We Texans had a hard time with the phones at the beginning of this week. Hillary Clinton's robocalls came in with regularity, repetitively, in a statewide effort to take over the post-primary Democratic caucuses.
You can't blame them for being worried: the Obama wave is strong, very big. But their tactics evidently didn't work. Apparently there were enough protests from Democratic voters troubled about being strong-armed to stop the calls about 48 hours ago.
Now the Clinton campaign is on the rampage again, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The Texas Democratic Party warned Thursday that election night caucuses scheduled for Tuesday could be delayed or disrupted after aides to Hillary Rodham Clinton threatened to sue over the party's complicated delegate selection process.
In a letter sent out late Thursday to both the Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns, Texas Democratic Party lawyer Chad Dunn warned a lawsuit could ruin the Democrats' effort to re-energize voters just as they are turning out in record numbers.
It's fair to say that if things were going Clinton's way in Texas, she'd surely rejoice at the arcane Texas system which encourages such up-close-and-personal participation in the election process. What her campaign seems willing to do, over and over again, is to question the procedures when her side seems to be losing. In this case, the Obama campaign seems willing to use the law to stand its ground.
Democratic sources said both campaigns have made it clear that they might consider legal options over the complicated delegate selection process, which includes both a popular vote and evening caucuses. But the sources made it clear that the Clinton campaign in particular had warned of an impending lawsuit.
"Both campaigns have made it clear that they would go there if they had to, but I think the imminent threat is coming from one campaign," said one top Democratic official, referring to the Clinton campaign. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another Democratic official who was privy to the discussions confirmed Clinton representatives made veiled threats in a telephone call this week.
"Officials from Sen. Clinton's campaign at several times throughout the call raised the specter of 'challenging the process,' " the official said.
The source, who asked not to be identified, said Clinton's political director, Guy Cecil, had forcefully raised the possibility of a courtroom battle.
But Adrienne Elrod, Clinton's top Texas spokeswoman, said campaign and party officials had merely discussed election night procedures and that the campaign was merely seeking a written agreement in advance.
Presumably they mean to fight only if they lose. The Clintons haven't met a rule they'd be willing to honor -- Florida, Michigan, and now perhaps Texas -- if it stands in their way. Nice folks. Out-Roving Rove on Karl's home ground.
Adding to fuel to the fire is this news about a phenomenon we've seen here in our heavily Republican, rural county:
As many as a tenth of the Texans voting in the Democratic contests could be Republicans, and overwhelmingly they favor Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, the polls show.
“I ran for Republican precinct chair. I went to the Republican state convention,” said one of them, Donald Rau of Austin, who has already voted in early balloting. “In this election, I voted for Barack Obama.”
