Burnt Orange Report

It's Official: Strayhorn An Independent (Updated)

By Vince Leibowitz

It's official. Carole Keeton Strayhorn will run as an independent. This is from her announcement:

"I am a Republican, but I know we must set partisan politcs aside and do what's right for Texas. That is why I am running for governor as a Texas Independent. We can't wait any longer. It's time to shake Austin up."

Via QR.

Update: Houston Chronicle has a story here. WFAA Dallas has the story here. San Antonio Express News has the story here. And, there's more...

Of course, now begin the questions. Chief in my mind is "What's she going to do now that the big donors will side with Perry?" There is no way, at least in my mind, Strayhorn can raise enough money as an independent to be competitive with the kind of money Leinninger, Bob Perry and others will shift into Rick Perry's campaign in order to help Perry hold on.

Second, of course, is whether or not she can get the necessary signatures. I think that's a no-brainer. I believe, depending upon how much money she has to hire someone to gather them, she can overcome this hurdle without difficulty. As for raising money and the rest, though, she'll be out in the cold to some degree without a strong party infrastructure behind her.

Only time will tell what will come next.

UPDATED (Twice): If You Say You're Gonna File, Shouldn't You File???

By Vince Leibowitz

(As of 5 p.m., Flynn did get an opponent. Charles "Chuck" Tull did indeed file, but I'll leave this one up for "historical purposes" I guess...)

I guess this is one of those to file under, "Uh, yeah...whatever."

Anyway, even though I have nothing to do with the Republican Party, I've received not one, not two, but THREE CALLS this morning asking me if I knew whether or not Charles Stanley Tull, Jr. (R-Edgewood), was going to file or not to run against Dan Flynn (R-Van) in TXHD 2.

Seriously, if you are running for State Representative and announce your candidacy months in advance, shouldn't you file before, oh, say, NOON ON FILING DAY?

I say this because I just checked the Republican Party of Texas's filings and notice that Tull, Flynn's long-anticipated opponent, has not filed. Keep in mind this is in spite of the fact he's been listed in several newspapers and even pictured on one website as a "candidate" for State Representative. His candidacy has considered such a "sure thing" to the point he was listed in the Tyler Morning Telegraph announcement on Flynn's re-election.

So, what are the people who are waking me out of bed on January 2 and asking me about this race saying: That Charles Tull will not be making a run for it, at least, not this time.

I haven't talked to Mr. Tull about this, so I don't know personally. And, though he's from our county, I don't know him though I do know his dad, former Grand Saline Police Chief Stanley Tull.

But, for what it's worth, all three calls I had this morning had heard that (a) Tull had been asked to run by an education/anti-voucher PAC as he is a school board president and has a wife who is a public school teacher and that (b) because a Democrat is now in the race, Tull isn't running in the GOP Primary.

Again, keep in mind these are simply what's going around the "rumor mill" right now. Either way, I thought it might be worth mentioning in the event there are similar "made" races in other districts.

But, in terms of facts, I can tell you two things: Charles Tull, Jr., voted in the Democratic Primaries in this county in 2002 and 2000. As for 2004, I'm not sure. But, he did vote as a Democrat in those years (and I know because I checked.)

{NOTE: I checked and, as of 1:30, still no filing by Tull. I'll advise you, dear readers, if there is a change.}

UPDATE: ON the Dem side, what about Graham Sweeney (D-Boles)? Texas Association of Counties lists him as having announced, along with Scott Cornuaud (D-Quinlan), for the Texas HD5?? Anyone? The state party doesn't have him as having filed as of 11:15.

Juan Garcia Files for HD 32

By Damon McCullar

Corpus Christi attorney and naval aviator Juan Garcia has filed paperwork to be the Democratic candidate in the race for Texas House of Representatives, District 32. District 32 covers parts of Nueces County, and the entirety's of San Patricio, Aransas, and Calhoun Counties.

The 39-year old Garcia is a graduate of Harvard Law School and also holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He served on active duty for 13 years as a Naval Aviator, with multiple deployments to the Persian Gulf and during the Kosovo conflict. He continues to fly as an Instructor Pilot in the Naval Reserves at NAS Corpus Christi. In 1999, Garcia was one of 16 Americans selected to serve as a White House Fellow, the national leadership program whose alumni include Colin Powell and Henry Cisneros.

This marks the first run for public office for the father of four young children. Said Garcia: "You only get one chance to be a first-time candidate: not aligned with any faction, indebted to no one, and free to follow your own conscience. I take the privilege and responsibility of public service very seriously, and thought long and hard before entering this race. I'll make the most of this opportunity."

High on his agenda will be the education and property tax crisis. "Despite three expensive legislative sessions dedicated to education, Texas still ranks second from the bottom in SAT scores, we're dead last in high school dropout rate, and we pay our teachers well below the national mean, all despite paying some of the highest property taxes in the country. I think we can do better" said Garcia. Garcia served in Washington DC as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Education from 1999-2000, chaired the Board of Directors of "Citizens for Educational Excellence," and was a member of the CCISD district-wide Planning and Decision-Making Team.

Garcia is a second-generation naval aviator. His family has deep roots in the Coastal Bend, but education and military service took him around the world before returning home to South Texas to settle and raise a family. His wife, whom he met when they were classmates at Harvard, also practices law in Corpus Christi.

Garcia serves on the Board of Governors of Leadership Corpus Christi, the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Foundation, Boy Scout Pack 296, and is a frequent on-air television host for the local PBS affiliate.

The Garcia Campaign plans a formal announcement in January. Asked about the challenge of winning in such a large district, Garcia replied "I've overcome tougher odds before. We'll take our strong message to every resident in the District, and then let the people decide."

Ben Grant Files for Lt. Gov

By Damon McCullar

Former Lege member, former judge, Ben Grant has filed for Lt. Governor. The Marshall News Messenger has the story. Here is an excerpt, full story after the jump:

Marshall resident and attorney Ben Z. Grant on Thursday announced he will be a candidate for Texas Lieutenant Governor in the March Democratic primary.

Grant, 65, a former state representative who also served 17 years as justice of the Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana, said he is looking forward to the statewide race.

[...]

"I realize it will be an uphill battle," Grant said, "but I want to give the people a choice."

Grant said voters across the state are unhappy with the lack of progress by the Texas Legislature on solving the state's school finance challenges.

"There has been a lot of disenfranchisement from both parties because the legislature has been unable to get together on school finance," he said. "It's not an easy task, but I feel I can work with people of both parties."

Former judge, state representative says it's time for change

|By MIKE ELSWICK, Managing Editor|

Friday, December 30, 2005

Marshall resident and attorney Ben Z. Grant on Thursday announced he will be a candidate for Texas Lieutenant Governor in the March Democratic primary.

Grant, 65, a former state representative who also served 17 years as justice of the Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana, said he is looking forward to the statewide race.

He shipped his filing papers Thursday to Texas Democratic Party headquarters in Austin. As of Thursday afternoon no other candidates had filed.

Incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst filed on Dec. 15 as a Republican seeking re-election. Grant said, assuming he wins the Democratic Party primary, he is looking forward to likely taking on Dewhurst next November.

"I realize it will be an uphill battle," Grant said, "but I want to give the people a choice."

Grant said voters across the state are unhappy with the lack of progress by the Texas Legislature on solving the state's school finance challenges.

"There has been a lot of disenfranchisement from both parties because the legislature has been unable to get together on school finance," he said. "It's not an easy task, but I feel I can work with people of both parties."

Grant retired from the Sixth Court of Criminal Appeals when his term ended in 2002. He served as a state representative from 1971 until 1981.

Grant was also a district judge for the 71st Judicial District Court in Harrison County and was appointed to the court of appeals in 1985 by then-Gov. Mark White. He said he spent 37 years in government, starting his career as a school teacher.

Grant has also been a weekly Sunday columnist for the Marshall News Messenger the past eight years. Those columns will cease as of this week, newspaper officials said.

He has also written plays and a novel, he said. During his teaching career in Carthage and West Texas he taught English, speech and journalism.

Dewhurst was out of state Thursday and could not be reached for comment, according to a spokeswoman from his Austin office.

Grant said he has nothing personal against Dewhurst. "I'm not faulting him altogether for the disenfranchisement," Grant said. "But I hope I can be a catalyst on the school finance issue, which is the number-one priority for state government right now."

