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Oklahoma Senate redistricting: Five senators carved out of their districts

The Oklahoma Senate redistricting plan, drawn up by political consultant Karl Ahlgren, will move five incumbent state senators -- two Democrats and three Republicans, including the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee -- out of their own districts, according to a BatesLine analysis of the new boundaries. A BatesLine geocommons...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 13, 2011 11:24 AM

Tulsa mayor's race 2009 Bartlett Jr direct mail pieces

The new issue of the Oklahoma Gazette covers the recently concluded Oklahoma City city council elections, in which candidates backed by a shadowy special interest group won all but one contested race. The story notes (as was speculated on BatesLine last month) that Majority Designs, the same campaign team that...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 13, 2011 12:17 PM

Turnout turned off

Turnout in the City of Tulsa mayor's race fell from 77,341 in 2006 to 66,632, a drop of nearly 14%, albeit still higher than the turnout for 2002's Bill LaFortune-Gary Watts contest of 65,592. The most turned-off precinct in raw numbers was Precinct 168, between S. Sheridan and S. Memorial,...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 16, 2009 12:02 AM

Adelson improved vote share in Senate 33

There's a lot of analysis yet to be done on this election, but here's one bit of data that's somewhat interesting. Tom Adelson's share of the vote in State Senate district 33 may be one of the few positives in last Tuesday's results for the Democratic mayoral nominee. In 2004,...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 15, 2009 8:10 PM

Million-dollar mayoral race: pre-election contribution reports

City of Tulsa contribution reports for next Tuesday's general election were due today to the City Clerk's office at 5 p.m. Three of the four mayoral candidates have filed their paperwork, and it indicates that Democratic nominee Tom Adelson has a funding advantage fueled by a personal loan of $850,000...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 2, 2009 6:00 PM

Mayoral audio

Tulsa's mayoral election is on the air. At 8 a.m. this morning (Wednesday, September 30, 2009), 1170 KFAQ will have the two major-party candidates for mayor, Tom Adelson and Dewey Bartlett Jr, in studio for a head-to-head debate. As I understand it, host Pat Campbell will stay in the background...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 30, 2009 12:47 AM

Will Tulsa's next mayor push liberal policies?

A mailer today from the Dewey Bartlett Jr campaign points out Tom Adelson's contributions to liberal Democratic candidates and causes. Adelson was an early and maximum contributor to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, gave $20,000 to the 2008 "victory fund" (money given to the Democratic Party to promote voter registration and...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 28, 2009 11:30 PM

Bartlett Jr turns dishonest attack into TV ad

An update from an earlier entry: Back on September 9, I wrote about a press release from the Dewey Bartlett Jr campaign claiming that Tom Adelson attacked him in a KRMG interview the morning after the primary and then claiming that Adelson said Gov. Brad Henry should be shot for...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 21, 2009 10:46 PM

Bartlett Jr misfires on Adelson "traitor" quote

(UPDATED 2009/09/10 9:00 a.m. -- KRMG's Joe Kelley has audio of Adelson's alleged negative attack on Bartlett Jr -- see below.) I guess it must be part of the Ahlgren & Holland playbook: Accuse your opponent of going negative before he actually has. Then you can attack your opponent while...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 9, 2009 6:07 PM

Biggest mayoral fundraiser, spender is not on the ballot

Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor, who ended her campaign for re-election early this summer, raised and spent more money on her non-campaign than any of the candidates seeking to replace her. Steven Roemerman and I worked together to sift through the pre-primary campaign reports, and he has posted a spreadsheet summary...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 31, 2009 5:59 PM

Adelson in, Christiansen out, Medlock maybe; Council races shape up

Democratic State Sen. Tom Adelson announced on Wednesday his anticipated candidacy for Mayor of Tulsa. Reports of the announcement hint that many of Mayor Kathy Taylor's Democratic supporters during the 2006 primary were in attendance in support of Adelson. It will be interesting to see if Democrats who supported Don...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 2, 2009 11:49 PM