harris county texas to be big in

Harris County , Texas to be big in nominating President

Houston Chronicle:

Thrown into fire-alarm mode, presidential campaigns worked to

gather voting strength in the Houston area Wednesday as Texas

gained the sudden and unexpected status as gateway to the

nominations for both major parties.

Obama bumper stickers, Romney yard signs, Clinton buttons and the

like were almost nowhere to be found locally, because the national

campaign organizations had spent all their resources on getting

through Tuesday's primaries in other states, spokesmen said.

But as the campaigns rejiggered their Web sites to help Texas

residents meet fellow supporters in their communities, political

activists and observers predicted that the remaining presidential

candidates will make speeches and meet voters in Houston before the

March 4 primary.

Until now, Harris County has served mostly as a destination for

2008 campaign fundraising, often in private events for donors only.

Houston-area votes now become a valuable prize because Super

Tuesday failed to anoint a front-runner on the Democratic side or

give front-runner John McCain ownership of the Republican

nomination.

"Harris County is the largest county in the state, larger itself

than many states, so that means we would be one of the major

players in the country," said lawyer and McCain supporter Gary

Polland, former Harris County GOP chairman.

Further, he said, Harris County and Texas "are important as part of

what McCain needs to unite conservatives behind his candidacy."

Republican candidate Ron Paul already has signs and voter support

on display in the Houston area, thanks in part to the fact that he

is simultaneously running for re-election to the U.S. House in a

nearby district. Paul will conduct a rally in Lake Jackson Sunday

afternoon.

...

Paul is the only candidate who has been doing much in the way of

advertising in the area, but when it comes to the presidency he is

still a marginal player and will get no favorite son support. The

early straw poll at the Texas Republican convention went to Duncan

Hunter of all people. The Governor, has changed his endorsement from

Rudy Giuliani to McCain for what that is worth. Huckabee has

substantial support in the state and may be able to give McCain a

fight. I don't think Romney is creating much in the way of buzz here.

On the Democrat side, I suspect that Hillary Clinton will do well

here. She has strong support among what is left of the Democrat

establishment. There are no Democrats elected to statewide offices in

Texas now which is a dramatic change from 40 years ago. Democrats can

still get elected in local elections where "minorities" are in the

majority.

Texans are eager to vote in this election. Some of them went looking

for polling places on February 5, and a couple of posts I did on the

Texas primaries back last summer are getting several hits a day with a

big bump whenever people are voting. March 4th can't come soon enough