DSCC Chair Proclaims Hope in Texas Senate Race with Bill White

Not looking so Sharp; the Dems are in the Dark. (0.00 / 0)

Bill White is sure to appeal to many more Texans than Sharp. The longer this drags out, the worse the chances for any Democrat are.

The GOP already has the name, the campaign, and the turnout. They can survive a Hair-on-Hair, Perry/Hutchinson battle royale.

If White and Sharp carry on that way, [we]'ll lose. For sure. Right now, the strategy is looking pretty blunt.

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by: Andrew Roush @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 22:21:51 PM UTC

whoa, nelly (0.00 / 0)

let us not be convinced that this is a winner take all scenario.

this will be an open special election with the two leading vote getters continuing on to the runoff.

the worst kind of fallacy is one based in never-neverland. "one democrat gives us the best chance to win".

it makes far more sense to have 2 (or more) dems spending $3-5m EACH than one spending $3-5m ALONE.

yes, this is about the runoff. you can't target it because there isn't a comparable election in a long, long while.

having 2 (or more) dems fighting it out in the special gives us a larger pool of voters to pull from for the runoff.

bill white was the state party chair and of course has deep institutional contacts and loyalties. don't confuse that with winability.  if there is any poll, anywhere that shows white winning a head-to-field match-up...let it be known. he has no better base number against 3-6 repubs than sharp or anyone else.  furthermore, i'm unaware of any marketing program or organizational effort on white's behalf to improve his potential odds against 3-6 repubs.

any Dem with the filing fee has the right to run.  if any other Dem wants the title, they should fight for it.

there has been virtually NO discussion about positions on issues or strategies and too many discussions about "the chosen one". gardner selby recently did a story about neither candidate mentioning Obama in their talks. this is a far more critical point than any other. if we don't motivate and turnout Dems...we don't win squat.

and for the record: those that underestimate john sharp do so at their peril.  he IS strong. his "latent" name ID is formidable and costs lots of money to match. no one knows bill white. let us be real.

a populated special is good for Texas Dems. ALL Texas Dems.  support bill white all you want, but let him earn a win.  if he really is the best candidate, he'll win it just fine without a cake walk.

Please refer to KT's signature.

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by: colin @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 05:37:40 AM UTC

Debatable (0.00 / 0)

You give a very different view to this.  While any Democrat has the right to run for any office they want, I think our beef with John Sharp is that he is making it harder for Bill White (who, by the simple fact that we see him raising shit-tons of money and we see him creating "buzz" seems to be a better shot right now).

Too many big name Democrats can make it difficult for even one Democrat to reach the runoff.  That is why people want 1.  They don't want the Democrats to split the vote and then see a runoff of two Republicans.  But there's a lot more to that.

1. Most of John Sharp's campaigning has been to attack Bill White.  I've heard Bill White talk about what we need in a new senator and why he can fit that role.  I've heard Bill White talk about issues.  I've heard John Sharp talk about issues, too, but I've heard him talk about Bill White as much or more.  Two Democrats can be good if they are each cultivating their own bases, but that isn't what is happening.

2. John Sharp is better than this.  He IS a strong potential candidate and he DOES have that latent name ID.  For that reason, I don't want to see him with the lousy campaign that he has now.  And he's too good to run second fiddle in a special election.  He should go win a primary in another race and then win the general for us.  If you want to attack Democrats, that's where to do it, anyways.  He seems to want to attack Bill White the Democrat in a special election with no primary, which is plane dumb.

We really think both Bill White and John Sharp are good Democrats.  We probably want both to hold public office.  Some might say they are the two best candidates Democrats have for statewide office.  If so, why are they running for the same thing?

"Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write."  -  John Adams

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by: Michael Hurta @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 10:18:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

good points (0.00 / 0)

i'd have to see some empirical evidence that 2 Dems is bad for us in this so-called race.

i'm actually hoping a young, progressive Hispanic state rep will get in the race, get some experience and exposure, and get strapped up for '12.

i'm thoroughly convinced that we cannot win a runoff unless there is a strong turnout among Dems during the special.  we need the list to target for runoff turnout.  the biggest mistake we've made in the past few specials is focusing on paid communications and not enough on a ground game.  i'm even more convinced that we need to idiot proof GOTV and targeting as much as possible so that it CAN'T be screwed up again.  We lost a special in late 96, early 97, early 08 and late 08 by not having enough resources invested in the ground.

i don't know who is running sharp's operation or advising him, but i do think that sharp is right to challenge bill white for the base.  every second white is courting the base, he can't go after sharp's lead among swings, independents and rurals (which i suppose is substantial).

i agree with virtually everthing you've said. i'm probably over-reacting based on a perception that i have that some folks think they are entitled to certain offices.

Please refer to KT's signature.

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by: colin @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 00:12:57 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good Ground Game (0.00 / 0)

I think you are right. In the 90's, the statewide coordinated campaigns were top heavy with staffers of soon to be ex-elected statewide Democratic officials. Local county party field organizations were neglected outside of Travis County.

For example in 1992, the statewide coordinated campaign was hoarding 50,000 yard signs in my warehouse for months for distribution in the last two weeks of the campaign. Meanwhile, local county field organizations all over the state were screaming for yard signs and were being told they were on back order. In 1993 US Senate runoff election against KBH, the ground game was neglected again with Kruger making a fool out of himself with his silly "Terminator" TV ads. In 1996, again, the statewide coordinated campaign did not adequately supply local field organizations with Clinton/Gore materials.

The fact of the matter is, presidential campaigns, whether in a blue or red state, are a spring board for building strong local parties. Texas Democrats, until the Obama team came about, missed the boat for years in building the party from the bottom up. I wish the "young blood" activists the best in their endeavors. We need new aggressive strategies and candidates to deliver our message.

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by: ssuits @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 14:44:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Get off John Sharp (0.00 / 0)

If Bill White had let people know a long time ago he was interested in running for the Senate instead of leading everyone to believe he wanted to be Governor, Sharp would have probably made different plans.  Bill White's the selfish one, not Sharp.

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by: politicsforjim @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 11:37:50 AM UTC

while that may be true Jim (0.00 / 0)

you have to ask yourself the question, how does that help us now?  And it's not as if Sharp for Senate is this unstoppable train he can't put the breaks on.  Let's face it, if he persists, he will burn through Bill White's nest-egg and still be handed his ass.

I think Sharp is terrific btw, but he's the one who should have (and still should) run for governor.  Comptroller is probably the best experience a gubenatorial (sp?) candidate can have in this state, and his experience in negotiating and reconciling budgets since then is truly impressive. He's a moderate, fiscally experienced guy with Dem bonafides, name recognition and a likeable, laid back persona. He's like a Schieffer with actual credibilty.

Does anyone know how we might be able to draft him for Gov, even if it's against his will, initially?  

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by: jhakerr @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 22:17:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]