. . . mea culpa, mea maxima culpa . . .

Give her her due. Hillary Clinton kept the upbeat attitude going when everyone had her out of the race, including me (I predicted a 6 point victory for Obama in Texas.)

On Tuesday, Senator Clinton made a huge turn in momentum by winning Texas and Ohio. Huge. The numbers are still against her but she probably has stopped the tide of super-delegates jumping on the Obama train.

Can she win? The numbers say almost certainly not, she only netted a 9 delegate gain yesterday, but who knows. We have ourselves a horse race, and I love it.

There is talk now that the Democrats should put a dream team together of Obama-Clinton, a great idea but who gets the top spot?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Republican's Plight

As a Republican I can honestly say that I get the appeal of Senator Obama, and I get the appeal of Senator Edwards. But Senator Clinton is another issue.

I'm not a misogynist. I liked Maggie Thatcher and Mother Theresa. I like Condi Rice. I kind of even like Oprah. I love my mother, my sister and my wife. But I don't get Mrs. Clinton, not just her policies, her demeanor grates on me like bad Jerry Lewis jokes. If she wins I'm in big trouble.

WSJ: Texas economy strong vs Ohio.

So says an editorial in the Monday edition of the Wall Street Journal. I guess with all the primary attention being on these two large states somebody decided to do some comparing. The economic and demographic numbers, shown below, look good for Texas and bad for Ohio. I bring this to readers' attention not to gloat, but to say we are fortunate, considering the national economy.

The WSJournal has conjectural (it is an editorial) reasons for Texas' advantage, reasons I happen to agree with. For instance, nearly 1,000 new manufacturing plants have been built in Texas since 2005. One of the reasons given, that manufacturers like the labor pool and the lack of labor regulation; that is, manufacturers are first looking for ways to get value inexpensively, just like you do when you go shoe shopping. If manufacturers can do that in Texas they will move here, if not, they won't. That may be an over-simplification, but you get the point.

One statistic I had not heard before: Texas is the largest international exporter among the 50 states.

Here are the main WSJ stats:

New Job Creation
Texas: 1,615,000
Ohio: -10,400

Net domestic migration
Texas: 667,000
Ohio: -362,000

Unemployment rate
Texas: 4.5%
Ohio: 6%

Per capita income growth (10 yr)
Texas: 55%
Ohio: 43%

Exports (in billions)
Texas: $150.9
Ohio: $37.8

A Plug for the Botanic Garden?

Few cities of any size have an area like our Botanic Gardens. It is a combination of rose garden, walking park, arboretum, Japanese garden, educational center and picnic area. I have enjoyed it every year we have lived here and it improves with each visit.

I can't say I know one butterfly from the next, but I will get out to the Butterflies in the Garden exhibit this March 1 - March 30.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Different subject: If anyone knows why the Trinity River is very low near Beach Street and Gateway Park, let me know.