Also unavailable was Harrison County Democratic Party Chairman Brendan Roth.

County Republican Chairman Sam Moseley said, while he wishes Grant well, he anticipates Dewhurst will continue serving as Texas Lieutenant Governor after the November election.

"Ben Grant is a good personal friend whom I admire in many ways," Moseley said Thursday afternoon. "I know this statewide campaign will be a valuable experience for him."

Moseley and Grant ran against each other in 1970 for state representative with Grant winning that race.

"Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is also a friend, and a person of great personal skill and integrity," Moseley said. "Legislators from both parties say he serves very effectively as our state's lieutenant governor.

"I have confidence in Gov. Dewhurst, and expect him to continue serve our state honorably and well."

Grant said his legislative experience in the Texas House included serving 10 years as chairman of the House judiciary committee. He said he has received encouragement to run from Democratic Party leaders across the state, including Bob Gammage, who is running for governor.

Grant said he has known Gammage since they served in the legislature together.

"I feel strongly the Democratic Party needs good, qualified people to run," he said. "I will speak out on the issues and give the people a choice."

Grant said among the biggest obstacles to his candidacy is a lack of name recognition and lack of funding.

"I'm not rich and will have to spend time in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and other big cities doing fund-raising," he said. Grant would not put a figure on what he estimated it will take a Democratic candidate to be viable against Dewhurst in next November's general election.

"I know it's going to take a lot to run a television campaign in the metro areas and that's about the only way you can reach a large portion of those voters," he said.

Grant was the author of a constitutional amendment that gave the courts of appeals criminal jurisdiction.

"At the time, we had only one court hearing all criminal cases in the state," he said. The amendment helped ease a backlog of criminal cases that sometimes stretched out for years in the courts.

He considers himself a lifetime student of history and the law.

Grant said this is not his first statewide run for office. He was seeking a slot on the Texas Supreme Court in 1985 when White appointed him to the Sixth Court of Appeals. Upon that appointment, Grant withdrew from the top court race.

Along with the $3,750 filing fee he sent to Austin Thursday, Grant designated his sister, Romola Greer of Hallsville, as his campaign treasurer.

Contact managing editor Mike Elswick via e-mail at: melswick@coxnews.com; or by phone at (903) 927-5962.

One Tough Independent Grandma, More Rumors Are Flying **UPDATE**

By Damon McCullar

Today, via QR:

Campaign says she is a Republican

Rumors are careening around Austin with increasing conviction that Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has decided to run for Governor as an independent.

One rumor is that the Strayhorn Campaign had contacted the Secretary of State's office to verify that it would be open Monday to receive her notice that she intends to run as an independent. However, spokesman Scott Haywood says that they have received numerous inquiries about Monday, but most callers do not identify themselves.

For the record, the Secretary of State's office will be open Monday.

Update 4:13pm
Apparently there are rumor flying around that One Tough Grandma is considering running for Lite Gov as well. Monday is the deadline. We will know then.

SD2: Deuell's Republican Opponent Challenges Him To Debates

By Vince Leibowitz

Though it's been reported here and here that Texas Senator Dr. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville) will have Rockwall City Councilman Tim McCallum as a primary opponent in the March 7 GOP Primary, this is a bit of a new twist:

"Today I sent a message to my opponent, Bob Deuell, inviting his campaign manager to meet with mine within a week to schedule dates for two debates, one in January and a second in February," said McCallum. "The people of District 2 deserve to have my opponent and I stand before them and debate the issues that affect them each and every day. They deserve the opportunity to personally ask and to know clearly where we stand on the critical issues."

McCallum gave the above tidbit to the Tyler Morning Telegraph for his standard filing story appearing in this morning's editions.

Though McCallum didn't quite call Deuell a lapdog for the GOP's as he did in the Dallas Morning News article last month ("The incumbent has represented the party leadership well, but he hasn't represented people in District 2"), he did take a few jabs at him:

"It is time to send a truly fiscal conservative to Austin," said McCallum in an issues statement. "Our leaders passed a record-high budget, but managed to underfund schools, underfund parks and underfund roads. I am proud of my fiscal record of conservatism and I will take that to the Senate."

...

"Simply put, we have lacked the leadership that is needed to make progress on many key issues for our district and our state. The biggest disappointment was school finance. I was a member of the district's school finance panel, and we counted on our representative to use his experience and our feedback to further the cause of public schools. That did not happen."

McCallum, 32 grew up in the Austin area and graduated from Leander High School. He served as chairman of the College Republicans while a student at SWTSU, now Texas State University in San Marcos. McCallum came to Rockwall in 2000 to work at the corporate headquarters of 7-Eleven Inc. When he resigned from 7-Eleven in 2005, he was the company's youngest executive, according to the Tyler paper.

This should make for a pretty good GOP bloodbath in East Texas.
However, according to Texas Ethics Commission Reports, Deuell himself has no campaign warchest. Instead, it's all being run through a PAC, Texans for Bob Deuell, which maintained $62,679.44 in cash as of the most recent reporting period. Aside from an expense for political consulting of $500 to someone in Greenville, more consulting fees to Jim Arnold & Associates in Austin and lots of gas and parking expenditures, the most interesting expenditure is a $500 donation to "Drummers for Jesus."

And, depending upon what Deuell has raised between that report and the one due in next month, $62K is a pretty small warchest for a contested GOP Primary in SD 2, which includes all of Rockwall, Hunt, Rains, Delta, Fannin, Hopkins, Kaufman and Van Zandt counties, and parts of Dallas and Smith counties.

By contrast, Deuell spent $73,223.76 in 2000, when he faced a contested GOP Primary. And, that was in the old SD2, which included a different portion of Dallas County. He was also facing an opponent from Smith County at the time. Since McCallum has filed no reports to date, it is unknown how much he's raised or spent.

Given that Rockwall County, at least according to 2000 census figures (which don't take into account the population boom the county has experienced in recent years), has one of the smaller populations of the counties in SD2, with Dallas being the largest, it's too early to tell where, aside from the two candidates home counties, where the real 'battlegrounds' will be. Obviously, given the number of voters there, Dallas County will be a major factor for both campaigns as it is where SD2 elections are typically won and lost. However, look for Kaufman and Van Zandt Counties to be major battlegrounds, too, as both counties have good numbers of GOP primary voters.

Definately one to watch.

HD-47

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Some short notes. Outgoing State Rep. Terry Keel has filed for place 8 on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, currently held by Charles Holcomb.

Now, in addition to Valina Bolton and Jason Earle, Royce LeMoine has entered the Democratic primary for the race. I've had little word on who he is.

(Gene Kelly has filed for the US Senate seat as well, like he has in recent years, though this is the far less famous one.)

A House Update

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

With Rick Perry's special election just weeks away (early voting starts on Monday if you can believe it), I have the great misfortune of being out of town. I'm currently back home in Fredericksburg, enjoying the tales of local politics from Councilman Musselman, eyeing the "medium density residential housing" complex going up down the street from our house, reading the almost final draft of the City Comprehensive Plan, watching Season 7 of Stargate SG-1 on my laptop, sleeping until after 1 every day, and enjoying not being online for an entire week for the first time in years. Of course, seeing 166 unread messages in my inbox (one of 3 anyways) made me reconsider even coming back online this once to check to see how things were doing.

In any case, this update should more more about the Texas House than my own, so let's meander back there. With Andy Brown out of the HD-48 Special Election, University Democrats held an online endorsement election, the first in its history which I had the great honor of creating as my last act as the outgoing webmaster. It officially endorsed, "No Endorsement", for what use that was, not that anything would have been terribly important as most UDems members like myself won't be in town to do much for the election.

Glen Maxey, who was helping the Andy Brown campaign, is now coordinating some efforts for those who want to do what they can to help a Democrat (be it Rider or Howard) take the seat or force a February run-off which would allow us to regroup and win the race. In speaking to him, there has been an agreement reached that if either Howard or Rider wins the Special Election seat, Brown and the other Democrat would refrain from running in the March primary.

