McCaul is Vulnerable Congressional Quarterly Reports

by: Texas Nate

Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 09:46 AM CDT

Texas Republican Mike McCaul was a beneficiary of a mid-decade redistricting plan — spearheaded by Tom DeLay, the Texan who then was House majority leader — that left the GOP with six more House seats after the 2004 election than they had after 2002.

The 10th Congressional District, where McCaul ran, seemed so Republican (its voters would give President Bush 61 percent in 2004), that McCaul won that year without Democratic opposition, pulling down 79 percent to defeat a Libertarian and a write-in candidate.

But McCaul did draw a Democratic foe in 2006, and it made a difference. His challenger, former NASA employee Ted Ankrum, was not well-known in the 10th — which spans 150 miles from eastern Austin to western suburbs of Houston — and spent less than $65,000 to the incumbent’s $1.1 million. Yet the outcome was a fairly modest 55 percent to 40 percent victory for McCaul.

Here's Kuffner's breakdown of how the various candidates on the ballot did in TX 10 in 2006. As you can see, McCaul is weak weak weak.

Republican  Votes  Pct  Democrat  Votes  Pct

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Combs  107,403  63.1  Head   62,564  36.8

Abbott  107,990  62.9  Van Os  63,605  37.1

Hutchison  107,988  62.5  Radnofsky  64,818  37.5

Dewhurst  104,155  61.7  Alvarado  64,540  38.3

Patterson  97,762  58.9  Hathcox  68,328  41.1

Staples  97,273  58.1  Gilbert  70,124  41.9

McCaul  97,712  57.8  Ankrum  71,415  42.2

Ames Jones  95,750  57.7  Henry  70,112  42.3

Keller  98,243  57.3  Molina  73,136  42.7

Willett  89,899  54.4  Moody  75,343  45.6