Congratulations to the Indiana tea partiers!  You  can stick a fork in six-term Senator Richard Lugar.  He's done:

WASHINGTON -- The Tea Party tossed another veteran Republican overboard Tuesday night, voting six-term Republican Sen. Dick Lugar from office in a heated Indiana primary.

With most of the percent of the precincts reporting, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock had 61 percent of the vote to Lugar's 39 percent, sending Mourdock to a November matchup against Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly...

Mourdock counted heavily on Tea Party support, with a recent poll finding that the 28 percent of Indiana GOP voters who identified with the movement favored the treasurer by more than a 40-point margin. Coupled with relatively low turnout, Tea Party enthusiasm appeared to be enough. Groups like the Club for Growth, the Tea Party Express, FreedomWorks and the National Rifle Association spent heavily and worked hard for Mourdock.

Your thoughts?  Please weigh in below.

Super Tuesday has passed, and Texas has secured a Primary Date - May 29th

As the Presidential candidates make their way to Texas, please make a point to meet and hear all who want your coveted vote. There will be 144 delegates awarded proportionally this cycle, so it will be imperative for you to be directly involved with the campaign that you want to see successful in Texas!

Be the first to know when a candidate is coming to your town and gain direct access for conference calls, meetings, and private functions.

We have provided all of the social media outlets and volunteer pages for each Presidential campaign.

(in alphabetical order)

Gingrich, Newt www.Newt.org Twitter @NewtGingrich (1,445,794 followers) @Newt2012HQ @NewtCoalitions @Texans4Newt @NewtGrassroots @TXStudents4Newt Hashtag: #withNewt Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/newtgingrich Grassroots Volunteer Website: www.NewtsNetwork.com Coalitions Page: http://www.newt.org/coalitions/
Obama, Barack www.BarackObama.com Twitter @BarackObama (12,866,374 followers) @Obama2012 @TeamObama @OFA_TX Hashtag: #OFA and #Obama2012 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/barackobama Grassroots Volunteer Website: https://my.barackobama.com/page/s/become-a-volunteer?source=primary-nav
Paul, Ron www.ronpaul2012.com Twitter @RonPaul (258,001 followers) @RonPaulcom @RonPaul_2012 @RepRonPaul Hashtag: #RonPaul Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ronpaul Grassroots Volunteer Website: http://www.ronpaul2012.com/sign-up-as-volunteer/
Romney, Mitt www.MittRomney.com Twitter @MittRomney (365,247 followers) @TeamRomney @Romney2012hq Hashtag: #MittRomney or #Mitt2012 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mittromney Grassroots Volunteer Website: http://www.mittromney.com/action
Santorum, Rick www.RickSantorum.com Twitter @RickSantorum  (157,175 Followers) @Santorum2012 @WePickRick @TeamSantorumTX  Hashtag: #WePickRick & #Santorum2012 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RickSantorum Grassroots Volunteer Website: http://www.ricksantorum.com/volunteer

Who is the True Steadfast Conservative in the GOP Presidential Race?

In every Republican primary election, voters are treated to a steady stream of messages from the candidates’ propaganda machines.  One campaign will declare “X is the one and only steadfast conservative in the race,” spurring a rival campaign to reply that “X is not a conservative at all.  Y is the consistent conservative.”  The endless back-and-forth can make it very difficult for voters to sort the conservative “wheat” from the RINO “chaff.”

By The Numbers: ACU Ratings

It’s difficult to come by a consistent, objective yardstick by which to measure rival candidates, but one set of metrics often used by conservatives is the set of annual American Conservative Union (ACU) ratings for each federal legislator.  For over 40 years, the ACU has been issuing annual ratings of every member of the U.S. House and every member of the U.S. Senate.  The ratings are objective, based on each candidate’s voting record in the House or Senate, as appropriate.  Legislators who consistently vote the conservative position receive high marks from ACU, while those who do not receive low marks.  Notable consistent conservatives include Rep. Steve King (R-IA) (97% lifetime ACU Rating), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) (98.67% lifetime ACU Rating) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (100% lifetime ACU Rating).  On the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find folks like Sen. Arlen Specter (PA) (42.17% lifetime), Mark Kirk (IL) (58% lifetime) and Mike Castle (DE) (51.69% lifetime), all of whom are generally considered “RINOs”.

