In Texas, even the Governor's pocket tweets are awesome

Engaging in social media can be a double-edged sword for politicians (Exhibit A: Former Senator Scott Brown's infamous "bqwhatevr" tweets).

Texas Governor Rick Perry sent out a very concise one-character tweet this afternoon...

Texas campaign finance reports show strong launch for Abbott, daunting hurdles for Davis, solid potential for Staples

Few things get a political news junkie's heart racing like a new batch of campaign finance reports. Pavlov's dog has nothing on how we drool over the lists of figures...who raised how much, how much cash on hand, who wrote all those checks, and so on.

For candidates, early campaign finance reports often take on make-it-or-break-it importance, especially for candidates seeking a new, higher office. The latest campaign finance reports here in Texas certainly seem poised to crush the dreams of some, while boosting others.

Matt Mackowiak, proprietor of Must Read Texas, posted a chart on Facebook earlier tonight with the figures for the top races in Texas:

Ted Cruz: "Stronger than Garlic"

What an incredible, amazing, wonderful night for Ted Cruz!

In less than two years, he managed to go from "Ted Who?" and polling in the low single digits, to winning the Republican primary for the Texas Senate by a decisive margin, earning the support of conservative activists across the country along the way.

During his victory speech last night, Cruz made reference to the fact that he only received 2% of the vote at the first poll that was taken in his race, providing yet another parallel with Marco Rubio's Senate race in Florida. Both Rubio and Cruz are attorneys with Cuban heritage, strong conservatives, and Rubio initially had a weak showing in the first public polls that were taken in his race.

Some thoughts on last night's television

Lots of excitement on TV last night: Leonard and Penny might be getting back together, a great series of completely-immature-yet-still-hilarious double entendres from Sheldon, and a funny gag involving a life-size cardboard cutout of Zachary Quinto.

Oh, what's that? You came to Sunshine State Sarah for something other than a recap of Big Bang Theory's 100th episode? Heh. OK, fine. There was also some political stuff on last night too. Here's my thoughts...

BREAKING: Rick Perry dropping out of race; endorsing Newt Gingrich

Fox News just announced that Governor Rick Perry will announce today that he is dropping out of the presidential race, and that he will endorse Newt Gingrich.

A lesson from the Florida Bar Exam for the Presidential candidates

I was sharing a few law school stories with a friend recently, and was reminded about something entertaining that happened when I took the Florida Bar Exam (and yes, this really does relate to the presidential race).

The difference between me & Glenn Beck is when I rant and rave, I make sense!

On Tuesday, I was on The Ed Dean Radio Show to discuss Glenn Beck's comments about Newt Gingrich, his feud with Andrew Breitbart, and the latest on the Republican primary presidential race. Oh, and I go on a rant or two about the damage caused by unrealistic conservative commentators, the quest for a "perfect" candidate, and flirting with third parties.

Dear GOP Candidates, Come Get Me

As I noted last week, I've been officially "undecided" about who I'm supporting in the Republican presidential primary for a few weeks. 

Polls: Do they matter?

An interesting look back...here's the Real Clear Politics Average from the GOP Presidential primary race four years ago (figures from November 30, 2007):

Rudy Giuliani - 28.5%
Fred Thompson - 14.2%
John McCain - 12.8%
Mitt Romney - 12.7%
Mike Huckabee - 9.2%
Ron Paul - 4.2%

Follow up from Saturday's GOP debate

Ah. Finally. Someone put the entire debate on YouTube. I was having the worst time getting the original video to embed properly and it was slowing down this site's load time. The perils of amateur web design...sigh...

Anyway, read my post from yesterday, and then I really recommend that you watch the debate when you get a chance. FYI there's some introductory remarks from the debate organizers and Frank Luntz, and the actual debate starts at about the 35 minute mark:

YouTube | PikaFilms | Thanksgiving Family Forum -- Complete Video

The GOP debate you probably didn't watch, but should have

Last night, CitizenLink, a Focus on the Family affiliate, sponsored a debate in Iowa last night between the Republican presidential candidates, focusing on social issues. But you probably didn't see it, because it was online only, in a livestream that was scheduled up against a lot of college football games. That's really a shame, because it was definitely worth watching.

(At the end of this post, I've included a link to the video of the entire debate, so you can watch it, and I strongly encourage you to do so.)

