President Bush's political resiliency in his home state has eroded significantly over his nearly eight years in the White House, with Texans joining the rest of the nation in registering sharp disapproval of his job performance as the nation's chief executive, according to a newly released statewide poll.

Only 34 percent of Texans polled in a University of Texas survey approved of Bush's handling of the presidency, with just under 10 percent approving "strongly.’’ By contrast, 55 percent disapproved, with 38.7 percent strongly disapproving.

While the approval ratings are somewhat higher than national polls, the Texas findings reflect a significant downturn in popularity for a native son and former Texas governor who drew 61 percent of the Texas vote in his re-election victory over Democratic Sen. John Kerry four years ago. Throughout much of his two-term presidency, Texas has generally provided Bush with a safety net of robust support while he was losing favor elsewhere.

President Bush, who has been rarely seen on the campaign trail, cast his ballot for GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

In past elections, the president and first lady Laura Bush have traveled to Texas to vote, but the White House said Friday they cast their ballots in the early voting process. Their votes are being sent back to Texas.

The countdown continues. Less than eleven days to change! Get involved!

If you have any questions or need any information, please feel free to contact me at LaVeraD@dnc.org.

In light of Hurricane Gustav and the ongoing situation along the Gulf Coast, the DNC announced that it has canceled the tomorrow morning's news conference at the DNC's More of the Same Media Center in St. Paul. We continue to keep our friends and families in the area in our thoughts and prayers.

Damien

Damien LaVera
Deputy Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
LaVeraD@dnc.org

I am the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. After eight years of George Bush, you might be surprised that a Texan is president of Planned Parenthood. After all, there aren’t many people eager to see the words “Texan’ and “president” in the same sentence ever again. I’m proud that for only the second time in our history, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed a candidate for president, Barack Obama.

Planned Parenthood health centers are the leading providers of women’s health care in the country. One in four women visit them—and not just for birth control—for cancer screening and breast exams. Many women have no other source of health care. I see firsthand what women and families are facing—choosing between rent and doctor visits—young people needing information to make responsible decisions about their health.

Women deserve a president who understands their health care needs. The record is clear: Barack Obama does and John McCain does not. Barack Obama has worked for affordable family planning, for comprehensive sex education and for a woman’s right to choose. He will be a president who supports women’s health and rights one hundred percent. He’s the change America needs.

And John McCain? He’ll be more of the same. He’s spent 25 years working against the health care needs of women. John McCain has voted against women’s health care 125 times. You can look it up: he voted against real sex education, against affordable family planning and, if elected, John McCain has vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade.

John McCain believes that judges, politicians and bureaucrats know better than women themselves what’s best for their health. Just two weeks ago, John McCain said he didn’t know if insurance companies should cover birth control. Well, let me remind you senator, you voted against it twice.

Where women’s health is concerned, it seems clear that when John McCain says “I don’t know”, what he really means is “I don’t care.” Women deserve better.

On that summer night in Atlanta 20 years ago my mother introduced her “nearly perfect” granddaughter Lily. Lily is here tonight and there is nothing that would make mom prouder than that this November Lily will cast her first vote for president – for Barack Obama. For mom, for Lily, and for all women, Barack Obama is the right choice.

Barack Obama is the change America needs.

John McCain is campaigning aboard an oil rig, Genesis, jointly owned by Exxon Mobil and Chevron in the Gulf of Mexico. It is laughable that McCain would campaign on the Genesis to push his phony "drill here, drill now" nonsense because it took Genesis ten years to produce any oil at all.

Not exactly the imagery the McCain campaign wants to create.

Throw this one on the heap of McCain gimmicks -- like the gas tax holiday -- that will not provide any real relief for Americans.

John McCain will say and do anything to win this election, including selling out to Big Oil on gimmicks that won't provide any real relief to Americans, but boost their profit margins.

In announcing his newfound support for offshore drilling, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) consistently touts the safety of offshore oil exploration. “[I]t’s safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage,” he said recently. To make his case, McCain was scheduled to helicopter tomorrow to an oil rig in the Gulf Coast.

But it seems even McCain is fearful of being caught on an offshore oil rig during rough weather.

The weather event that forced McCain to cancel his event is the category 2 storm, Hurricane Dolly that made landfall in South Texas this afternoon.

John McCain, however, is among the many Republicans who continues to push the false talking point that Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 storm, did not cause any oil spills in the Gulf Coast.

The truth?

As the Wonk Room has reported, the clear satellite evidence of major spills was borne out by final reports. In May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) published their offshore damage assessment: “113 platforms totally destroyed, and 457 pipelines damaged, 101 of those major lines with 10″ or larger diameter.” [...]

