Speaker Tom Craddick and conservative Republicans were the winners in the April 8 Republican primary runoffs. There were no Democratic runoffs for state office.

“The candidates who talked the most about fiscal conservative issues won. The message that should send to incumbents is that taxpayers are paying closer attention to and are voting on fiscal issues,” said Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. “If you are a Republican incumbent who has been voting somewhere between [Rep.] Pat Haggerty (R-El Paso) and [Rep.] Buddy West (R-Odessa), then you should look at 2009 as an opportunity to get back into the fiscal conservative mold before the 2010 election season.”

Here’s our rundown of what happened and why in the five runoffs for Texas House of Representatives:

Rep. Buddy West (R-Odessa) vs. Tryon Lewis: How did Buddy West screw up. Let us count the ways.

First, there was voting against Craddick for Speaker. In 2001 – when West filed against Craddick for Speaker  – the civic and business community in Odessa convinced West to withdraw for Craddick and told West loud and clear that Speaker Craddick is good for the Permian Basin and they expect West to support him.

In 2007, West ignored those warnings. He suffered the consequences.

In most districts, the average voter doesn’t care about the Speaker’s race. But Craddick has brought a lot of state help and money to the Permian Basin region. In this case, voting for Craddick is voting his district, and voting against Craddick is voting against District 81. It really is that simple.

To make matters worse, West tried to hide what he did in 2007 and didn’t do a very good job of it. At a West  press conference, Rep. Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie) claimed the vote taken the first day of the session on whether to have a public ballot for speaker was a procedural vote, the Odessa American reported, and not one against Craddick. Anyone who understands Texas politics knows better – that the secret ballot vote was about whether a member was for or against Craddick.

For that matter, bringing Pitts -- Craddick’s 2007 opponent -- to Odessa to endorse him was a big mistake. At the press conference, West claimed that Craddick was invited but didn’t attend because he was in Austin. Pitts led the charge on the House floor in 2007 to try to cut money in the appropriations bill for the University of Texas at Permian Basin.

Craddick made the most of all this. He went on the radio to clarify that he declined the invitation to attend West’s press conference. He also told folks in Odessa that Buddy doesn’t support him for speaker (even after he said he would) but that Tryon Lewis does. Craddick didn’t endorse Lewis, but he sure had a lot of nice things to say about him.

Second, West picked a fight with the Odessa American. West told his colleagues in the last days of the 2007 legislative session that he was having medical procedures later that year and would then decide whether to seek re-election. (This was said in public on the House floor.)

So it’s natural for the newspaper to ask about his health when he files, particularly given that he needs kidney dialysis. But West’s staff took issue with the paper’s regular questions about his health.

He shut the media out of his campaign, referring all calls to staff. He refused to debate Tryon Lewis.

The normally-fair American nailed West to the wall for his misbehavior.

And then there was bringing in Mark Sanders, whose last two employers were Independent Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee Tony Sanchez (and several Republicans prior to that), as his spokesman. Craddick and West have not seen eye-to-eye for years, but West has never had problems with Gov. Rick Perry – until he brought Sanders in.

In short, everything West did was a miscalculation. And that’s why – as an incumbent state representative for more than a decade – he couldn’t get more than 25 percent of the vote in a runoff.

West is well-liked at the Capitol. And we are sorry that he is having health problems. In fact, many folks in Odessa encouraged him to focus on his health at this stage in his life, not politics. We wish him the best in all his future endeavors, but we had to tell the truth about what really happened in his race.

Angie Chen Button vs. Randall Dunning (Richardson and Garland, Fred Hill open seat): A lot of the press corps is portraying this as a moderate Republican’s victory over a more conservative challenger. That is – at best – a vast oversimplification.

Button was simply a better candidate. She worked harder and she had more money.

In the closing weeks of the campaign, Dunning kept his day job and had to meet with LSR’s Mark Lavergne during his lunch break. Maybe it should be possible for someone to win a hotly contested race while continuing to hold a normal job. But in today’s politics, one has to take a leave of absence from work to campaign successfully in the closing weeks of an expensive, hotly contested race like this one.