Each of the three conservative challengers to Mitt Romney served in the Congress as a legislator.  The following three graphs represent the ACU ratings for the three legislators in the GOP Presidential race:

If we can agree that ACU ratings serve as a reasonable yardstick by which to measure Republican legislators against one another, which of the graphs above best represents the voting record of a “True Conservative”?

Frankly, it wouldn’t be out of the question to eject them all from the conservative purity club.  After all, each of the candidates’ voting records includes at least a few years in which they voted no more than three times out of four on the “conservative” side as defined by ACU.  Further, the voting history of each includes many years in which the legislator’s voting record diverged substantially from the ACU position.

The graph below shows the three voting records on a common time line: 

Even a cursory review of this graph makes clear that Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have voting records that have diverged substantially from the types of conservative policies generally advocated and supported by consistent conservatives such as Jim DeMint, Steve King and Michele Bachmann.  The graphs above paint a picture of three legislators who voted the conservative position on many occasions, but certainly voted otherwise when it suited them.  This is not to say, of course, that any one of these three aren’t conservatives.  Viewed through an objective lens, each of the three can legitimately lay claim to the “conservative” banner, but none of the three can legitimately lay claim to being steadfastly consistent in their conservatism, as defined by the American Conservative Union.

Conclusion

Based on voting records as analyzed by ACU, none of the three “not Romney” candidates can lay claim to the title of “consistent conservative” without opening himself up to a laundry list of criticisms.  Thus, any “conservative purity test” one may apply to all of these men would eliminate all of them, leaving voters with the choice between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.  One doubts that either of those two would be stronger champions of conservative policy.

Instead of applying a purity test, a conservative voter is well-advised to accept that none of the “not Romneys” is perfect, but all of the three are, generally speaking, conservatives, and any one of them would be preferable, from a conservative perspective, to Mitt Romney or Barack Obama.

(All ratings retrieved from http://www.Conservative.org/legislative-ratings/)

2011 : The Year in Review

It's been a very busy year for grassroots Texans.  Time after time, in battle after battle, we took the fight to the establishment.  We won a few, and we lost a few, but time and again, win or lose, we got back in the fight.

Our struggles with the Texas establishment began shortly after the 2010 elections, with the fight to replace Texas House Speaker Joe Straus.

The public opposition to Straus was clear.  According to a Heritage Alliance poll conducted in November 2010, 89% of Republican primary voters wanted a more conservative House Speaker.

On December 13th, The Grassroots Texans Network helped to organize 'Listen to Texans!' rallies at the district offices of State Representatives across the State of Texas.  Whether the representatives chose to listen to what their constituents had to say, they definitely heard us.

In December 2010, Representatives Flynn, Hughes, Berman and Christian endorsed Ken Paxton for Speaker of the Texas House.

In the lead up to the leadership vote, County Republican Party organizations across the state passed resolutions calling for a conservative House Speaker elected by Republican Caucus.  The initial attempt in Dallas County failed to reach a quorum, thus requiring a rescheduling.  The resolution was ultimately passed at the rescheduled meeting.

Leading up to the January 10th vote , grassroots Texans came together in a broad coalition of groups from around the State to take a stand for a conservative House Speaker.

Ultimately, the establishment carried the day on January 10th, and Joe Straus was relected as House Speaker.  Nonetheless, a brave team of 17 heroes had stood up and taken a stand, and we stood with them.  Donna Garner penned her own tribute here.

We may have lost a battle, but grassroots Texans weren't about to concede the war.  Grassroots Texans helped to arm their fellow citizens to fight against reappointment of last session's committee chairs.

When Joe Straus announced his committee chairs, grassroots Texans published a detailed analysis of his committee chair slate as rated by grassroots groups across the State.  The analysis made abundantly clear the ideological alignment of the new chairs. 

When the legislature tried to water down the Voter ID bill, grassroots Texans worked to shed sunlight on their shenanigans and keep the pressure on for a strong Voter ID bill.

We also worked to keep our fellow Texans up-to-speed on the Eminent Domain Bill.

In February, The Grassroots Texans Network formed a coalition with 18 local tea party organizations to host Grassroots Boot camp, a two-day intensive grassroots training program featuring RedState's Erick Erickson, former FOX News anchor Brian Wilson and Mark Davis of The Rush Limbaugh Show, among many other trainers.  Grassroots Bootcamp was attended by over 200 grassroots activists from around the region.

In March, when the House leadership started to float 'trail balloons' about raiding the Rainy Day Fund, grassroots Texans made clear, in no uncertain terms, that raiding the Rainy Day Fund was not an option.  Thousands of grassroots Texans rallied together behind a letter to the state legislature demanding fiscal responsibility in the state budget.

