Turning Texas Blue

I am a native Texan and as long as I can remember, Texas has been red … at times deep purple when President Bush was on the ballot. It looks like times may be a changing.

I have entertained this concept in several posts before. I recommend checking out “Why Texas will Lean Left, Examining How Texas Voted or A Bluer America?” for my input on the idea.

It seems that Democrats have come to the same realization and Texas is next. Peter Wallsten of The Los Angeles Times reports that, “Texas is one of several reliably red states that are now in Democrats' sights as party strategists begin to analyze a victorious 2008 campaign that they believe showed the contours of a new movement that could grow and prove long-lasting.”

It has not even been one day since Texas favorite George W. Bush has left the Presidency and Democrats are aggressively pursuing a traditional red state. With the success of Howard Dean’s 50 State strategy implemented and executed to perfection by Barack Obama, there is nothing stopping Democrats from building a stronger base.

Wallsten claims: “A multiethnic bloc of Latinos, blacks, young people and suburban whites helped to broaden the party's reach Tuesday well beyond its traditional base in the Northeast and the West Coast -- carrying Barack Obama into the White House and expanding the party's majorities in Congress.”

The secret formula seems to be Hispanics and as it is evident in results coming back from Texas, Barack Obama dominated in the South of Texas where Hispanics compromise over 80% of the population.

Wallsten adds, “A major shift in the Latino vote took place in Florida and the Southwest, where the Obama campaign spent at least $20 million on targeted appeals and organizing, including one television ad in the final days featuring the candidate reading Spanish from a script.”

If Democrats are successful at fulfilling the needs of this new voting bloc, the Republican will face hard times. “Wallsten notes, “Republicans can no longer achieve an electoral college majority with their decades-old strategy of winning whites in the South and conservatives in the heartland.”

Texas rewards its winner with 34 electoral votes and is considered by most to be the next California with its population makeup. 34 electoral votes combined with a growing population that leans to Democrats may just be enough for Barack Obama to set up shop in 2012.

The strategist, Cuauhtemoc "Temo" Figueroa, Obama's top Latino outreach official, said the state could be taken seriously as a presidential battleground if Democrats could win statewide races there in 2010. "I don't know if it's four years or eight years off, but down the road, Texas will be a presidential battleground," Figueroa said.

This of course assumes that Republicans do not change their platform and refrain from hostile policies that turn off more prospective voters than their base. In order for Democrats to build on this new base, they have to be in tune with their needs and concerns. Neglecting them as Democrats did to African-Americans after 1964 may have dire consequences. Hispanics are a loyal group once they are taken care off; just ask George W. Bush or the Clintons.