Robert Miller's blog today - he's a public law guy at Locke Lord - has a post pointing out that many many Republican Texas Legislature races feature competition between an establishment conservative and a movement conservative. There are no moderates in the Republican Party anymore. They have been pushed to the side by the Tea Party.
What's the difference between the two?
The former is a fiscal conservative willing to recognize a role for government to play in educating the workforce, building roads, providing water and the various other items necessary for civilized life.
The latter "believes that government, by definition, is inherently wasteful and inefficient and that we can continuously cut government spending and still provide necessary services."
Movement conservatives tend to be more passionate about their positions and are in a better position to win primary elections. If voter turnout is low in the Republican Primary on election day, expect them to do well. This can have one of two outcomes, either the state drifts further to the right, or the general population - assuming they are more moderate than the movement conservatives - finds them too extreme and votes for Democrats in November.
