Lunch with Ciro
Yesterday, Ciro Rodriguez had lunch with about 180 seniors at his campaign headquarters in San Antonio. I’m sorry I missed it, because I’m sure it was a happy, good-natured affair. After all, Ciro was always among seniors’ most fervent defenders in the U.S. Congress. Ciro stood especially strong once the Bush Administration started dismantling the programs that seniors were counting on, like Social Security and Medicare.
I have a feeling that seniors would bring a much different attitude to a lunch with Congressman Henry Cuellar. I wasn’t around in 2004, but I bet the seniors of South Texas thought they were getting a Democrat when they voted for Henry Cuellar over Jim Hopson that November. Instead, as far as Social Security, Medicare and prescription drugs are concerned, they got a Bush/DeLay Republican. If Cuellar was having lunch with those seniors, he would have some explaining to do.
When pundits talk about the rematch between Ciro and Cuellar, they always talk about 2004 and they always talk about the turnout differences in Bexar and Webb Counties. But 2006 will be a very different election. One difference comes from the simple fact that Cuellar now has a record in DC on issues that matter very much to the highest turnout voters in any primary election: seniors. Voters 65 and over with a direct stake in Social Security, Medicare and prescription drugs may well make up a third or more of the primary votes in March. These voters are not yet aware of Cuellar’s record in DC, but they will know when they are heading to the voting booth. And these voters are just as prevalent in Webb as they are in Bexar.
After all, people in Laredo age, too. And they wonder how they are going to pay for their prescription drugs. I don’t think they’re going to like the answer Henry Cuellar and George W. Bush are giving them.
The election in 2004 was more or less a dead heat. Where is Cuellar going to get the votes to make up for the seniors he is sure to lose? A campaign warchest can’t make his Bush/DeLay votes disappear.
P.S. The Red State blogs on the recent endorsement of Ciro by the San Antonio AFL-CIO.