Everyone has a 9-9-9 Plan!

Herman Cain isn't the only one with a 9-9-9 Plan:

[Hat tip: Crooks and Liars blog]

See the original 9-9-9 Plan here!

The Las Vegas Debate aka Conservative Slap Fight

Well, that was entertaining.

The Republican presidential candidates met in Las Vegas last night for the latest debate. As appropriate for the location, it was a wild evening with some of the nastiest fights ever between the candidates yet and even an appearance by Wayne Newton.

I've got the Twitter trending topics (from right after the debate ended) for you, and then some random little thoughts about the debate itself:

Marco Rubio and Florida's Primary Date: Are We Looking at the Wrong Conspiracy?

Florida's controversial decision to move our presidential primary election to January 31 continues to inspire headlines, most notably in several articles last week by Robert Stacy McCain, in which he reported that his sources told him that Cesar Conda, Senator Marco Rubio's chief of staff, had sought to influence the primary date in order to give an advantage to Mitt Romney, and also Rubio on the unreliable presumption that he would be Romney's choice for a running mate:

The Other McCain | Top Rubio Staffer Reportedly Pushed for Early Florida Primary to Help Romney

American Spectator | Robert Stacy McCain | Republican Campaign Apocalypse

Javier Manjarres at The Shark Tank responded with his own article detailing Rubio's emphatic denial that Conda had been involved in influencing the primary date:

The Shark Tank | Senator Marco Rubio Denies Staffer's Collusion with Romney Campaign

Now, I like a good juicy political scandal as much as anyone, but after spending the last week making phone calls to my own sources around the state, I'm wondering if we're not looking at this story from the completely wrong angle.

New Gallup Poll Shows Cain Nearly Tied With Romney

GALLUP | Cain Surges, Nearly Ties Romney for Lead in GOP Preferences

PRINCETON, NJ -- Republicans' support for Herman Cain has surged to 18%, their support for Rick Perry has sagged to 15%, and their support for Mitt Romney remains relatively stable at 20%...

Herman Cain's lucky numbers, Part III

More positive numbers coming in for Herman Cain (see Part I and Part II):

IBOPE Zogby Poll: Cain Expands Lead Over GOP Field & Leads Obama, 46% - 44%

Herman Cain's lucky numbers, Part II

Just a follow up on my post a few days ago about Herman Cain's rapid rise in the polls...new reports continue to show very positive numbers for Cain:

Herman Cain's lucky numbers

You'd be smiling too, if you were this guy.

Herman Cain has a lot of reasons to smile. 

It is now clear that his win at the Florida Presidency 5 straw poll was no fluke.

Besides a significant fundraising surge late in the third quarter ending on September 30, great polling numbers continue to pour in, providing statistical evidence to the ample "I like that guy!" anecdotal evidence I've been seeing for months:

#StandWithRubio - GOP Candidates Announce Boycott of Univision Debate

Que imbecilidad

Spanish-language TV station Univision learned a lesson today about the limits of their influence.

After the story broke that Univision had released an embarrassing twenty year old story about Senator Marco Rubio's brother-in-law, allegedly in retaliation for Rubio's refusal to appear on the liberal Al Punto show (Shark Tank has a good write up here), three Hispanic Republican leaders - Congressman David Rivera, Florida House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, and Miami-Dade County Republican Party Chairman Erik Fresen - sent letters to the Republican National Committee and the Republican presidential campaigns.

The candidates responded in an avalanche today, with Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, and Michele Bachmann all announcing that they would boycott a Univision-hosted debate unless the station made amends with Rubio.

Conservative snarky chicks x 3

One of the best things about going to gatherings like CPAC, RedState Gatherings, etc. is getting to meet other conservative bloggers and commentators. Two of my fellow conservative chicks and princesses of snark, Jenn Taylor and Lori Ziganto have a blog and online radio program called "That's What She Said," and they invited me on the program for last Thursday's show.

We discussed my experiences as an eyewitness to the infamous booing at the GOP debate last week, Herman Cain's exciting win at the straw poll, and the implications for the Republican contest for president. Jenn and Lori do a great job with their show and I had a really fun time as their guest.

You can download the show at iTunes or listen to it at the TWSS Dames blog.