Later in March, The Grassroots Texans Network was proud to help support the True the Vote National Summit in Houston, Texas.

In April, the State Legislature took up redistricting, and grassroots Texans fought for an open, fair and reasonable redistricting process.

When the state house leadership bottled up the immigration reform bills demanded by the people of Texas, grassroots Texans worked hard to keep up the pressure, drafting, distributing and delivering an open letter signed by thousands of Texans.

On May 10th, grassroots Texans hand-delivered an Open Letter to Governor Rick Perry, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, House Speaker Joe Straus and other key members of the Texas Legislature.  The letter, which demanded transportion reform, an end to fee diversion, control over spiraling government debt and other reforms, was signed by over 2,000 Texans from across the state.

Later in May, grassroots Texans came together to support an open letter to the members of the Texas House expressing strong opposition to the corrupt Pledge Card system and asking all members to refrain from signing pledge cards.

In June, grassroots Texans from across the state tuned in for an end-of-session Legislative Update teleconference featuring JoAnn Fleming, Maria Martinez of IRCOT, Drew Ryun of American Majority and Terri Hall of TURF.

When Joe Straus shut down the Texas House to stop David Simpson's TSA Bill, grassroots Texans stood up and took notice.

While the Texas House ran out the clock on the special session, grassroots Texans were watching.

As the 2012 Primary season approached, The Grassroots Texans Network hosted a presidential straw poll of tea party organizers in Texas.  Interestingly, 2 of the top 5 preferred candidates were not in the race.

On September 19th, The Grassroots Texans Network joined with a coalition of other grassroots reform groups to deliver to Texas Governor Rick Perry an Open Letter signed by over 6,000 Texans demanding real action on illegal immigration.

When the Governor neglected to take action, we returned to Austin in October to make it clear that grassroots Texans are 'Fed Up' with Perry's inaction on immigration reform:

As the November 2011 Constitutional Election approached, The Grassroots Texans Network published a Constitutional Election Voters Guide setting forth the analyses of eight grassroots conservative organizations.  Although Texans passed three of the controversial amendments, they voted down three others.

As we head into the 2012 primaries, The Grassroots Texans Network will continue to shine light on the candidates and their records, and will do our very best to bring, solid objective analysis to help grassroots Texans make informed decisions.

We hope that we can continue to count on your support in 2012.  We're going to need it more than ever.

As always, we look forward to your feedback, good or bad, pro or con.  Fire away!   

Fellow Grassroots Texans:

We write to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas!

We ask that you take some time today to remember our men and women overseas and to keep them and their families in your prayers.

Our modern heroes are in every way the modern heirs to the proud legacy of George Washington's troops at Valley Forge and McAuliffe's troops at Bastogne, and we should never for a minute forget their sacrifice.

Merry Christmas to all, and a special thanks to all who have sacrificed so much for the cause of freedom.

- The Grassroots Texans Network

Texas GOP and Democrats Cut Deal on Primary Calendar

"Under the agreement, which was approved by a panel of federal judges overseeing some of the redistricting fight, there would be a second filing period of candidates that would open as soon as the maps are finalized and close Feb. 1. County election officials would draw for positions on the primary ballots Feb. 3, the primary elections would be held April 3 and the runoffs would take place June 5."

Split Primaries in Texas Would Favor Tea Party Candidates

"Tea party members and their favored candidates say the political upheaval that resulted from the ever-changing redistricting landscape has provided them with a chance to concentrate their limited power. If the upcoming primaries are split — that is, holding a presidential primary in March and congressional, legislative and other races at a later date — then tea party-backed candidates could have an advantage, they say."

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/split-primaries-could-favor-tea-party-candidates-2035220.html

 

 

 

Thousands Rally for Religious Freedom in East Texas   A crowd estimated in the thousands rallied on the square in Athens, Texas to show their support for the nativity scene being challenged by the Wisconsin atheist group Freedom from Religion Foundation.  A video of the crowd is posted to the right.  More coverage at FoxNews.com:     “Our message to the atheists is don’t mess with Texas and our Nativity scenes or the Ten Commandments,” Attorney General Greg Abbott told Fox News & Commentary. “I want the Freedom From Religion Foundation to know that our office has a history of defending religious displays in this state.”

