Angry voters?
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAs a recession-hobbled nation limps toward Election Day next week, polls and prognosticators agree: The electorate is in a grim and angry mood. Republicans at all levels are poised to take advantage of the enormous dissatisfaction with the status quo, which, for many voters, means the Obama White House and a Democratic-controlled Congress.There was true anger a year ago when the Democrats were defying the will of the people, but now there is another emotion. I sense that people are almost giddy at the chance to payback the Democrats by voting them out of office. While anger maybe the theme for many in the media, I sense real joy at throwing the bums out.
In Texas, though, the status quo seems to be just fine, despite a looming budget shortfall that threatens to exact deep cuts in public education, higher education and an array of social services.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who, as the longest-serving governor in the state's history, embodies the ultimate status quo, seems to be cruising toward a comfortable victory. Despite Cassandra-like warnings from his opponent about the state's fiscal situation and a drumbeat of charges regarding what the challenger sees as the incumbent's cronyism tendencies, Perry leads Democrat and former Houston mayor Bill White by 10 points in the latest poll. Other Republicans running statewide are even further ahead in their races.
For Perry, the reason is self-evident: Texas voters have no cause for dissatisfaction with the state's Republican leadership.
"The 2010 elections are going to be viewed as a turning point in the history of our state and of our nation," he said at a campaign rally this week. "After nearly two years of runaway spending, massive debt and a legislative agenda that, frankly, would choke a horse, there is change in the air. The great news is that we're giving them a contrast down here in Texas."
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Perry is cruising to reelection because he was in better touch with the mood of the voters than many other incumbents. He understood what was motivating the Tea Party movement and became an articulate spokesman for that point of view. Voters seem poised to have the ultimate Tea Party on Tuesday.
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