Taft believed Texas might go Republican

As the presidential special sped him back to Washington on Oct. 26, 1909, William Howard Taft dared to dream of carrying the Lone Star State in 1912. Six months after taking office in March 1909, the new chief executive embarked on a grueling 12,000-mile cross-country tour. Fence-mending was the order of day, and nowhere were political fences in as dire need of repair than in Texas, where…