Love and war in Texas...GOP primaries

Can't get my mind off of last week's first round of 2014 national primaries held in the great state of Texas...probably has something to do with the ever-annoying Karl Rove establishment in conjunction with the lib media!

There were winners, there were losers...and some of the winners are undoubtedly losers! Of course, the national press seized on the two entrenched establishment victors (Cornyn and Sessions) over tea party challengers. Well, at least Katrina Pierson fit that bill to the tea...and shame on GOP voters of the 32nd district for not desiring superb representation in Washington (or considering Sessions, any conservative representation at all anymore). Perhaps they'll come around in another two years. Don't give up the fight, Katrina!

However, what the media was hesitant to admit was that the first primary in the nation actually delivered something more promising on the state and local levels, as well as proved the point that tea party conservatism ain't goin' away.

NewsMax: Most of the national press pointed to the landslide primary victories of Texas Republicans Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Pete Sessions over tea party-favored challengers as evidence that the grassroots movement has run out of steam as a force in the GOP.

But a closer look at the outcome of the Tuesday primaries shows quite the opposite — the tea party is a force to be reckoned with in the Lone Star State.

In what was perhaps the most unexpected result of the night, two-term Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a business community favorite, trailed conservative state Sen. Dan Patrick by a margin of 41 percent to 28 percent. The two will now face each other in a runoff on May 27.

Patrick, a conservative radio and TV commentator from Houston, took a hardline stance on illegal immigration and wooed the tea party, whose statewide branches were pivotal to Dewhurst's defeat at the hands of Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate primary two years ago.

In similar results, state Sen. Ken Paxton of McKinney, the tea party favorite for nomination as attorney general, led "establishment" favorite and Dallas-area state Rep. Dan Branch by a margin of 44 percent to 33 percent. Like fellow tea party insurgent Patrick, Paxton is the favorite in the May runoff.

Races for nomination to the state Senate told a similar tale.

Even after leading the bandwagon of badmouthed pretorian mediaites, the New York Slimes inevitably had to admit the obvious...

NYT: Even if Republican stalwarts in Congress like Senator John Cornyn and Representative Pete Sessions routed insurgent challengers, the story of the Texas primaries was that anyone thinking the Tea Party had run its course should think again.

While establishment candidates in some of the top races were successful, Texas Republicans continued to tilt ever further right.

Step One: Elect more conservatives to state and local positions. Step Two: Pursue a Convention of the States to Amend the Constitution! We must beat the establishment leviathan in DC.

Related links: GOP Establishment Safe in Texas Primaries as Tea Party Falters
Texas G.O.P. Beats Back Challengers From Right
Tea Party Triumphs Down-Ballot in Texas
TEXAS REPUBLICAN PRIMARY: WHO SURVIVES?
Ted Cruz, Rand Paul top huge Tea Party poll; Chris Christie, Jeb Bush dead last