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused 124 Offshore Spills For A Total Of 743,700 Gallons. 554,400 gallons were crude oil and condensate from platforms, rigs and pipelines, and 189,000 gallons were refined products from platforms and rigs. [MMS, 1/22/07]

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused Six Offshore Spills Of 42,000 Gallons Or Greater. The largest of these was 152,250 gallons, well over the 100,000 gallon threshhold considered a “major spill.” [MMS, 5/1/06]

Yet another case of the John McCain Campaign Playbook -- say and do anything to get elected.

The bus tour also builds on the success of the DNC's 50-state strategy and Senator Obama's commitment to running a 50 state campaign, and the belief that if Democrats show up and ask for people's votes, we can win everywhere. Throughout the tour Governor Dean will engage local leaders and grassroots activists in the effort to register new voters and talk about Barack Obama's strong message of change.

Starting Thursday, you can register to vote, find more information on how to register others to vote and follow the bus tour state-by-state at registerforchange.com.

"After eight years of George Bush and with John McCain promising more of the same on everything from the economy to Iraq to Social Security to health care, America is ready to join Barack Obama and Democrats to Register for Change," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "People are really struggling. They want different leadership, not more of the same failed Bush policies that John McCain will continue. So we'll be going neighborhood by neighborhood, door by door to bring more people into the process to elect Barack Obama and Democrats up-and-down the ticket to bring change that all Americans can believe in."

The Register for Change tour kick-offs of Thursday, July 17, in George W. Bush's backyard in Crawford, Texas - a clear reminder of John McCain's promise of a third Bush term on everything from the economy to Iraq to health care. The tour then heads to Austin, Texas for a Register for Change rally at noon before Dean speaks to the Netroots Nation Convention that night.

From Texas, the tour heads to New Orleans - a city that experienced the failings of Republican leadership in Washington firsthand - and then to Shreveport and Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Hattiesburg and Jackson, Mississippi. The second swing, July 25-26, will make stops in North Carolina and Georgia - two untraditional battleground states where voter registration efforts will help lead Barack Obama to victory in November. The tour will hit states in every part of the country, culminating in a swing through the Midwest on its way to the Democratic Convention in Denver.

Another sign of the incredible energy expressed by Democrats are the record voter registration numbers.

The past seven states to hold primaries registered more than 1 million new Democratic voters; Republican numbers mainly ebbed or stagnated. North Carolina and Indiana, which will hold their presidential primaries on May 6, are reporting a swell of new Democrats that triples the surge in registrations before the 2004 primary.

The group marched to cast their ballots on the first day of early voting in Texas, and to also protest the limited access to the ballot.

The Waller County Courthouse in Hempstead is the only polling location and reportedly has only two voting machines. However, the actions of the students from Prairie View A&M and their community allies did not go unnoticed. From the Houston Chronicle:

Under pressure from the federal government, Waller County on Tuesday added three temporary polling places for early voting, ditching plans to open only one voting site in advance of the March 4 primary.

The Justice Department questioned the county's January decision to cut early-voting sites from a half dozen throughout the county to just one in Hempstead. The county's about-face came on the same day that vocal critics announced a mass march to the polls next week.

Commissioners made the change in an emergency session Tuesday to address questions from federal voting officials about whether one site would infringe on the rights of minority voters.

Early voting begins Tuesday, but the additional sites won't open until the end of next week. They will be available for voters from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Feb. 22 and 23.

Congratulations to the students and community activists!

Brushing off calls by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and others for him to withdraw from the presidential race, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that his longshot strategy for winning the Republican nomination runs straight through Texas.

"Texas is very, very important to us," Huckabee told a meeting with reporters. "We will spend a lot of time in Texas between now and March 4."

So will the famous McCain temper finally be unleashed on Huckabee?

Romney looked overdressed in his dark suit and tie compared with the jeans-wearing audience of more than 6,000 people who came to hear country singers Montgomery Gentry, Lee Greenwood and Collin Raye. Money raised from the event was to go a scholarship fund for the children of dead or disabled soldiers. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, got the crowd on its feet when he took the stage in jeans, a short-sleeved shirt and running shoes. Perry flipped a ballcap to the ground and marched back and forth, exhorting the crowd.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, continuing to try to jumpstart his indebted presidential campaign, will name renowned Republican fund-raiser Robert Mosbacher Sr. as campaign chairman, according to a prominent Republican.

The wealthy 80-year-old Texan is close to the first President Bush, suggesting to Republicans that the former president could be behind the move. Mosbacher was the elder Bush’s Commerce secretary, finance chairman of his 1980 and 1988 presidential campaigns and general chairman of the 1992 Bush campaign. For both Bush and President Reagan, he was a major fund-raiser.