In the meantime, Donna Howard is launching TV ads which you can view here. In low turnout elections (and this one could be a record breaker for the "huh-what election" factor), name ID and some TV time can have a effect as Austinites saw in last year's city council Place 3 race where Jennifer Kim made an unexpected second place in the May election, allowing her into the run-off which she won, thanks in part to her effective use of her Firefighter's endorsement on TV.

On top of that, Howard has now been endorsed by the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) as well as the People for Efficient Transportation. Those Press Releases are included in the extended entry.

But the important thing to remember, is that even though this Rick Perry Special Election was designed to hurt us, we can turn the tide and just like in Minnesota, Democrats can pull through.

The following are the Press Releases for the endorsements of Howards's campaign.

The Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) is proud to announce its endorsement of a strong supporter of public education and public school employees, Donna Howard, in the January special election for the District 48 seat vacated by resignation of Todd Baxter.

"I am honored to have Texas teachers on board this quick special election campaign," Howard said. "They work long hours and still have the energy and commitment to back a candidate who knows firsthand that no profession is more important to our future."

“We are confident that Donna Howard will be a strong voice for improving the salary and benefits of active and retired public school employees,” Haschke said.

TSTA President Haschke urged all those in District 48 who value our public schools and our children’s education to turn out to vote for Donna Howard.

"Donna Howard will fight to stop those who want to take our tax dollars away from public schools to pay for the private education of a privileged few to attend private schools, and we know she will work to provide our public schools the funding they need to give all our children an opportunity to succeed," Haschke concluded.

PETPAC

People for Efficient Transportation Political Action Committee (PET PAC) has endorsed Democrat Donna Howard for State Representative District 48 in the Special Election that begins Jan 3rd (early voting). PET PAC is a nonpartisan, grassroots group of Texans focused on keeping tolls off roads we've already paid for.

“Donna Howard understands the tremendous negative impact that freeway tolls will have on our local economy,” said Sal Costello, founder of PET PAC. “In addition to freeway tolls creating an unaccountable bureaucracy that only serves the special interests, they actually make our traffic worse, as our Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's own numbers prove” Costello added. “PET PAC believes Donna Howard will work the hardest to keep toll tax collection booths off our public highways”

Donna Howard was born and raised in Austin and has spent her adult life working to help strengthen her community. A recognized expert on public education, Howard was an elected member of the Eanes ISD board in West Austin from 1996 to 1999. She was a cofounder of Advocates for Eanes Schools, a parent organization, and helped start the Texas Education Crisis Coalition, a grassroots group of parents and community leaders.

Based in Austin, People for Efficient Transportation Political Action Committee enhances its members’ abilities to improve accessibility, quality and cost-effectiveness of transportation for all Texans.

Contact:
Sal Costello
Founder of People for Efficient Transportation PAC

Sexton on Talton

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Though Texas blogs mentioned her intentions as far back as June, Janette Sexton has officially filed against Republican Robert Talton in HD-144 over in the Houston area. Talton, infamous this past session for trying to tear foster kids out of their foster homes if their foster parents happened to be a same gender couple, deserves to become the latest GOP icon to fall victim to a Run, Everywhere strategy.

Janette's profile on this Democracy for Houston page is reflective of why I am thankful for what the Howard Dean campaign has left in it's wake. The conversion of his campaign into Democracy for America has enabled new political activists, regular Texans, Virginians, Californians, and beyond to take hold of their individual accomplishments, abilities, and idealism and translate that into campaigns and change, not only for the Democratic Party, but for Democracy itself. It's allowing us to fulfill the concept of Run, Everywhere, which is not only needed for rebuilding our state party, but for giving voters a choice and a chance to organize and reclaim their government.

With that in mind, as the filing period draws to a close on January 2, I can only hope that our state party helps to fill out that statewide ticket, which is looking pretty slim right now. More on that soon enough.

What is One-Tough Grandma Up To? **Update**

By Damon McCullar

Well, it's a little under two weeks until the filing deadline and it seems that One Tough Grandma is have an identity crisis. With her poll number in the Republican primary in the sub-basement, it seems to me that Carol Four-Names is shopping around for a way to run for Governor.

First, as noted here at BOR she floated a poll about running as an Independent.

Now it seems as if she is trying clear the field in the Democratic Primary to run as a Democrat. From the AAS:

A top aide to Republican gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn called Democratic candidate Chris Bell's wife last week and suggested that Bell drop out of the governor's race and instead run for comptroller.

Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders said he told Alison Bell that "there would be support for him" if Chris Bell ran to succeed Strayhorn as comptroller. Sanders said that he and Alison Bell have known each other since they worked on a campaign together 15 years ago and that he wanted to advise his longtime friends that they could not win the governor's race.

"I made this call to Alison on my own out of a sense of concern for them and their family," Sanders said. "And I did not make this call in reference in any way to the comptroller's gubernatorial campaign."

To which Chris Bell said he will not run for comptroller and that there was no mention in his wife's conversation with Sanders of Strayhorn running as a Democrat.

His campaign responded on their blog with three things that the campaign is taking away from the story:

First and foremost, let me say emphatically and unequivocally that Chris is not going anywhere. Backroom maneuvering and wink-and-a-smile promises of “unnamed” financial support for a downballot run may get the chattering classes buzzing, but Chris has no interest at all in any race but this one. He’s running for governor because he’s fed up with Rick Perry’s Reign of Error and believes that our best chance to change the direction of our state is to start at the top. Chris is a fighter, and he’s not backing down one inch on this one.

Second, it’s worth noting that while One Tough Grandma was fearless enough to take on Rick Perry among Republican primary voters, she’s apparently frightened enough of Chris Bell’s strength among Democrats to want him out of the picture before considering a switch. It’s a little more validation that Chris’s optimistic New Mainstream message is resonating with Democrats across the state who are tired of Rick Perry’s failures and have no patience for candidates running as “Rick Perry lite.”

Third, it warrants mentioning that Strayhorn’s campaign, which has been floundering for months, appears increasingly desperate as we approach the Jan 2 filing deadline. Rick Perry’s continued low 40’s approval numbers are proof that there’s a clear majority out there ready to fire him next November, and its becoming just as clear that voters looking for an alternative to Perry need to start looking past Carole Strayhorn.

Now, I realize that Mark Sanders and Alison Bell are friends that go back fifteen years and Mr. Sanders says that he was only looking out for the welfare of his friend. I might believe that if the Independent poll wasn't floated two weeks ago. I think that the Strayhorn Campaign has gotten the memo that they won't win the Republican Primary and is now shopping around for a place to run. If that means switching parties again, then so be it. I really don't think Strayhorn would do well as a Democrat again. Here's a rundown of where she has stood in the past:

- She says she is “pleased and proud to be a Republican” and “I consider myself to be a Republican and feel philosophically and personally comfortable with the GOP”
- She calls us the “Democrat Party.” If she can’t get the name right, then she has no right to the name.
- Campaigned for Claytie Williams against Ann Richards, even defending him when he joked about rape
- Was the deciding vote on the Legislative Redistricting Board that passed the map that put Tom Craddick in the Speaker’s Chair (Laney and Ratliff voted no, Perry and Dewhurst voted yes)
- When she switched parties and lost a ton of weight, she joked “It just goes to show you that inside every fat Democrat, there’s a skinny Republican trying to get out”
- She’s pro-life
- She’s never been afraid to take on Rick Perry as a Republican, but it seems she wants to clear the field in the Democratic Primary because she's scared to take on Chris Bell among Democrats.

I guess we will find out exactly what her intentions are after the Christmas holiday. She only has seven working days left to file. I've given you a few facts to chew on, see if you can dig up some more and let me know how would you feel if Strayhorn was to run as a Democrat? How do you think it would influence the primary? Does she still have enough following in the Democratic Party to be effective? Let's hear it!

**Update** 10:16

Kuff and Perry Vs The World have some interesting posts on this same subject.

Armbrister Not Running in 2006

By Damon McCullar

Via The Victoria Advocate:

Andy Brown is Gearing Up for HD 48 Primary

By Katie Naranjo

Andy Brown, already a candidate for the March 7, 2006, Democratic primary, will not run in the January special election to fill the House District 48 seat.

“Today, the Court affirmed a ruling by the Secretary of State that I disagree with but accept. However, I concede nothing to Rick Perry or Ben Bentzin now, or in the future. I”ll continue to be a voice for education,ethics and insurance reform in District 48.”