 

Tea Party Grassroots Army Readies for Battle

 

"Interviews with activists across 20 U.S. states indicate that Tea Party groups, far from fading, have evolved into an increasingly sophisticated and effective network of activists. They are working to unseat establishment Republicans who they believe have betrayed the principles of lower taxes, limited government, and free markets."

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/15/us-special-report-tea-party-idUSTRE7BE0CX20111215

 

 

Texans Rally Against Eric Holder in Austin

"The rally was sponsored by the Houston-based True The Vote, a grass roots voter integrity project staffed by volunteers. True The Vote is a nation-wide organization that has affiliates across the country, every day citizens interested in the integrity of the elections in their home district."

http://www.chicagonow.com/publius-forum/2011/12/austin-successful-rally-to-oppose-ag-holders-attack-on-election-reforms/

 

 

Perry's Presidential Campaign : What Happened?

"Despite a record seemingly tailor-made for an election about the economy and an ideological disposition that was Tea Party before Tea Party was cool, Perry has vastly underperformed the expectations of even his most ardent critics, who gritted their teeth while admitting, back in August, that he could be the one. Thursday night’s debate in Iowa is one of the last of his seemingly endless clichéd moments of truth—do or die, make or break, etc. The climb back into the top tier will be seriously uphill."

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/15/rick-perry-s-presidential-candidacy-a-bitter-pill-for-texans.html

“If Joseph Goebbels was around, he’d be very proud of the Democrat Party because they have an incredible propaganda machine,” West said on Capitol Hill Thursday, quoted by Politico. “I think that you have, and let’s be honest, you know, some of the people in the media are complicit in this, in enabling them to get that type of message out.”

"Haley and Romney will campaign together over the weekend throughout South Carolina, which holds its primary on Jan. 21. Romney is about 20 points behind Newt Gingrich in South Carolina public opinion polls, but the outcome of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary will no doubt help tighten the race in the Palmetto State."

 

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/12/mitt-romney-nikki-haley-endorsement-/1

"Over 75 percent of the Myrtle Beach Tea Party voted to endorse Gingrich; McDaniel says each member spent three weeks studying each of the candidates, many whom they had met, and had decided that they would only endorse a candidate of which there was majority support. McDaniel, who has met all the candidates except Ron Paul (and only because she couldn't make the logistics of seeing him work) and is the only Myrtle Beach member paid by the Gingrich campaign, said the accusations lodged by Bachmann's South Carolina operation is damaging to the Tea Party movement as a whole."

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/12/15/gingrichs-tea-party-supporters-accusations-paid-endorsements-untrue

Leading up to the November 8th election, grassroots groups across the state had published voters' guides to help voters make some sense of the 10 obscure constitutional amendments.

Based on our review of the available grassroots analysis:

Props 1 and 5 were in dispute, with grassroots activists on both sides.

Props 9 and 10 encountered a mixture of opposition and neutrality.

Props 2-4 and 6-8 were uniformly opposed by the grassroots groups we heard from.

By Election Day, approximately 687,000 Texans had cast ballots--approximately 5% of eligible voters.  After the votes were counted:

Of the six propositions uniformly opposed by the Texas conservative groups issuing recommendations, three passed and three failed.   

Your thoughts?  Please weigh in below.

Over the period between August 16th and August 19th, The Grassroots Texans Network conducted an unscientific straw poll of 120 known active tea party organizers in the State of Texas.  The poll was conducted according to two separate methods of voting.  47 of the 120 organizers responded.

The results of the straw poll are below:

Tea Party Celebrating Budget Control Act? I say, NOT!

by Robert Gonzalez

August 8, 2011

Let's see, Alan West and Debbie Wasserman Schultz both voted for it. Ron Paul and Barney Frank voted against it, Sheila Jackson Lee and Paul Ryan were "Aye's" and Ted Poe and Maxine Waters were "Nay's".

I believe this qualifies as one of the strangest consortium of "Aye's" and "Nay's" I have ever encountered. Better yet, the remake of the Odd Couple, Oscar and Felix, living together once more albeit for the wrong reasons.

Let's take a quick look at what has just occurred (S. 365 - Budget Control Act of 2011) and why the Tea Party is "so happy" as the pundits on all sides continue to echo.

The deal cuts spending $917B (their numbers) over the next 10 years, with the first two years "saving" a whopping $62B, never mind that the current spending rate has the US overspending by $4.55B everyday, meaning in a mere 14 days we will have eclipsed the "savings" proposed.