'poorsplaining'

[Lydia Leftcoast]

93. Yes, and Texas offers a good example of a tone-deaf Dem candidate

Wendy Davis ran against Greg Abbott, a hard-right Republican, in a state with a lot of poor people and a poor social safety net.

So what was her big campaign point? Reproductive rights.

An important issue, no doubt, but as her marquee issue? In a state where poverty and ignorance reign?

The stance appealed to educated women and to those who had personal experience with those issues, and they seemed enthusiastic, but it was as if she forgot that most of the women in Texas are either fundamentalist Protestants or Roman Catholics. There is no way most of them would vote for a "pro-abortion" candidate. I have no doubt that most Catholic priests and every fundamentalist preacher ranted against her.

Now what if she had campaigned on raising the minimum wage, bringing public services to poor neighborhoods (I've heard reports that city governments don't bother to pave streets or extend sewers to the poorest neighborhoods), and other bread and butter issues and backgrounded reproductive rights, she might have done better.

What plays well in Austin may be a turn-off in Amarillo.