“I am especially grateful to the Central Austin Democrats for their recent endorsement, and will continue to do everything possible to make sure a Democrat wins District 48,” said Brown.

Chris Bell Rails Against Gov. Perry's Executive Order to Enhance College Readiness Efforts

By Damon McCullar

Apparently Gov. Perry has just noticed that there is a problem with the the readiness of our high school students entering college. According to his press release, the new executive order will:

* A new system of college readiness indicators for every high school, including a requirement that schools report the number of graduates who have to take remedial courses when they get to college,
* Voluntary end-of-course assessments for technology-related subjects like math and science to more accurately measure student progress,
* An electronic academic records system to facilitate the transfer of student transcripts between school districts and between high schools and colleges. This will reduce paperwork requirements and make it easier for students to apply to multiple colleges at once,
* Summer residential programs at Texas colleges and universities for secondary students who excel to provide enhanced learning opportunities, and
* A pilot program to pay the cost of college entrance exams for economically disadvantaged students.

These programs will cost an estimated four million dollars. Former Congressman and Gubernatorial Candidate Chris Bell responded by saying:

“It took Rick Perry five years to figure out that college readiness is a growing problem, but what’s he’s proposing doesn’t address the real cause. Kids are leaving high school less prepared for a higher education under Rick Perry’s administration because high-stakes testing has corrupted the curriculum and driven teachers from the profession. What we need to get our kids ready for college are higher teacher salaries, uncensored textbooks, and safe classrooms where our kids can learn something more valuable than just how to take yet another standardized test.”

Some statistics on college readiness of Texas high school students:

In 1993, the year high-stakes testing was introduced, 78 % of the graduating high school seniors who took the state’s college readiness test (the TASP exam) passed all 3 sections. By 2002, that rate had plummeted to below 22 %.

Texas ranks 3rd from the bottom in average SAT scores. The 995 average score for Texas students in 2005 was more than 30 points below the national mean.

It's all well and good the Governor wants to fix this "emergent" problem, but what happens when these students are all ready to enter college and then get smacked with a $3600 bill for tuition and fees. That's no joke folks, that's how much I pay to take more than 12 semester hours (flat rate tuition plan) in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Earlier this semester, the Advisory Board recommended hiking tuition by almost 10% over the next two years. The recommendation was for a 5.5% increase for the 2006-2007 academic year and then a 3.9% hike the year after. Chris Bell has also spoke out on this by saying that tuition deregulation has been a total failure and that we should but the genie back in the bottle on this issue.

Kinky Ads on TV

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I was at Kerbey Lane the other night, chatting with University Democrat's President Alex Hunt, President-Elect Brandon Chicotsky, and Austin consultant Glen Maxey about the District 48 race, state student strategies, and University Democrats, when I saw one of the new Kinky TV ads I had received an e-mail about Monday.

Running in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin and El Paso (what's the price tag on that I'd like to know), they feature Kinky, or rather, his 13-inch action figure responding to Press Questions.

You can watch the 3 ads online here. If you want to catch one of the ads, they will be running on the following programs.

Update: From the comments, a very good point...

I had to do a check to find out that Friedman's campaign manager is former Senator Dean Barkley (IP-MN). When Jesse Ventura ran for Governor in 1998, North Woods Advertising released ads with a Jesse Ventura action figure.

In Politics, everything old is new again.

Ellen
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Face the Nation
Nightline
Today Show
GMA
Saturday Night Live
Early and late news shows
Jimmy Kimmel
Letterman
Leno
Entertainment Tonight
Tyra Banks
Daytime soaps
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Everybody Loves Raymond
Frasier
Seinfeld
Fear Factor
Bernie Mac
That 70s Show
Malcolm in the Middle
CNN Headline News

HD 48 Update

By Damon McCullar

Andy Brown petitioned a week or so ago to run in the HD 48 special election even though he did not meet the one-year residency requirement.

Via QR:

Democratic candidate for House District 48 Andy Brown responded to the Secretary of State’s denial of a place on the special election ballot with a federal lawsuit challenging the residency requirement in a special election.

Brown moved to the district in May to meet the one-year residency requirement for the November general election. Abruptly, state Rep. Todd Baxter (R-Austin) resigned, effective Nov. 1. Unsuccessful GOP Senate candidate Ben Bentzin’s name quickly circulated as the likely Republican candidate. Gov. Rick Perry called for a special election on Jan. 17.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Bob Gammage Files for Governor

By Damon McCullar

Well folks, we now have a primary race on our hands. Bob Gammage filed for governor of the state of Texas today. In a statement on his website, Mr. Gammage says "This campaign is about reform. It is about opening state policy-making to public scrutiny. It is about restoring the public trust." He goes on to say that "Today we have a governor who is just a cog in that machine. Rick Perry's been a weak governor with a failed record. He totally lacks the will and the ability to reform a system that produced him." He specifically attacks Gov. Perry for his ties to special interest and lack of action on school finance:

After two years of talk and no action, Rick Perry finally decided to tackle the most important issue facing Texas -- the public school finance mess. So what did he do? He went on a cruise. He sailed the Caribbean on a ritzy yacht with a bunch of rich supporters and came back with a school finance plan that would be good for their special interests---and to hell with everybody else.

Chris Bell Announces Initiatives To Reduce Teen Pregnancy, Number of Abortions in State

By Damon McCullar

Last night, while speaking to the Democratic Women of New Braunfels, Chris Bell announced his strategy to take on the teen pregnancy rate in Texas and offered policy to reduce the number of abortions in the state. Texas is second only to Mississippi in the number of teen pregnancies reported. From the speech:

In his speech, Bell, who had a 100% NARAL rating for his voting in Congress, said that "I know a lot of people who are pro-choice, and I know a lot of people who call themselves pro-life. But I don’t know anyone who is pro-abortion. Nobody likes abortion. We’re all comfortable saying that abortion should be safe, legal and rare, but Democrats should not be shy about saying just how rare we think abortion should be." He went on to say that "the way we start to do that (reduce abortions) is by finding the moral courage to give our kids the age-appropriate, medically accurate information they need to not get pregnant in the first place." Finally he attacked Perry's abstinence only sex ed program saying "In fact, one study showed that Texas high-schoolers were more sexually active after undergoing Rick Perry’s sex ed, which is an abstinence-only approach." And then blasting Perry for vetoing a Medicare waiver bill in 2001:

Andy Brown to Run in HD 48 Special Election

By Katie Naranjo

A Note: Brown intends to run in the March Primary with Donna Howard and Kathy Rider no matter the outcome of the legal status of the special election. Howard and Rider are already filed for both elections. Brown has filed with the Secretary of State for the special election as it is a required step to force a decision on his legal status as a candidate to stand in that election (due to residency). That question remains unresolved. Candidates officially approved for the Jan. 17 special will show up here. -KT

Press Release just sent out from the Brown Team indicates that Brown will run in the Special Election called by Gov. Perry to be held Jan. 17th.

BROWN TO BENTZIN: 'LET’S HAVE A FAIR FIGHT'

State Representative candidate Andy Brown, already a candidate for the March 7, 2006, Democratic Primary for House District 48, has filed an application for a place on the January 17, 2006 Special Election ballot with the Texas Secretary of State.

Andy Brown, a long time resident of Austin and a graduate of both Austin public schools and the University of Texas School of Law, resides in District 48, works in District 48, and is eligible to serve the families of District 48 in the 80th Texas Legislature.

"My aggressive campaign against Todd Baxter and the DeLay/Perry machine resulted in Todd Baxter's decision to cut and run. That decision resulted in this orchestrated maneuver to call the election in January."

"In the spring of 2005, no one realized Todd Baxter would resign from the Legislature with a pending and vitally important Special Session looming," said Mr. Brown. "Todd Baxter’s decision to cash in on his office for a six figure-lobbying contract began an orchestrated effort by Todd Baxter, Rick Perry, and the Republican leadership to call an election that they hoped would benefit their hand picked candidate, Ben Bentzin."

"I'm calling on Ben Bentzin to come clean about his role in this special election plot to have an unfair election in District 48. Ben Bentzin and the corrupt Republican machine politics we've come to endure in this district should tell the voters why they called this election on such short notice? What did he know and when did he know it? This deliberate attempt to coincide with the holiday season and the University's calendar will disenfranchise thousands of the ability to vote early with convenience."

