Search this site

Match case Regex search

Matching entries from BatesLine

Ron DeSantis for President

In my pre-presidential primary post, I provide a detailed explanation of the delegate allocation process for Oklahoma. As I mentioned in the same post, I am voting for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Oklahoma Republican Primary. A BatesLine reader asked me why the names of so many candidates...

Remembering Jim Mautino

Viewing for James Mautino will be 12 noon - 8 pm, Wednesday, November 1, 2023, and the service 11:30 am, Thursday, November 2, 2023, at Moore's Southlawn Funeral Home. Services will be webcast. Condolences may be left online at www.moorefuneral.com. Former Tulsa City Councilor Jim Mautino passed away last Thursday,...

Oklahoma 2022: Tulsa area legislative races

Two State Senate districts and six State House districts that overlap with Tulsa County have general elections on November 8, 2022. Neighboring counties add in four additional State House seats. Here's an overview with my recommendations in six of the races; details after the jump, and more to be added....

Oklahoma Election 2022: Do Republican legislative leaders want Stitt to lose?

Do Republican legislative leaders want so badly for Gov. Kevin Stitt to lose his bid for re-election that they're willing to accept half-measures on child mutilation in the name of "gender confirmation"? That's the question posed by a recent report by Harry Scherer in The American Conservative, "The Fight Over...

Preserve the Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge

Tulsa's Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge and Zink Lake Dam viewed from the west bank, south of the bridge and dam, February 14, 2016 Resistance is gathering to the plan to demolish the Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge across the Arkansas River. Although an engineering analysis from 2015 shows that the 110-year-old...

Oklahoma Primary 2020: BatesLine ballot card

Here are the candidates I'm recommending in the Oklahoma primary elections on June 30, 2020, plus links to detailed analysis and recommendations from other trusted voices.

2020 Oklahoma presidential primary; liquor sales on Sunday

Postdated to remain at the top of the blog until the polls close at 7 p.m. Today, March 3, 2020, is the Oklahoma presidential preference primary. Oklahoma is one of 14 states (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia (Democrats only), and Vermont)...

National Popular Vote continues to fund junkets for Oklahoma legislators

You'd think they'd give up, at long last, but advocates of the National Popular Vote compact continue to lobby Oklahoma legislators to agree to enslave our electoral vote to that of higher-population states on the coasts. Jamison Faught, the Muskogee Politico, recently dug through the legislators' financial disclosure statements for...

2019 OKGOP convention thoughts

UPDATE: Generally a good outcome. David McLain was elected chairman. Former State Rep. Mike Turner was elected vice chairman. All of the rule changes were thrown out because outgoing state chairman Pam Pollard failed to provide the proposals to delegates by the 10-day deadline. Platform was on the agenda and...

BatesLine retrospective: The "bickering Tulsa City Councilors" narrative

In writing the previous entry about the Covington Catholic High School students, I wrote about how local Tulsa media pushed a narrative that Tulsa City Councilors, particularly those elected with grassroots support over the objections of the chamber of commerce, developers, and other special interest groups, were bickering troublemakers. This...

Oklahoma needs Stitt and Pinnell

Life hasn't left me with much time to write about politics this year, so I've focused on areas like the State Questions where there's a gap in coverage. Where others have already said what I'm thinking, I'll gladly point you to their words. Jamison Faught, the Muskogee Politico, explains why...

What is the Republican Party?

Tom Nichols, a prominent "Never Trumper," and author of The Death of Expertise, has written an op-ed for The Atlantic to explain why he's leaving the Republican Party. It's hard to take Mr. Expert seriously when he uses the "GOP" as the subject of a sentence, as an entity with...

Oklahoma runoff 2018: BatesLine ballot card

In-person absentee voting will be available at your County Election Board office on Thursday, August 23, 2018, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Friday, August 24, 2018, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturday, August 25, 2018, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tulsa County will also...

Covering tracks: Kevin Hern and the Republican Main Street Partnership

Grassroots activists who support Kevin Hern for Oklahoma's 1st Congressional Candidate say they've been told by the candidate and his campaign that he never accepted the endorsement of the crony-capitalist, open-borders Republican Main Street Partnership or donations from the organization's affiliated Republican Mainstreet Partnership PAC. (Note the subtle difference --...

Oklahoma primary 2018 results: Runoffs galore

I'll be on with Pat Campbell on 1170 KFAQ at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning to discuss tonight's results. We are headed for runoffs galore. As I write this a bit after 11 p.m., Kevin Stitt is leading Todd Lamb for the second spot in the runoff by about 2400 votes....

Oklahoma primary 2018: BatesLine ballot card

Here are the candidates I'm recommending in the Oklahoma primary elections on June 26, 2018, plus links to detailed analysis and recommendations from other trusted voices.

Nathan Dahm for Congress in Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District

After sitting through the Tulsa 9/12 congressional candidate forum (my live-tweet thread is here), I came to the conclusion that I would be happy to have either Andy Coleman, former District Attorney Tim Harris, or State Senator Nathan Dahm representing us in Washington. All three appear to be men of...

2018 Oklahoma governor primary: Process of elimination

Can you tell I'm not excited about the race to succeed Mary Fallin? It's taken a long time to make up my mind, and it's still not as firm a decision as I'd like. As with many of the judical races, my current inclination to vote for Dan Fisher in...

Re-elect Oklahoma Platform Caucus, taxpayers' champions

The Platform Caucus was right. The Platform Caucus, that small group of Oklahoma state representatives and state senators who support the conservative, grassroots-crafted, limited-government platform of the Oklahoma Republican Party, was right to insist that there is and always was enough money coming into the state treasury to fund a...

Rick Westcott for District Judge

I have known Rick Westcott for over 15 years, and I've consistently observed his diligence to determine facts, his careful reasoning, his clarity of expression, and his fairness to all. It would be a blessing to have Rick Westcott serving as our District Judge. I urge you to join me in voting for Rick Westcott on June 26.

Feed Subscription

If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries matching 'caucus'. [What is this?]

Subscribe to feed Subscribe to feed