Burnt Orange Report

I'd really like to see Senator Barrientos step down, but if he doesn't, I hope Kirk Watson mounts a primary challenge. Not only has the senator become a long-time fixture on TM's 10 Worst list, he burned a lot of bridges behind him when he endorsed Leticia Hinojosa in the CD10 primary against Lloyd Doggett. It would be a tough uphill battle; he has a very large cadre of dedicated supporters who get out and do the week-in and week-out hard work of blockwalking and phone banking. In the 2002 election, every event I went to had more Barrientos workers than for all the other candidates combined. Maybe if enough positive buzz gets started for a Watson candidacy gets started, and he starts to feel some pressure, he'll step down on his own. I'd really hate to see a heated primary fight. After the last round of redistricting, this isn't necessarily a safe seat any more; the heart of south Austin was cut out of the district and put into Wentworth's district. An effective voice for Austin would be nice for a change.

I hope the Senator steps aside as well. But if he doesn't I would be in support of Kirk Watson going into the primary. Though I'm sure it would end up dividing some over racial lines, I honestly think Kirk Watson on the ballot would help rise the tide county wide and help our efforts in HD 47, 48, and 51. That's assuming of course the GOP bothers to challenge the Senate district though in a sense I hope they do.

Anybody here really put any stock in Texas Monthly's Top Ten list? Teel Bivins was Man of the Year in 2003 for compassionately only kicking hundreds of kids off of CHIP, rather than thousands. . . I think Patty Kilday (Hart) goes to the same source every two years who doesn't like Barrientos and asks for something rude to say.

And I am unsure what great things that someone representing a district with politics like Barrientos's is supposed to do in a legislature completly redistricted into submission to suburban Republicans.

The Statesman should do everyone a favor and keep Rich Oppel's personal likes and dislikes on the editorial page and off of the front page.

Is there any word on a Democrat challenging Jeff Wentworth? If I recall, Wentworth's margin of a victory was very thin last time around. Most of the district is in San Antonio, but a strong GOTV by Travis County Dems down in South Austin could help push Wentworth out.

On second thought, looks like I confused the Travis County result for Wentworth with the district wide result, which Wentworth won handily. Pity.