"They are attempting to deny the families of this district a choice in this election," said Mr. Brown, "but the law clearly shows that I have a right to be on this ballot."

"I am waiting for a response from the Secretary of State’s office regarding my status on the ballot, and I plan to fight for the families of District 48 for their right to choose."

Brown will continue his campaign for real school finance solutions and ethics and insurance reform. Over the past six months, Brown and his volunteers have campaigned vigorously across the district. Brown is a successful local attorney and community advocate who is mounting an aggressive race for House District 48.

Web Sightings

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

So in the Daily Texan article about Chris Bell filing for Governor, it looks like we have received our first official media mention of Bob Gammage's intentions to move from prospective candidate to 'running'.

Bob Gammage, another prospective Democratic candidate for governor, said he plans to file before Christmas. Gammage said his campaign will tackle statewide corruption, incompetence and, like Bell, a constitutional public school finance plan. So far, Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is running as a candidate for the Republican party. Other major candidates include Texas novelist and musician Kinky Friedman, who is running as an independent candidate.

Though of course, let's not forget about Larry Kilgore, the only candidate to display a dead baby picture on his campaign homepage. I'm wondering what happened to the Rhett Smith or Jennifer Gale for Governor campaigns. Maybe Jennifer Gale endorsed Chris Bell. If so, I offer this picture for the campaign blog.

In other news, we have two Texan of the Year: Carter Casteel sightings in the Texas Media.

FW Star-Telegram: If People magazine can choose the "Sexiest Man Alive" and Barbara Walters can deem herself the last word on who is fascinating, then why can't a bunch of bloggers pick the Texan of the Year?

A group of Texas political bloggers asked for nominations from readers and searched their own souls before voting on their choice. The winner, announced recently on all of the blogs, was Rep. Carter Casteel of New Braunfels. The pick was a surprising one considering the 17 bloggers skew liberal and Casteel is a Republican.

The bloggers said they picked Casteel for her decision to go against her own party earlier this year in the school-funding saga and her strong opposition to school vouchers. She also opposed a measure that would have banned gay foster parents, although she voted for the recently signed gay marriage amendment, which was opposed by most of the blogs.

Kuff also points out some mention of Rep. Casteel in this post.

Friedman, Bell File for Governor **Update**

By Damon McCullar

Okay, it's a really, really slow news day. However I did learn that former-Congressman Chris Bell of Houston has officially filed to run for Governor of the great state of Texas. There was a moment of levity at the event. The new gubernatorial candidate was almost bonked on the head when a plastic wall clock fell off the wall at state Democratic Party HQ. One reporter commented "Time's up."

Bell didn't roll out any new policy initiatives, but did say he favored expanding the business tax both to pay for reductions in local school property taxes and to spend more on education.

The Kinkmeister filed yesterday. At his filing, he declared that he's not running against Perry but voter apathy:

Friedman told a few dozen supporters and reporters huddled for a brief, sidewalk announcement that his real opponent was not Gov. Rick Perry, but voter apathy.

Only 29 percent of Texas' voting age population cast ballots in the 2002 gubernatorial general election.

"If we can get the 29 percent who voted last time up to 39 percent, it'll all be over, and there will be a whole new spirit blowing through Texas," he said. "There will be a smile on everybody's face and a chill up the spine of every politician."

Perry vs. The World (via Kuff) had this to say regarding this sort of strategy:

Lots of folks base their campaign plans on changing the turnout model into one more favorable to them. We generally have a name for these candidates: losers.

**Update 6pm**

The AP story about Bell's filing can be found here.

One Tough Independent Grandma?

By Damon McCullar

Seeing as she has hardly any support from Republicans and Democrats aren't taking the bait to vote for her in the Republican primary, Carol Four-Names is considering joining Kinky Friedman as an independent candidate. From the DMN:

Some Texans have received calls from a polling company asking whether they would support Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn for governor if she ran as an independent rather than as a Republican.

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign denies it is sponsoring the poll. Mrs. Strayhorn's campaign won't say. "We don't discuss our polls," said Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders. "We are regularly in the field testing voter attitudes."

...

The Perry campaign said it would not be surprised if its rival were considering an independent run. "After spending the last six months becoming very cozy with trial lawyers, people who have tried to defeat President Bush and people close to the Clintons, it doesn't surprise me that Carole Strayhorn would be looking for someplace to run other than the Republicans' primary," said Robert Black, a spokesman for the Perry campaign.

...

According to a Strayhorn supporter from Houston, some backers have tried in recent weeks to encourage her to leave the GOP and run as an independent. One backer said she probably would lose a race against Mr. Perry in the GOP primary but would fare better as an independent on the November general election ballot.

As an independent, Mrs. Strayhorn would have to collect 45,000 signatures from registered voters who skipped the primaries to qualify for the ballot. Singer Kinky Friedman plans to try to get on the ballot as an independent.

When she couldn't win as a Democrat, she became a Republican. Now that she can't win as a Republican she is becoming an Independent. I'm but a mere college student, but I just can't see trusting someone that twists with the political winds like Ms. Strayhorn does. One interesting thing about Strayhorn running as an Independent is that in a four way race between Bell/Gammage, Perry, Kinky, and Strayhorn, it lowers the bar on the amount of the popular vote a candidate has to get to win the governor's mansion. In my opinion, it would make the governor's race a horse race with every candidate in a good position to win.

Bell Attacks Perry on Corporate Welfare

By Damon McCullar

In a speech to a labor group in Galveston yesterday (speech, press release, fact sheet, article), former Congressman Chris Bell attacked the Texas Enterprise Fund as a slush fund for corporate welfare.

Here is where the façade falls down and we find out the dirty little secret behind all those big promises. Rick Perry says that he spent more than $200 million to bring more than 22,800 jobs. But earlier this year, the Legislative Budget Board reported how many jobs had actually been created. Anyone want to guess how many jobs we got for $215 million dollars?

It wasn’t 22,000, not by a long shot. Anyone have any guesses?

The truth is so awful it makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. For $215 million, the Texas Enterprise Fund only created 275 jobs as of January 31. Two-seventy-five. That’s about a million bucks a job. Some of those jobs will become real in the future, maybe ten years down the road, maybe someday, if we squeeze our eyes shut and wish really hard, but right now we’re paying way too much to do way too little.

Perry spokesman Robert Black claims "The Texas Enterprise Fund is being used to create over 37,000 direct jobs, and $6 billion in capitol investment for Texas that will result in over 130,000 new jobs in the state — overall about 25 times greater than the state's original investment"

Chris Bell:

Finally, we can keep bribing companies till the treasury’s empty, or we can apply the radical notion of common sense to the situation. Companies move jobs to where the best-educated workers are. Everyone in this room knows that we will lift the next generation into the New Mainstream when we have a governor who realizes that an investment in education matters more than yet another taxpayer subsidy for a big-box superstore.

I have called for nothing less than a moon shot for schools with the specific goal of having the best public schools in the country within 10 years. We need to start paying teachers a good wage, stop censoring their textbooks, and teach them something more important than how to take yet another standardized test.

If you remember one thing I said tonight, remember this. My economic development plan is to invest in Texas by investing in our people. I want Texas to waste less money on corporate subsidies and invest more money in classrooms.

The Governor's office countered, "You have to create the jobs before you can train for them," Black said. "The bottom line is that training follows jobs, jobs do not follow training."

The best that Perry's spokesman could do was hurl insults. "If he doesn't understand job creation and economics any better than this, it's no wonder that Chris Bell's own constituents kicked him out of Congress after only one term," Black said.

But this in itself exposes Perry's and the Republican Party's underhandedness in the whole redistricting scheme. The New York Times addresses it best when it quotes Congressman Bell and says:

Chris Bell, a Houston Democrat who served one term in the House before losing his race last year in a redrawn district and is now running for governor against Mr. Perry, said, "If you can't have faith in the Department of Justice, where are you going to have faith?"

Mr. Bell called the memorandum "shocking" and said, "No wonder they kept it under lock and key." He said that it "helps to drive home how corrupt the entire scheme was, top to bottom" and that "it will not sit well with voters to find out the game was fixed in the Department of Justice."

