Texas Democrats ecstatic over election
DAVE MCNEELY

The Texas Democrats lost the presidential election in Texas. They failed to knock Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn out of his seat. They didn't capture any of the six slots on the state's top two appellate courts. They lost one seat in Congress.

But exuberant Democrats were still pinching themselves Wednesday morning at the gains they had made.

"I've got a real problem today," said state Rep. Jim Dunnam, DWaco, sporting a huge grin. "I can't stop smiling."

Dunnam, leader of the Democratic Caucus in the House, said his party had picked up a net of three seats in the House, and still holds out hope that a fourth will tip their way as ballots are re-tallied. He said he was smiling not just for the Democratic gains, but for what they will mean for school children, people who need health care, and those who think they can't afford to go to college.

The Democrats went into the election behind the Republicans by 79- 71. A gain of three seats puts the line-up as 76-74 - and if the final seat breaks to the Democrats, it would be dead even between the parties, at 75-75.

No matter what the final outcome of that tight contest, Dunnam predicted, the Democratic gains mean that come January, there will be a different House speaker than Tom Craddick, whose heavy-handed tactics have offended several Republican House members in addition to most of the Democrats.

"It won't be Tom Craddick," Dunnam declared. "It's over."

Dunnam said the House Democrats, who caucused later Wednesday afternoon, plan to act as a caucus.

Although a half dozen House members have been mentioned as potential speaker candidates - including Pete Gallego of Alpine, Allan Ritter of Beaumont, Scott Hochberg of Houston, Senfronia Thompson of Houston, Sylvester Turner of Houston, Craig Eiland of Galveston and Dunnam himself - he refused to speculate on who might have the inside track.

"I can assure you that when that door opens, we'll be united," Dunnam said.

The Democrats also knocked off one incumbent Republican state senator - Kim Brimer of Arlington, who lost to former Fort Worth city councilwoman Wendy Davis by about 7,000 votes - and may pick up another seat that's headed for a runoff.

That is in Senate District 17, that stretches from southwest Houston into other counties toward the Gulf of Mexico. Republican Kyle Janek resigned from that seat a few months ago.

Democrat Chris Bell, who was his party's nominee for governor in 2006 and a Houston congressman and city councilman before that, led with 38.4 percent in a special election held in conjunction with the general election. He'll face Republican Joan Huffman, who got 26.1 percent. The runoff will be in December.

The Senate line-up if Bell loses will be 19-12 in favor of the Republicans. However, the all-important number the Democrats need is 11 - the one-third of the Senate necessary to block the two-thirds vote needed to bring up bills. Davis's victory gives them a cushion, and a Bell victory would increase it.

Although the Democrats failed to pick up statewide judicial spots, they did add a handful of regional appellate judgeships, including Democrat Woodie Jones unseating 3rd Court of Appeals Chief Justice Ken Law, a Republican.

In Harris County (Houston), Democrats buoyed by a Democratic presidential candidate's victory there for the first time since 1964, also won 23 of 27 countywide district and probate judgeships on the ballot, and three of the six countywide administrative posts, including sheriff.

And in Dallas County, which flipped countywide to the Democrats in 2006, the Democrats picked up more judgeships.

Of course, Republicans says some of those countywide seats could revert to the GOP in 2010, when turnout will probably be lower because there isn't a hard-fought presidential contest on the ballot.

But the Democrats' chairman Richie was optimistic about the trend. With the number of Texans who voted Democrat for president increasing by close to 700,000 over 2004, and a presumably hot race for governor and other statewide positions, "I'm looking forward to 2010," Richie said.

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The Contested House Seat... Incumbent Republican Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, of House District 105 in Irving, led in Tuesday's vote by a scant 25 votes, of nearly 40,000 cast. But 280 provisional ballots had yet to be counted Wednesday afternoon. Dallas County's election administrator said the results "could flip."

Bob Romano, the Democrat who challenged Harper-Brown, told the Dallas News he wasn't sure whether he'd call for a recount. He said things were going "absolutely crazy. I want to get out of here and go deer hunting."

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The number of announced candidates for House speaker increased by one when Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, called a press conference to announce his candidacy. He pledged to have the speaker elected by secret ballot, to avoid retaliation against House members who vote against the winner.

"My platform is simple," said Merritt, a political maverick. "The Texas House will under my leadership be an open body that follows the rules."

At the rate speaker candidates are being discussed, the list of those who aren't running, in both parties, may actually become shorter than those who are.

- Contact McNeely at dmcneely@austin.rr.com.