Voters in the Democratic primary have a worthy candidate to back for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by veteran Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. He’s Paul Sadler, a veteran of the Texas Legislature and a solid traditional Texas Democrat if we ever laid eyes on one. He’s the clear choice over his three primary challengers.

Sadler, 57, a father of five who served in the Texas House from 1991 to 2003, is an East Texas Democrat from the classic mold – a populist with common sense and a keen understanding of budgets, as well as a knack for honest deal-making, looking out for the interests of working Texans and understanding the importance of keeping government spending in line with revenues.

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The war over Bain has finally arrived.

And Republicans throughout the political universe are wondering whether Mitt Romney is ready.

As the Obama campaign this week began a concerted attack on the presumptive GOP nominee for his tenure at the private equity firm he managed, strategists in both parties say the Republican has yet to give a confident, detailed explanation of his Bain Capital tenure that silences questions about his biography as a businessman. So far in 2012, Romney — who is centering his presidential campaign on economic leadership — has rarely if ever managed to speak about Bain in any but the most defensive of terms.

Political players in Austin stick to something called the “friendly incumbent rule.”

It means they don’t oppose — financially or otherwise — any officeholders who haven’t given them good reason. It’s why you rarely see the institutional political action committees lining up against current members of the Legislature or other officeholders who are seeking re-election.

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LOS ANGELES — President Barack Obama will on Friday tout his efforts to help struggling homeowners refinance their mortgages and call on Congress to do more to ease the housing crisis.

Obama is set to visit a family in Reno, Nev., that took advantage of the first of his We Can’t Wait initiatives he announced last fall, and to highlight data showing refinancing increasing by 50 percent nationwide and even more dramatically in Nevada, where applications are up 240 percent since October.

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President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he now supports gay marriage, saying ““I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”

“I’ve stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community. I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient,” Obama said in a White House interview with ABC News’s Robin Roberts. “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word ‘marriage’ evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs.”

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(CNN) — A long time ago a great three-time governor of Louisiana, Earl Long, said about Jimmie Davis, the two-time not very good governor of Louisiana, “You couldn’t wake up Jimmie Davis with an earthquake.”

As I go around the country and see various Democrats and talk to them on the phone, honestly I’m beginning to think that we have become the party of Jimmie Davis.

My message is simple: WTFU. Translated — wake the you-know-what up, there is an earthquake.

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The Texas attorney general’s office issued a statement in response to today’s court order and scheduling guidelines in the state’s lawsuit against the Department of Justice over the voter ID bill.

In the response, Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office said it is not relenting in its defense. Instead, it alleges that the department, not the state, is responsible for dragging out the proceedings by requesting millions of documents that have “nothing to do” with the case. It also said the department itself has twice extended the deadline to preclear or block the bill. Below is the statement from Jerry Strickland, Abbott’s communications director.

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NOTE: The following email was sent by the Travis County Republican Partiy to its membership. We post this to give Austin Democrats a warning and an extra incentive to get out there and vote for progressive city government!

From: ” Rosemary Edwards, TCRP chair” <chair@travisgop.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 6, 2012 11:06 PM
Subject: TCRP – Like Austin politics the way they are? Then don’t Vote!

Dr. Rosemary Edwards, Chairman
Fellow Republicans,

About 3,000 people have cast their ballots so far in City Council early voting. WHERE ARE THE VOTERS?

This is our moment. We now have a good chance to make a difference on the City Council this year. Over 40,000 Travis County Republicans cast their votes in the last Primary Election — well enough to pull off victories for the more conservative City Council candidates:

Place 2: Laura Pressley
Place 5: Dom Chavez
Place 6: Shaun Ireland

Now it’s up to you. Don’t let just 3-5 percent of eligible voters decide this election. If you’re an Austin resident, you must do your part to elect people who will represent YOU!

Below is a list of the Early Voting locations open today (Monday) and Tuesday for the city election:

Find the location that’s most convenient to you below, and VOTE!

http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20120512/early_polls.pdf

A schedule of upcoming elections — including the Primary later this month — is included below for your convenience. Mark your calendars!

Sincerely,

Rosemary Edwards, Ph.D., Chairman
Travis County Republican Party

P.S. Remember, that in the first week of early voting less than 3,000 Austinites voted. We have about that many on this e-mail distribution list. So tell your friends, invite your neighbors to vote, and we can change the face of the Austin City Council!

ELECTION SCHEDULE

*May 8 (Tuesday) – Early Voting for Municipal Elections ends
*May 12 (Saturday) – Municipal Election Day
*May 14-25 – Early voting for Primary
*May 29 – Primary Election Day
*July 31 – Primary Runoff/Contested Precinct Chair Election

At a private fundraising reception in Palm Beach recently, Mitt Romney was overheard acknowledging his weakness among Hispanic voters. If it’s not turned around, he said, “It spells doom for us.”

Take a look at the electoral map, and you’ll see why.

President Barack Obama starts the general election with a sizable electoral vote lead over Romney, looking strong in states totaling 247, while Romney has a strong edge in states totaling 191. It takes 270 to win.

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