We've all become accustomed to expecting the worst with redistricting," he said, "but I don't think anyone expected it to be this bad.

Now, I'm no economist, but it seems to me that giving a cash payment to a company to relocate is a bad idea. It seems to me almost as a bribe. One point to ponder is how we can afford to spend all this money to create so few jobs when we have an underfunded education system that ranks near the bottom in the nation. Maybe some of our dear readers can enlighten me on the merits of the Texas Enterprise Fund? I'm all ears to hear what you have to say!

Perry v. Strayhorn... v. Larry Kilgore?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Perry and Strayhorn pick back and forth at each other, using various family relation's statements against their campaigns.

Apparently there is another challenger in the Republican Primary, according to the Texas GOP list, Larry Kilgore.

Larry, and I didn't know this was possible, is running to Rick Perry's right flank. While he may be serious about running, he's certainly not credible. His front page declares, "My first priority as governor will be to submit to Biblical law given to us by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. My job, according to 1st Peter 2:14, will be to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right."

His Issues page is equally... Biblical. I especialy like 1-40 lashes for crime of maliciousness, like graffiti, porn, strip clubs, though a close second might be execution for crime of deadly negligence, like DWI. He openly advocates pre-Civil War state's rights arguements, including re-instating the Republic of Texas.

I might also mention now that Barbara Radnofsky has a primary on her hands, Darrel Hunter has entered the ring. I don't know any more than you do.

Libertarian Ben Easton to Run in HD 48

By Phillip Martin

This race just keeps getting more and more interesting. Again, from the Statesmen:

Wes Benedict, head of the Libertarian Party in Travis County, said today that teacher Ben Easton is planning to run as a Libertarian in the Jan. 17 special election to replace former state Rep. Todd Baxter in western Travis County.

...

Usually the fear for Republicans in a tight race is that a Libertarian could take away just enough conservative voters to hand the Democrat a victory. In the special election, it’s a little different: You have to claim a majority to win. So a Libertarian could take enough votes to push a Republican into a runoff with the top-drawing Democrat.

In two 2004 statewide judicial races that featured only a Republican and Libertarian on the ballot, the Libertarian candidates picked up about a fourth of the vote in District 48. That’s a strong showing, although some (if not many) of those voters were probably Democrats who did not want their votes going to a Republican. Plus, voter turnout is a completely different game in a special election because far fewer people show up to the polls.

So, quick recap:

Ben Bentzin is the Republican candidate. He is for vouchers, has serious money/ethics questions from 2002, and has said that "Rest assured, it is my ability to work across the aisle in a principled way that has truly partisan Democrats quaking in their Birkenstocks."

Democrats Donna Howard and Andy Brown have filed for the special election. As the Statesmen (and then, I) reported yesterday, there are questions as to whether or not Andy Brown can run in the HD 48 race. He may challenge the ruling, he may decide to stay out of the race -- this much is still being discussed. We'll know more in the coming days. Kathy Rider has not yet filed (to my knowledge), and Kelly White has released a statement (pdf) saying she most definitely will not run.

Fun, huh?

Andy Brown Won't Run in Special Election

By Phillip Martin

From the Statesman:

State law requires a House candidate to live in the district for a year before the general election for that office. Brown, a lawyer, moved into District 48 in western Travis County last May, meaning he is eligible to run in the March primary and November general election for a new two-year term that will start in January 2007.

Brown said he still plans to run in the March primary. But with the special election in January, he does not think he will try to push his way onto the ballot to fill the rest of Baxter's term.

"Many supporters and activists have asked me to challenge the residency requirements for the special election," Brown said this morning. "At this point, I do not think that is the best course of action for the Democratic Party or the families of District 48. Over the next day or so, I will consult with my family and supporters regarding my decision, and how best to achieve true education, ethics and insurance reform in the state Legislature."

Gubernatorial Domain

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Just an interesting point to note since I'm a nerd.

www.bobgammage.com

But when it was registered was interesting and by whom.

Registrant Contact:
Attorney
Bob Gammage
P.O.Box 400
Llano, TX 78643
US

Creation date: 18 Jun 2005
Expiration date: 18 Jun 2006

Looks like someone was thinking ahead. Now just be sure to renew it next year so mid campaign it's not stolen by the Texas GOP, a la www.txdemocrats.com.

UPDATE: I was poking around some more, just to see what was out there, and interestingly www.laneyforgovernor.com was purchased by Brannon & Associates in Sulphur Springs a couple months ago. Specifially Vali Brannon.

Registrant:
Brannon & Associates
Route 1, Box 334
658 CR 3451
Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482
United States

Created on: 21-Sep-05
Expires on: 21-Sep-06

This happens to be the group that was paid quite a few Democratic consulting dollars in the Sadler (D), Eltife (R) Senate race in Bill Ratliff's old seat when he retired. Vali Brannon also did some fundraising for Max Sandlin. Bill Brannon got close to $40k in that same Congressional race.

Now there is no history between Laney and this group to date that I could find, so it's likely that it's just precautionary, but interesting to note.

Gammage: "It's a go," the source said.

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Though an official announcement may be coming in the next week, Selby at the Statesman (the go-to source for leaking your intended interests in Austin), has the sources that say former State legislator, State senator, US Representative, and Texas Supreme Court Justice Bob Gammage is tossing his hat into the race for the Democratic nominee for governor, joining Chris Bell and Felix Alvarado.

Gammage, who filed paperwork with the Texas Ethics Commission designating himself the treasurer of his gubernatorial campaign last month, intends to announce next week, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the kickoff.

"It's a go," the source said.

Gammage, 67, a Llano lawyer who has served on the state's highest court as well as in the Texas House and Senate, the U.S. House and Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals, didn't confirm or deny the decision. He said he's fielded much encouragement and it "looks real good, but I'm not ready to make my announcement today."

Initial reaction from the two existing campaigns (which according to the Texas Poll among Democratic Primary voters get: Undecided-60%, Bell-23%, Alvarado-14%)...

Bell spokesman Jason Stanford said Monday that Bell has no comment on "cut-and-run Bob," a reference to Gammage resigning from the high court in 1995 to move to Llano and start a solo practice.

Gammage on Monday called the attempted nickname "silly. If he can't throw anything better than that, he ought to save his pitching arm." Alvarado said: "The more the better."

Cut-and-run Bob. I'll-Explore-That Bell. Alvarado, not Avacado. In any case, I'll agree with the more the merrier concept. As much as we'd like to not take Kinky seriously, a lot of independents and disaffected white progressives who normally vote Democrat are going to take him seriously.

And if anyone thinks that Bell, Gammage, or Alvarado is going to become Governor with their left flank in the Kinky camp, I'd like to know which tea leaves they're reading. Having competive statewide Democratic primaries are about the only thing that are going to keep those voters interested in turning out in our primary, keeping them from crossing over for Comptroller CKMRS, or saving themselves for Kinky.

And who knows, in the process someone might actually notice that we have candidates fielded. Which reminds me, David Van Os and Barbara Radnofsky filed to run for AG and US Senate.

Tomorrow's Texas Poll

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Via every other Texas political blog, tomorrow Texas Poll numbers.

Republican primary Perry--55% Strayhorn--24%

General Election
Perry -- 45%
Bell-- 25%
Friedman -- 13%

If you assume that Friedman's numbers would break 10% points to Bell and 3% points to Perry, you'd have a 48%-35% matchup. Seeing Perry under 50% is always a good thing. Seeing a Perry out of office would be a better thing.

The Bell campaign has their analysis over here, though they have the Republican primary number with Perry at 65% instead of 55% which Quorum Report seems to have. In either case, CKMRS has, at best, a case of Joe-mentum, though most every campaign for Governor at this point (including Tony Sanchez) across the board seems to be stuck in neutral. That will be sure to change when people start tuning in sometime in January.

Y'all haven't had a Gubernatorial post in a while to comment on so here ya go. Play nice.

Heflin to Challenge Vo

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Via QR, former House Appropriations Chair Talmadge Heflin will run for his old seat, HD-149, which he was knocked out of by Hubert Vo. Heflin was seen as being lazy last cycle and underestimated the threat of his Democratic challenger, waiting until the last few weeks to spend money, once it was too late.

