Burnt Orange Report
News, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Burnt Orange ReportNews, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas |
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November 29, 2005HD 48 Special Election Date SetBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanElection Day: January 17th (Tuesday) via QR Developing... It's hard to expect Rick Perry to get on the stick with much of anything these days, and certainly not elections, considering the residents of District 143 in Houston had to go for entire special sessions with no representation. But faced with having to deal with his failure last year to fix school finance, and now having to do it by June 1st lest the Republicans would rather see the schools shut down (probably an absolute dream for a couple of them), we get an early election called, with all candidates running in a free for all. As a student friend of mine said when I told them this, Perry is a bastard, because the entire election takes place over the holidays, and election day is the first day of classes. That means all those Democratic student voters out in Far West, which are hard enough to turn out anyways, will be next to impossible to get. University Democrats, which has been active in block walking for Andy Brown's campaign, might have enough time to get an endorsement out next week (while still open, would likely go to Brown at this point) and if that couples with Central Austin Democrats could provide for some of those infamous yellow doorhangers to go up out in the district. But as far as volunteers go, the student impact has been minimized. Such an early election means money and existing on the ground infrastructure means a lot. Brown has been blockwalking since the summer, hitting thousands of houses out there. Donna Howard will have to depend upon the Kelly White network of donors and volunteers. Kathy Rider (if she's still planning on running) will have to rely on name ID because there hasn't been sign of any organized activity I can pin down. Of course, that reveals our other problem, that there will be more Democrats than Republicans running, either 2-1 or 3-1, since Ben Bentzin will be the Republican nominee. If the Dems all run, they have to keep Bentzin below 50% on the first round and then join together in the run-off to have a chance. It would be better if we could consolidate behind one candidate, and then focus our collective efforts on turnout, instead of worrying about turnout and fighting over voters at the same time. But with from what the candidates on our side have signaled, that doesn't seem likely to happen. But this early election could change that. Until then, we wait. You can look at the HD-48 map (pdf) in the meantime. Posted by Karl-Thomas Musselman at November 29, 2005 11:55 AM | TrackBackComments
Does anyone think that having multiple democratic challengers is a good thing? It seems to me that the best bet to win the seat is to have a quick primary, focus all the efforts on one candidate and run that man/woman against Ben Bentzin. We almost got that seat. I think we can beat Bentzin with an education-minded candidate this time. If anyone reads this and has some clout, please consider it and pass it on. Thanks! Posted by: Spanky at November 29, 2005 12:23 PMHowever many Democrats end up challenging Bentzin, it needs to be clear that Bentzin is not good for the district. As "Spanky" pointed out, someone who puts education first needs to be elected. Bentzin is a pro-voucher guy that took money from TAB/TRMPAC in 2002. We don't need him in there, voting along with the Craddick/Perry machine, to further ignore the improvements that need to be made in the public school system. Also, this election is going to cost Travis County $125,000 -- twice that if there's a run-off -- just to hold the elections. That's according to the press conference Senator Barrientos and the chair of the Travis County Democratic Paryu, Chris Elliott, had a while back. Why Perry was willing to call one for Baxter's seat, but not for Moreno's, is a question we need to get some reporters to ask, as well... Posted by: gary at November 29, 2005 12:51 PMI'm sure whose walking door to door for andy brown is on the top of Perry's mind. The AAS has the whole story out today. why are folks in the back rooms with smoked filled our lap top filled always trying to clear the field? let the folks run and may the best one win. Posted by: hamiltonfan at November 29, 2005 06:54 PMI think the college aspect isn't getting enough attention. Common Cause has been trying for years to get the number of days off year elections can be held on reduced to three or four with January NOT being one of them. January and September elections always hit students hard (and parents of younger children, as well) and should definitely be eliminated. Turnout is always horrible in January and September election in particular and things can sneak through with practically no support. Denton County passed a nearly $90 million road bond packege in January 1999 with fewer than 4,000 people voting yes! Brown (and the other Democratic candidates) should publicly support students' voting rights AND access to the electoral process by pledging to introduce a bill to streamline elction dates or at least eliminate the ones with guaranteed miniscule turnout. Also, the students: UT closes the dorms for at least a couple of weeks (or did in the mid-90s when I was there). Local Democrats need to consider opening their homes for Democratic student campaign volunteers. They probably know how to act when visiting company and the contribution to the Brown campaign would probably be at least as well received as a four digit check. A big deal, yes: many would go home for the holidays, anyway. But some would be glad to have the chance to come back early and get to work. Posted by: Michael at November 29, 2005 07:18 PMPost a comment
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