Tale of Texas Turnout

'Early vote tallies compiled since Tuesday — the day early voting opened for the March 4 primary — show huge numbers of suburban voters turning up to vote Democrat. Texas suburbs have long been Republican strongholds, but the numbers indicate a huge shift.'

This from El Paso:

'More residents have cast ballots in the last six days of early voting than during the entire two week early voting period in 2000.'

From Tom Delay's old district, a 2-to-1 turnout so far for Democrats:

And in a sign of intense interest in the Democratic presidential primary race, 11,240 people had voted early in Fort Bend County as of Friday, with seven days of early voting left.

That easily tops the 10,710 Fort Bend County residents who cast ballots during the entire early voting period leading up to the March 7, 2006, primary elections.

According to early voting totals compiled by the Fort Bend County Elections Administration, 7,563 people had cast ballots in the Democratic primary as of the end of the day Friday, while just 3,677 did so in the Republican primary.

The Houston Chronicle reports that huge numbers of Republicans are turning out to vote for Democrats in early voting:

'An American Research Group poll released Monday showed Obama leading Clinton, 71 percent to 25 percent, among Texas independents and Republicans who are likely to vote in the Democratic primary.

There is scattered evidence across the state that some Republicans may be voting Democratic, at least for a day. In one precinct in the suburban Houston neighborhood of Kingwood, where 82 percent of voters cast ballots for President Bush in 2004, Democrats were outvoting Republicans 4-to-1 last week in early voting.'