Each election year the Dallas Bar Association conducts a poll asking its membership which candidate they prefer in each of the contested judicial races.  Below are the results of the May 2002 Bar Preference Poll for County Court at Law Number Four:

The Bar Preference Poll is quite different from the Bar Evaluation Poll.  The Bar Evaluation Poll is limited to those attorneys who have actually practiced before the judge being evaluated.  The Bar Preference Poll, on the other hand, is open to all members of the Bar regardless of whether they practice before that particular court or practice in courts at all.  In fact, the vast majority of those voting in the Bar Preference Poll do not practice before the court in question.  For example, 1499 Bar members voted in the May 2002 Bar Preference Poll, while only 433 Bar members had sufficient experience with County Court at Law Number Four to vote in the 2001 Bar Evaluation Poll.

The Bar Preference Poll is not meant to measure judicial performance, but instead is a popularity contest among the Dallas Bar Association.  In the 25 county-wide races included in the May 2002 Bar Preference Poll, every single Republican candidate won.  No exceptions.  To see the May 2002 Bar Preference Poll results at the DBA website, click here.  The fact that no Democratic candidate won in the Bar Preference Poll is not surprising given that the membership of the Dallas Bar Association, many of which who do not live in Dallas County, is largely Republican.

Incumbents faired particularly well in the Bar Preference Poll, which is not surprising given that the incumbents have superior name identification as well as the power of the office behind them.  Some candidates actually campaigned specifically for the Bar Preference Poll.  For example, according to his July 15, 2002 Campaign Finance Report, Judge Woody spent over $4,600 sending a campaign piece to every member of the Dallas Bar Association shortly before the Bar Preference Poll.  Other candidates (Bruce Priddy, for example) did not spend any money trying to garner votes for the Bar Preference Poll.

Given the demographics and Republican-leanings of the members of the Dallas Bar Association as well as the power of incumbency, it makes sense to evaluate the Bar Preference Poll results on a curve.  Five candidates are challenging incumbents for civil benches.  Of these five races, Bruce Priddy performed the best in the Bar Preference Poll.

Court	Democratic Challenger			Republican Incumbent
County Court at Law Number Four	36.2 %	Bruce Priddy		63.8 %	Bruce Woody
County Court at Law Number Two	33.2 %	Andrew Trusevich		66.8 %	John B. Peyton
191st District Court	30.2 %	Greg Gray		69.8 %	Catharina Haynes
County Court at Law Number One	28.7 %	D’Metria Benson		71.3 %	Russell Roden
County Court at Law Number Three	26.2 %	Sally Montgomery		73.8 %	Bob Jenevein