With rumors still floating about that Jack Stick might file against Mark Strama, and that even Kelly White might still file for the HD-48 special election, there seems to be quite a number of races this cycle which are nothing but rematches. We'll see as the month goes on, since the filing deadline ends January 2.

John Courage Austin Fundraiser

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Reception / Fundraiser

Thursday * December 1
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Resistencia Bookstore
1801 South First St. at W. Annie
( 4 blocks west of 1800 South Congress)(map)

Meet John Courage
Democratic Candidate for
U.S. House of Representatives District 21

Light snacks & drinks * $25 suggested donation

http://www.courageforcongress.org/events/?action=dec01

Texas Tuesday: David Harris TX-06

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

It's a Texas Tuesday!

So we've looked at some of our statewide candidates in previous weeks ... how about we take a look at some of the challenging candidates for Congress in 2006, this time?

David Harris is an Army veteran who served 12 years of active duty for his nation. His latest battle is taking on Joe Barton in Texas' 6th Congressional District.

As Texas bloggers (or anyone with a fair memory) will recall, Joe Barton is the Texas Congressman who voted against Emergency Relief for Hurricane Katrina and whose staff was outted for their partisan motives in the (eventually) illegal re-redistricting of 2003 and who's been designated as "Smokey Joe" due to his anti-environmental record.

If you want to learn more about David Harris, however, today is a rather fortuitous day. For starters, check his campaign blog and the District Six campaign blog. Tonight, you can also check out David on Air America's Majority Report at 8:34 Texas time (CST), as he'll be the featured guest with hosts Sam Seder and Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos.com. (online streaming audio also available)

2006 presents Texas Democrats with an opportunity for gains across the board. But without candidates, that opportunity goes wanting. David joins a growing number of military veterans coming home to run for Democratic nominations in tough races here at home. A small donation would go a long way to helping this "Fighting Dem" launch his campaign in North Texas. If you're a fellow blogger, by all means give David Harris a plug on your site. If you're not, then you've still got the power of email to help send this message to a few of your closest friends. Many of Texas finest bloggers have taken an active interest in David's campaign this season and we hope that with some help from around the state, that a Democratic tide can lift as many boats as possible ... even boats with Army men.

So Donate to Harris if you can.

Bill and Bell: More Than Just an "I"

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

While reading last Friday's Statesman article on Justice Gammage's interest in the Governors race, I was interested to see a couple things. One was a reference to BOR for helping to bring that story to light.

Gammage, 67, a mediation attorney whose consideration surfaced this week on blogs, including the Democrat-oriented Burnt Orange Report, said he's weighing whether he can raise enough money to run and whether his candidacy would draw grass-roots support.

The second was some of the lines of difference that Gammage was drawing with Bell.

Gammage called Bell a likable leader who deserves credit for filing U.S. House ethics complaints against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, last summer.

But Gammage said Bell "hasn't been able to focus public attention on much of anything else. And he can't run on that. He's not running against Tom DeLay; he's running for governor of Texas, and it's a big state. Anybody who hasn't run statewide really can't appreciate how big.

"The campaign conducted so far puts you to sleep," Gammage said. "The message is not being delivered so that anyone is listening. One thing I can do is deliver a message. I know how to wage a late-starting, under-funded campaign. Been doing that all my life."

On taxation, Gammage differs from Bell in saying that creation of a state personal income tax should be considered with other government finance options. "Everything is on the table," he said.

Gammage, a Houston native, is a former college instructor whose career includes stints in the Texas House and Senate and the U.S. House. He also served on the Third Court of Appeals in Austin and on the Texas Supreme Court.

Now, I wouldn't mind some sleep, goodness knows I havn't gotten enough of it this semester while steering the Campus Alliance to victory locally on Prop 2. While I'm supportive of Democrats running at all levels and hold out hope in even the most unlikely elections, I can only work and volunteer for so many campaigns and have little time at this point get excited about campaigns which, well, aren't very exciting. Or worse, leave me scratching my head.

Bell spokesman Jason Stanford said it was "ludicrous" that Bell is fixed on DeLay. Bell "was not afraid of Tom DeLay. He isn't afraid of Rick Perry. And he's certainly not afraid of Bob Gammage," Stanford said.

Stanford made a comparison to jockeying among Democratic presidential possibilities before the 1992 election season.

"How many Mario Cuomos have to pass on this race before we realize we've got a Bill Clinton already running?" Stanford asked.

Whoa, hold up there. Was that just a comparison of Chris Bell to Bill Clinton? Um, ok. I thought this was supposed to be the campaign that put me to sleep, not put me in tears.

In Other Gubernatorial News...

By Damon McCullar

$250,000 Life Insurance Benefit for National Guard

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell said that paying the life insurance premiums of members of the Texas National Guard serving in active federal duty in combat zones would be a top priority of his administration.

“A parade is not enough thanks for the Texans who risked their lives overseas,” said Bell. “We can never thank them enough for their sacrifice for our national security, but we can do something about the financial security of their families. Nothing would ever be enough, but this is a start.”

Governors in Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Rhode Island have either signed or called for legislation to have their states pay the life insurance premiums of National Guard members on active federal duty in combat zones. These soldiers are eligible for $250,000 in federal life insurance benefits. The premium is $16.25 a month. The other states that have done this typically reimburse the National Guardsmen and women.

The Austin-American Statesman also had this story on the same subject.

ALSO:

Bell: Tax Panel is "Cronyism Run Amok"

AUSTIN – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell today criticized Rick Perry’s Texas Tax Reform Commission as “cronyism run amok” because the members of the tax panel have given Rick Perry’s campaigns almost $1.4 million during the past five years, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.

“This is cronyism run amok,” said Chris Bell. “Rick Perry says ‘this talented group of individuals’ offers ‘a broad, fresh perspective.’ What they offer is political cover for a politician facing re-election. That, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for the campaign, of course.” (Press Release, Office of the Governor, Nov. 4, 2005)

Much of Texas business and the population is unrepresented by the Perry Tax Commission. According to Texas Weekly, “car dealers, at odds with Perry, are out. Manufacturing, commercial real estate, the Internet end of the technology business, and utilities” also lack representation on the roster.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls

By Damon McCullar

It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky

Chris Bell
Nationally renowned political blogger Sean-Paul Kelley (of Agonist fame) will be special guest host on KTSA radio in San Antonio on November 23 and he has invited Chris to join him on the program to discuss the campaign.

The show runs from 7 PM to 10 PM on Wednesday the 23rd. Check back as the date approaches for an update on what time in the program Chris will be on

Chris will be visiting the Bryan campus of Blinn College on Monday, November 28 to take part in the Blinn Student Lecture Series. Chris's speech is sponsored by the Student Government Association.

The event is being held in the banquet room of the Student Center Building and begins at 7 PM.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

Join us for the first official stop on the David Van Os for Attorney General Whistlestop Tour!

with

Jim Hightower
Presentation of the Spine Award
Music by Tres Lunas
Meet & Greet the Candidate
Dinner Buffet
& Good Ol'-Timey Fun!
Venue: Barr Mansion, 10463 Sprinkle Road, Austin Texas 78754
Date: December 03, 2005
Time: 5:00-9:00 PM
Email: rlmeade@yahoo.com
Celebrating David's filing for placement on the 2006 ballot and official candidancy.

Featured guest speaker Jim Hightower

Spine Award presented by the Progressive Populist Caucus and sponsored by The Backbone Campaign

Live music by Tres Lunas and progressive conversation into the evening.

$1000 sponsorship (includes preferred seating for eight; first two respondents seated with Jim and David)

$50 general seating

SEATING IS LIMITED. Please RSVP by November 26 to the email above.

More information available here, including online registration for the event.

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

Dan Dodd
Dan Dodd is running for Congress in CD-03

Glen Melancon
Glen is running for Congress in CD-04

Glenn will address the Rockwall Democrats on Saturday November 19
at 9am. For more a map to the location visit their website:
www.RockwallDemocrats.com.

