Clinton in Odessa-Midland

If anything indicates that every Texas primary vote is considered crucial to the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, it’s this: A Clinton will be in Bush country Thursday.

Former President Bill Clinton will appear at 10 a.m. in an early vote rally at Odessa College’s Jack Rodgers Fine Arts Auditorium, according to a Sen. Hillary Clinton campaign news release.

President Clinton will barnstorm for his wife about two miles from former President George H.W. Bush’s first Odessa home on East Seventh Street.

That’s 22 miles from President George W. Bush’s childhood home in Midland.

And it’s 367 miles from Democratic stronghold Austin.

Sen. Clinton is in a neck-and-neck battle with Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, and a “sizable minority” of Democrats live in the Permian Basin, Midland County Democratic Party Chair Chris McCormack said.

Maybe nothing speaks to the importance of Texas’ delegates — every single one of them — and the swing this state could have in the Democratic nomination than Hillary Clinton’s right-hand man stopping here.

“I think it means both campaigns recognize that there are votes to be had in this area,” McCormack said. “I don’t think anyone in this hotly contested primary is willing to give up on any votes. I know there’s an assumption that everyone in Bush country votes Republican, but that’s not true.”

The county is not a Democratic monopoly with a substantial party voting block.

In the 2004 general election, 23.6 percent (8,579 voters) of Ector County voters who cast their ballots did so for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, while 75.7 percent (27,502 voters) backed President George W. Bush, according to an online secretary of state database. Compare that to the Austin area where Travis County voters backed Kerry with 56 percent (197,235 votes) to Bush’s 42 percent (147,885 votes).

President Clinton even lost Ector County to Bob Dole in 1996 — the former president picked up 36.8 percent of the vote.

Despite all the numbers against, President Clinton will arrive at the event that is free to the public.

“It’s going to show people that the Clintons think that West Texas is an important part of the election,” former Ector County Democratic Party chair Lori White said. White is a Sen. Clinton supporter.

The Odessa-Midland media market covers much of West Texas, McCormack pointed out, which is predominantly Hispanic, a Texas voting block crucial to Hillary Clinton’s Texas success, according to national media reports.

Having a former president in the area is exciting news for the local Democratic Party, Ector County Chair John Wilkins said.

And it’s one not named Bush.

“I’m thrilled to death that he’s coming,” Wilkins said. “It’s going to be a big shot in arm for the Democratic Party.”