In the midst of Barack Obama's visit to Texas on Monday, seemingly under reported was his Austin fundraiser. According to Sen. Rodney Ellis, the total raised for the DNC and affiliated groups was just shy of $1 million.
@RodneyEllis: Texans gave 985,000 dollars for this event with the President.
Democratic Lt. Governor nominee Linda Chavez-Thomson introduced the President at the fundraiser but refused to shake his hand... opting instead for a "warm abrazo" (hug), labor style. She didn't shy away from President, introducing him with the following comments.
"He's taken on the economy. He's taken on health care. He's taken on Wall Street. And he doesn't back down.
What he does do, and Texans respect this, is extend his hand across the aisle in a spirit of bi-partisanship. After all, the challenges Americans and Texas families face don 't come with a Party label on them.
But when his offer is not reciprocated, he does what any Texan would do. He does the work himself, because at the end of the day the work still has to get done.
There's nothing brave about ignoring problems. We had eight years of that. Bravery is going out in the hot sun and doing the hard work it takes to make things grow.
And that's coming from the daughter of a cotton sharecropper, so I know what I'm talking about."
The DNC has stated they will be sending $250,000 of the money raised in Texas back to Texas. Personally, I'm hoping that money gets spent on candidates who stood with the President like Chavez-Thompson. After all, we wouldn't want to associate money raised by Obama for the DNC with candidates who wanted to separate themselves from the event. But in case that doesn't happen, you can donate to Chavez-Thompson here. |
