonio
Miguel Wise, Weslaco
Steve Wolens, Dallas

Since I've already spent too much time blogging this from work, I'll get back to it this evening.

I will remark that the new map hacks up several areas into almost ridiculously detailed chunks, even moreso than before. The central-eastern triangle (Dallas, Austin, and Houston) and south-central border sections of the state have the worst fragmentation. I think the Democrats looking to advance to the federal sphere have good reason to fear for possible US House jobs as these areas are typically more democratic-leaning than the rest of the state. I'll try and dig up what I can on the ambitions of these politicians, but we know how they like to take their time in announcing their future plans.

More later.

UPDATE(9/23/2003 11:18pm)
More here. The redistricting maps are being discussed in the House and Senate after another walkout, this time by the Senate Democrats. They have since returned.

UPDATE(10/12/2003 9:32pm)
Big News: a plan has been finalized and passed by both the House and the Senate.

Posted by Drizzten at May 16, 2003 11:15 AM