Texas Democrats Are Doomed Until They Can Rally Hispanic Voters

Hold your water there Texas Democrats, because your Blue Wave is about to wind up a Blue Trickle if you don't fix a problem and fast.It's not any specific candidate. It's not the big, bad Republicans. It's not even the primary turnout performance. It's this: Hispanics are not yet energized by Democratic candidates. And Democrats can't win Texas without winning Latinos, big.First, let's dispense with one obvious bit of Republican hubris: You guys have little chance of winning the Hispanic vote in this state. George W. Bush did OK. Kay Bailey Hutchison outperformed every Republican in recent history.But that was yesterday's Republican Party.Today's Republican Party sounds xenophobic, anti-Hispanic, anti-Mexican (cultural and national), anti-Puerto Rican, racist and bigoted -- and a bunch of other words I can't use in this newspaper. And that's why the current Texas GOP hasn't cracked the 40 percent ceiling with Hispanics.Exhibit A: Donald Trump, crushed by Hillary Clinton in Texas among Hispanic voters by a margin of 80 percent to 16 percent, according to the polling firm Latino Decisions. Crushed. Demolished. Pulverized.It doesn't matter who married a Latina or who has a Cuban-sounding surname.  Continue reading...