1996, the year the Texas Republican Party turned hard right

Paul Burka - from Texas Monthly - explains what happened that year and how. The establishment Republican - and he points out the Bush's and Senator Hutchison specifically, were nudged out of authotitative positions within the state party in favor of social conservatives. It all went down in the 1996 Republican Convention when the governor was no longer designated as the party's chair. State party chair Tom Pauken - who was far more socially conservative than Bush - became chair instead. And the shift in power ensued.