Thursday, August 10, 2006
The Fix's Chris Cillizza Was a Prophet
Immediately after the Supreme Court ordered Texas to redraw the district of Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-TX., The Fix's Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post prophetically wrote that former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez was one of the clear winners and Bonilla a clear loser.
Sure enough, the new map increased the Hispanic population by 10 percent and includes the home base of netroots hero, Ciro Rodriguez.Rodriguez's political career, which seemed all but over following his primary loss earlier this year to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D), has new life. Assuming the courts remove Webb County out of Cuellar's 28th district and consolidate the seat around San Antonio (as it was prior to the re-redistricting) Rodriguez would be the odds-one nominee in the new seat.
Congressional Quarterly reports that Rodriguez indicated he will run against Bonilla in the newly redrawn 23rd District.
What delicious irony! Another Republican going down in Texas.“Believe me, I’m not going to allow any Republican to represent me on the south side [of San Antonio],” Rodriguez said. “So I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure that he no longer represents the 23rd.”
Rodriguez accused Bonilla of “voting for special interests” and for taking campaign contributions from gas and oil interests and pharmaceutical industries. “I think the people have had enough with him and they’re ready for an alternative. ... We look
forward to announcing on Tuesday of next week,” Rodriguez said.
Here is a breakdown in the series of events to date in the Machiavellian redistricting plan of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the prince of rig.
In 2002, Republican Rep. Henry Bonilla almost lost to Democratic Henry Cuellar in a newly drawn district after the 2000 census. Two years later, in mid-decade, GOPers moved Cuellar into Rodriguez's district, Cuellar challenged Rodriguez and won by the narrowest of margins. This past spring, Rodriguez challenged Cuellar in the primary but lost in the" now-overruled 28th district."
Indeed, only a few months ago, many of us in the blogosphere were expending time and energy to try to help Rodriguez win; we were devastated when he lost.
Now, it looks as if Rodriguez and the net roots get one more shot at the apple!
CQ has moved the 23rd District from "safe Republican" to "Republican favored," but with a Hispanic population at 61 percent rather than barely a majority, we'll just have to see about that ONE!