The fact that this race was as close as it turned out to be shows the power of the conservative grass-roots. Dunning was supported by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and other conservative organizations.

Further, Button is more conservative than some in the GOP are giving her credit for. She supports appraisal caps (which puts her at odds with the retiring incumbent and the third-place finisher), and she supports taking a strong stand against illegal immigration.

Yes, it is certainly true that the stuff her campaign put out about Dunning being outside the mainstream may have stuck. (There are stories, which Dunning says are taken out of context, about him wearing bullet-proof vests to Garland city council meetings, for example.)

But this result is primarily about the good-old fashioned mechanics of campaigning.

Martha Tyroch vs. Ralph Sheffield (Temple, Dianne White Delisi open seat): Ralph Sheffield did a good job of establishing himself as the conservative candidate in this runoff. First, just prior to the primary, he blasted Martha Tyroch on one of the hottest-button issues in the district – the Trans-Texas Corridor. Tyroch served on a fact-finding advisory council, and Sheffield used that to connect her to the corridor, sending a mailer headlined “This mile of the Trans-Texas Corridor brought to you by Martha Tyroch.”

Then, he secured the endorsement of the other two candidates who did not make the runoff, Mike Pearce and John Alaniz, both of whom had substantial support among Bell County conservatives.

He followed that up by hammering Tyroch’s record on the Temple City Council, accusing her of raising taxes, an allegation she denies. Sheffield touted his support for appraisal caps, and his endorsement by Michael Sullivan – president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, who took plenty of shots of his own at Tyroch.

Tyroch tried to hit back by talking about past tax liens on Sheffield’s business. But Sheffield did a decent job of answering media inquiries on the subject and responded by accusing Tyroch’s of taking lavish trips on the taxpayers’ dime. Republican primary voters are a lot more tolerant of someone who delayed paying taxes while encountering financial difficulties with a private business than someone who takes liberties with the public purse.

This is still a remarkable result. Tyroch is a respected public official who was backed by Drayton McLane, perhaps the most powerful member of Temple’s business community and owner of the Houston Astros, yet she got less than 40 percent of the runoff vote. A message was sent – this cycle’s GOP primary voters want fiscal conservatives.

Ken Legler vs. Fred Roberts (Pasadena, Talton open seat): The real surprise here was how close this race was.

Legler, who has long been active with the local business community, almost won this three-way race without a runoff in March. There were a couple of gaffes, most notably releasing Roberts’ social security number in a mailer.

In the end, Roberts had the financial backing of the Texas Parent PAC, which supports candidates friendly to public school administrators. The PAC put late money into this race but to no avail.

Bryan Daniel vs. Dee Hobbs (Round Rock, Mike Krusee open seat): Everyone expected this one to be close and it was. Hobbs had roots and connections and key endorsements from within the district. Daniel is a relative newcomer to Williamson County – a locale with lots of newcomers. But Daniel had the backing of most of the grassroots conservative organizations. Again, the most conservative candidate won.

So where does this leave the state?

Craddick is looking better for speaker than before the runoffs. Several hostile Republicans lost, and – for once – Craddick Democrats survived the Democratic primary. It’s still important for Craddick to gain seats in the general for Republicans, to address nagging concerns about whether the GOP majority is stable long-term. But the primary and run-off does make his life more stable.

GOP primary voters also sent a message. They still like their candidates conservative. Remaining incumbents had best pay heed.O

2008 Republican Primary Runoff Results

TEXAS HOUSE

District 52

*Bryan Daniel  1,656   53.62%

Dee Hobbs       1,432   46.37%

District 55

*Ralph Sheffield           4,202   63.5%

Martha Tyroch  2,415   36.49%

District 81

*Tryon D. Lewis           5,171   76.02%

“Buddy” West (I)         1,631   23.97%

District 112

*Angie Button  3,103   53.17%

Randy Dunning            2,732   46.82%

District 144

*Ken Legler     1,590   51.64%

Fred Roberts    1,489   48.35%

                                 *denotes winner

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