February 2, 2006
I HATE YOU, LET'S HUG:
Bush-Cuellar photo prompts donations to Rodriguez (Jaime Castillo and Gary Martin, 02/02/06, San Antonio Express-News)
A well-traveled photograph of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar being embraced by President Bush prior to Tuesday's State of the Union address triggered a rush of Internet donations to one of Cuellar's Democratic primary rivals Thursday.Within hours of a call to arms being posted on two liberal-leaning political blogs, the Daily Kos and Eschaton, former congressman Ciro Rodriguez's campaign received 263 cyber contributions totaling nearly $12,000, according to ActBlue, a Web-based clearinghouse for Democratic candidates nationwide.
“This may be billed as a Democratic primary, but in this solidly Democratic Latino-majority district, Republicans needed a Republican in sheep's clothing like Cuellar to have a chance of winning,” the Daily Kos blog post read. [...]
A spokesman for Cuellar, who has been criticized as too cozy with the GOP since his support of Bush over Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election, characterized the controversy as a “one-day story.”
“There's a jeering section that stands up on Ciro's behalf whenever Henry so much as looks at a Republican,” spokesman Colin Strother said.
Before long, he'll swear Bush was airbrushed in.
Posted by Matt Murphy at February 2, 2006 11:04 PMCuellar's had an interesting history over the last six years -- he was appointed Texas Secretary of State by Gov. Rick Perry in 2001, before resigning to run against Republican Henry Bonilla for Congress in 2002. Bush has been eying Henry as the eventual replacement for Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Senate, but It took some late returns from north San Antonio to get Bonilla re-elected, so when the GOP redistricting plan came out in '03, they tweaked Bonilla's district in Laredo, moving Cuellar's home out of his district and into the one with Rodriguez.
Ciro thought he had a safe seat, but lost to the other Henry in the '04 primary, thanks to some late returns from the east side of Laredo, which led to a few lawsuits and charges that Cuellar was a closet Republican. This latest attack is just a continuation of that leading into the March 7 Democratic primary. There are some other South Texas primary races on the Democratic side involving one Hispanic candidate trying to label another as a closet Republican, so it will be interesting to see how that gambit plays out.
Posted by: John at February 2, 2006 11:57 PM