'We are on a winning wave'

That quote is from recently elected Texas Republican Party Chairman Cathie Adams, who announced today that numerous county-level officials in their state will be switching this week from Democrat to Republican.

A veteran grassroots conservative activist, Adams described what appears to a strong shift toward the GOP in Texas. "Being an Obama Democrat is not such a popular label anymore," Adams said during a conference call with bloggers.

Texas GOP communications director Bryan Preston said polls indicate that 80 percent of Texas voters disapprove of the Obama administration's policies. Preston noted that many conservatives from Texas have served as volunteers in key campaigns elsewhere this fall, including the Virginia gubernatorial contest.

The new party chairman credited the Tea Party movement with helping raise awareness and involvement among conservative voters.

"These are people who are thinking for themselves," Adams said, describing her encounters with Texans at Tea Party events. She said the Obama administration's policies have awakened many conservative voters to the importance of being more active in the political process.

"People got complacent" in recent years, but now are "chomping at the bit" to become involved.

UPDATE: Press release from Texas GOP:

Texas Democrats Set to Switch to Republican All Over the State
The Republican Party of Texas is pleased to welcome several Democratic officeholders who have decided to switch parties and become Republicans. At noon today in Palo Pinto County, Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Bobby Hart switched his party affiliation and became a Republican. Three others Palo Pinto County officials indicated an interest in switching parties. Hart joins the ranks of the party that enjoys majorities in both houses of the Texas Legislature and holds all statewide elected offices.
"Democrats like Judge Hart are joining a winning wave across this state and across this country,” said Republican Party of Texas Chairman Cathie Adams. “Americans are fed up with the Washington Democrats’ failing leftwing policies and government power grabs. We welcome these newly minted Republicans and anyone else who will stand with us for more freedom, lower taxes and smaller government.”
In addition to the Palo Pinto County switch, the Republican Party of Texas has learned that two Democratic officeholders in McCulloch County will soon become Republicans, and several more in other counties all over the Lone Star State are also poised to make the switch, some as soon as this week. They tend to cite disaffection with the national Democrats' economic policies, and agreement with the Republican Party's stances on smaller government and individual freedom as the reasons for switching.
All tolled, dozens of Democrats across Texas are known to be considering switching or are already in the process of doing so. There is no similar movement of Texas Republican officeholders leaving the party.

That's the way a wave rolls.

NY23: Next stop, Saranac Lake

By the time you read this, Ali Akbar and I will be running east on State Route 3, en route to the hometown headquarters of the Doug Hoffman campaign.

Since Sunday night, the National Desk has been located at the luxurious -- but surprisngly affordable -- Best Western Carriage House Inn on Washington Street near downtown Watertown, N.Y. We've kept our exact location a secret because, frankly, we were too busy to cope with the hordes of adoring blog groupies who would have descended on our room had they discovered our whereabouts.

For your road-time reading, we recommend (via Memeorandum) Dan Riehl's pushback against the latest Politico "GOP divided" spin job. Also:

• Larry Thornberry's takedown on Charlie Crist, whose Florida GOP primary defeat at the hands of Marco Rubio is beginning to look like a certainty.
• Dave Weigel's report on the "New Conservative Superstar" featuring the Quote of the Day: "For Biden to say that Rush Limbaugh picked Doug Hoffman is ridiculous. We all know it was Glenn Beck."
• And leave it to 73Wire's Eric Odom to ask the Exit Question: "Was the whole Scozzafava campaign a lie?"

Speaking of lies, the timing of this post is, necessarily, something of a diversion tactic. Maybe we left two hours ago, or maybe we won't leave until 2 p.m. If the New York State Police knew exactly what time we left Watertown, they'd be able to deploy radar-equipped high-performance pursuit vehicles to intercept us. We've eluded their dragnet this long only because of being secretive about about our plans.

Cell-phone reception between here and Saranac Lake is atrocious, but Ali has Sprint premium 3G service on his Blackberry World Edition, so everyone can follow our progress via Ali's Twitter feed.

Wish us . . . wow, I started to say "luck," but this isn't about luck, it's about skill. And prayer.

HOFFMANIA: CATCH IT!


Click here for our complete NY23 election coverage