Although close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and dancin’, it is powerfully edifying to see that Barack Obama is just a howdy and half away from taking Texas.

And, in some cases, he’s close enough to raise a blister.  Nobody expects President Obama to win Texas, but he may shut a few mouths around here.

Obama……………44%
Perry……………51%
Undecided……………5%

Go visit Ted over at Job’s Anger to see how Obama stacks up against the rest of the GOP field.  I’m with Ted, I’m not saying yet that Obama can win Texas, but I agree with him that fightin’ for it might be worth the effort.

Maybe it wouldn’t be such a waste of time to do some calling and knock on some doors in the next election — especially if Obama shows he has some fight in him for the jobs creation bill he has proposed.

And MaryK let me know that Fox News stomped on Perry this morning.

“Perry really did throw up all over himself in the debate, at a time when he needed to raise his game. He did worse, it seems to me, than in previous debates. … Perry is one-half a step away from almost total collapse as a candidate,” said Fox News commentator Brit Hume.

Personally, I’d relish the chance to throw up on Brit Hume, but at least somebody spun him around and pointed him in the right direction.

Thanks to MaryK for the heads-up.