The Daily Mail is reporting Newt Gingrich has developed a strategy for getting back to parity with Mitt Romney after losses in Florida and Nevada. The key is to win southern state primaries leading up to the Texas primary on April 3.
What is the status of the Texas Primary?
The date of the Texas primary is April 3, according to 2012 Election Central. But ongoing litigation concerning the drawing of congressional and legislative districts has placed that date in doubt. The date has been moved from March 6, Super Tuesday, because of the court battle. According to the Panola Watchman, parties in the litigation have until Monday to come to an agreement if the Texas primary is to be held on April 3. At issue are four new congressional districts that Texas gained as a result of the 2010 census.
When the Texas primary is held, what is at stake?
Texas will choose 155 delegates. The delegates will be apportioned to the candidates according to the percentage of the vote they receive.
What is the political environment in Texas?
According to the Census Bureau, the population of Texas is 45.3 percent white, 37.6 percent Hispanic and 11.8 percent black, with the remainder of other ethnic groups such as Asian or Native American. The Republican Party has achieved a dominate position in Texas, controlling all statewide offices as well as majorities in both houses of the Texas legislature and the congressional delegation.
According to the Texas Politics site maintained by the University of Texas, the Lone Star State has a growing Hispanic population that is considered more closely identified with the Democratic Party than with the Republican Party. Immigration is a wedge issue in Texas, as it is in a number of other states. The Texas Almanac reports Texas is first in the nation in the number of Evangelical Protestants but second in the number of Mainline Protestants, third in the number of Catholics and sixth in the number of Mormons.
The bottom line is Texas, while conservative, is a diverse state ethnically, religiously and increasingly politically. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has endorsed Gingrich, but with the collapse of his presidential campaign, Perry has political worries of his own. The last Real Clear Politics poll average has Gingrich tied with Mitt Romney in Texas.
The Moon Base Issue
When Gingrich proposed building a moon base by the end of his hypothetical second term, he did so on Florida's space coast, where the Kennedy Space Center is located. The proposal was well received by the audience, but it did not win Gingrich much support in the Florida primary. The best that can be said is Gingrich lost a little less in Brevard County where the Kennedy Space Center is located, according to Space Politics.
Houston is the home of the Johnson Spaceflight Center which would certainly benefit from a moon base project. This might present Gingrich with an opportunity to reintroduce his proposal and thus better defend it. But this would help him in only one area of the state. Immigration, the economy, and the war on terror (the latter considering the number of military installations in Texas) outweigh the space issue.
Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network
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