Texas primaries wrap-up — hypocrisy and more!

I've already covered the clusterfuck in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, but I may drop a few more words near the end.

Biggest surprise? Dan Patrick hauling in nearly 45 percent of the vote in the GOP Lite Guv primary, despite his Ill Eagle hypocrisy hitting the fan before early voting was halfway done and finishing even ahead of incumbent David Dewhurst. (That said, on the GOP Lite Guv side, on the poll still up, respondents were more accurate than I; I thought it would be Staples along with the Dew.)

A couple of takeaways. First, Dudley Dewless is toast in the runoff Patrick will win by at least a 55-45 margin.

Second, the GOP has proven itself to be the party of hypocrisy, and dug-in hypocrisy, not just in staring down Dems but in an intramural scrum. As noted, this came out before early voting was halfway done. It didn't hurt him there, and his day-of voting dropped by less than 1 percentage point.

Biggest sadness/disgust/same-old new, GOP side? That would be Don Huffines narrowly topping John Carona in a Dallas state senate primary. Sadness because Carona was a relatively moderate Republican, and a generally effective legislator. Disgust? Huffines trotting in out-of-state tea party type endorsements from the likes of Rand Paul and Rick Santorum. Disgust, part 2? More than $6.3 million being spent on this race. Same-old, new? Anybody who thinks the tea partiers aren't even more firmly in the saddle in the Texas GOP. Dallas, at least the city and the first ring of precincts inside Dallas County, is blue. A "temperate" GOP would certainly seem to be called for here, but was firmly rejected.

Related? Given that the district, while including all of ritzy Highland Park and University Park, also has portions of Rowlett, Garland, Irving and Coppell, and is 30 percent Hispanic, a decent Democrat would have a shot at a Huffines, one would think.

Too bad no Dem ran for that nomination.

Biggest disgust, Democratic side? The Senate primary going to an Alameel-Rogers runoff. And, sorry, Charles Kuffner, but Alameel winning outright in the original primary wouldn't have been much more appealing. More here from my blog on that race. 

Strength of the Tea Party? Patrick's showing, Cornyn's relatively limited showing despite his tacking hard right from an already hard right slot, and Huffines knocking off Carona are just a few signs that it's not in its waning phase. Stockman getting nearly 20 percent of the vote in Cornyn's primary confirms that.

And, that's where we're at in the Pointy Abandoned Object State™.