Charlie Thompson
Charlie is running for Congress in CD-05

November 22nd - Dallas Christian Democrats, 7:00 PM, La Madeleine, Preston at Forest

November 30th - Dallas County East Democrats 7:30 PM, location TBD

December 1st - Lake Highlands Area Dems Meet-up group, 7:30 PM, White Rock Coffee Shop, 10105 E. NW Hwy. Dallas

December 3rd - Athens Christmas Parade, 6:30 PM, Athens

December 6th - Stonewall Democrats Annual Holiday Party - 6:30 Havana Bar, 4006 Cedar Springs Dallas

December 7th - DFA National Meeting Day Meting 7:00 PM Turley Law Center, 6440 North Central Expwy., Dallas

December 8th - The Greater Cedar Creek Lake Area Chamber of Commerce Luncheon - 11:30 AM - Vetoni's Italian Rest., Gun Barrel City

December 8th - Lake Highlands Area Democratic Meet-up group - 8:00 PM, White Rock Coffee Shop, 10105 E. NW Hwy. Dallas

December 10th - Lake Highlands Area Democratic Meeting - 10:00 AM, NW corner of intersection of NW Hwy. & Plano Rd., Dallas

December 14th - Athens Chamber of Commerce Luncheon - Athens Country Club, 11:30 AM

December 15th - Anderson County Democratic Party Executive Committee Mtg., 5:30 PM, Jerry Hanson's Law Office, Palestine

December 21st - Garland Democratic Women 11:30 AM, 10538 Forest Lane, (Golden Corral, Dallas)

December 22nd - Lake Highlands Area Dems Meet-up Group, 8:00 PM, White Rock Coffee Shop,

December 22nd - Cherokee County Dem Women - time and location TBA

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

The Follow Me To DC campaing embarks on another road trip across the Gulf States to enjoy Thanksgiving in Georgia with Michelle's maternal grandmother. We will be stopping along the route to visit with Hurricane survivors and offer messages of hope. It is our wish that each of you this Thanksgiving, find the courage to rise up, thankful for the great leaders that have gone before, and push toward victory next November. It will be remarkable next year to look back on the friends we have made, the things we have changed and the demand list we will deliver to DC. I look forward to joining you all on the fight along the way. Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. - David Harris, Candidate, TX 06

Ted Ankrum
Ted is running for Congress in CD-10.

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Reception and Fundraiser
5:30-7:30 p.m.
at Resistencia Bookstore
1801-A South 1st St. Austin TX
More info

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Nick will be at the Ft. Bend County candidates' forum:
Location: George Memorial Library, Richmond, TX
Time: 10 am

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-28.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for election to Congress in the CD-28.

Ciro Rodrigez
Ciro Rodrigez is running for Congress in the CD-28.

Friday, November 18th, 2005
Coffee with Ciro
Time: 9am-10am
Location: Brother Tacos on Pan Am (before) Theo & Malone

Contact:
Irma Castillo
210-928-2476
irma@cirodrodriguez.com
Saturday November 19, 2005
Breakfast Rally
Time: 8am - 10am
Location: /*Don Pedros Mexican Restaurant */
1526 S.W. Military Dr.
Get Directions

Irma Castillo
210-928-CIRO (2476)
irma@cirodrodriguez.com
December 11, 2005
Tardeada Con Ciro
BORN TO SERVE - CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ
59th Birthday Tardeada
Date: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Time: 3pm - 6pm - Special Celebration
Location: The Sunset Station Depot - The Saloon
1174 E Commerce St, San Antonio, TX 78205
Get Directions

SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE
Padrinos - $2,100
Compares - $1,000
Amigos - $500
Parientes - $350
Vecinos - $250
Amistades - $100

Call for Details Alice Guerra,President, GTO Advertising
3707 N. St. Mary's Street
San Antonio, TX 78212
at 210-732-8111 or 210-379-4283
alice@gtoadv.com

Ciro D. Rodriguez for Congress
210-928-CIRO (2476)
info@cirodrodriguez.com

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Kirk Watson
Kirk Watson is running for Texas Senate District 14.

Sharon Davis
Jim is runing for State Representative in District 08.

Jason Earle
Jason is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 47

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Jim Stauber
Jim is runing for State Representative in District 50.

Karen Felthauser
Karen is runing for State Representative in District 52.

Paula Hightower-Pierson
Paula is running for State Representative in District 93..

Judge Jim Coronado (site under construction)
Judge Coronado is running for a spot on the Third Court of Appeals

Diane Henson
Diane is running for a spot on the Third Court of Appeals, Place 3

Diane Henson, Candidate for Justice, Third Court of Appeals, Place 3 is having a fund-raiser on Tuesday, November 29 from 5:30 to 7:00 at the Shoreline Grill in Austin. Tickets are $50.

Bree Buchanan
Bree is running for a spot on the Third Court of Appeals.

Mina Brees
Mina is running for a spot on the Third Court of Appeals.

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Conversations with Bob Gammage

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I've been conversing with Gubernatorial prospect Bob Gammage by e-mail and asked if I could share some of what he's been saying with the folks here in the Texas blogosphere. He was more than happy to oblige, considering his work with the Texas Wes Clark movement which endeared him to many grassroots Democrats in the state. Emphasis mine.

Thanks, Karl-Thomas. If I recall correctly you were the youngest delegate to the national convention last year. (From Texas, not nationwide, just to clarify for new readers. -kt) Quite a jump start to what I trust will be a long life of public service. Mine's already been longer than I ever hoped or expected and, if we can put the pieces together, it may be extended a little further yet. Thank you for your encouraging words.

Yes, I'm very serious about the possibility of running. I didn't plan it this way, but if we don't do something to electrify voters and increase our Democratic numbers, our party will continue to wither and, instead of taking advantage of this window of opportunity to make substantial headway in the capitol and the courthouses across this state, we will find our numbers dwindling even more quickly. The great thing about Republicans is that they can't seem to wield power without abusing it, they can't exercise control without corrupting it, and, this time at least, they can't even do it competently. Even with the growing public awareness, the odds of winning in November are pretty long, but, what the heck, it's worth the effort and nobody ever said it would be easy.

If I make the race it's going to require some major family re-arranging for my family and my law practice, but we'll find a way to work it out. But the only way I can make the commitment and the only way we can succeed is with the dedicated efforts of your generation. This reminds me quite a bit of my first election campaign; it run on lunch money and was orchestrated, executed and populated almost entirely by college students. We were supposed to come in fifth in a five way primary, but . . . the rest is history. Maybe we can make some more history. Thanks for contacting me. I look forward to visiting with you and will appreciate your guidance.

--Bob Gammage

Mr. Gammage is a former Texas State Representative, State Senator, U.S. Congressman, and Judge on the State Court of Appeals and Texas Supreme Court. And as to the whole "Bob / Representative / Senator / Judge" debate we had on this post...

Bob is fine and it sure beats the heck out of some of the things I've been called... I would appreciate any feedback you get. I sincerely want to know how folks feel and what they're thinking.

So leave him your thoughts in the comments. He'll be reading.

The "Run Almost Nowhere" Crowd

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Reading a comment on yesterday's post about Larry Stallings jumping into the HD-122 race against Republican Frank Corte (who hasn't been challenged since 1992) made me respond with a comment that I'd like to lay out as my thoughts on why the "Run Almost Nowhere" concept is failing us in Texas and needs to be qualified. While I'll be the first to agree we should target our resources, there are a couple of concepts that get used over and over (incorrectly) that are inhibiting our Party's growth over time (and may explain in part why it's such a shell of it's former self today). So here goes...

You can focus your resources wherever you want, but you can bet that the Republicans will too, and they'll have more money to throw at those same targeted races.

I think people are locked into two false ideas...

1) There is limited money.
2) Any money is transferable.

If Stallings runs against Corte, it's doubtful that the 100 kachigers that the Texas Democratic Party might have will ever go there, and they probably won't and shouldn't. So his candidacy won't affect the "targeting" of resources among those that might actually have some. But Stallings' campaign, one which would have quite a real candidate, would likely generate money, volunteers, party building within HD-122, something that district could really use. This can be applied across the state in other districts.

The next school of thought (which is wrong) is to assume that the people who volunteer their time and especially money in HD-122 because Stallings is running, would be just as ready to export that to a different district or race to a more "targeted" part of the state. An overwhelming percentage won't in a campaign such as his. Those donors of time and money probably aren't on the same level of those few "mastermind" politicos that frequent BOR comment threads.

Therefore Stallings running doesn't affect the "targeting" of other races. And if not, then who cares...his running in HD-122 is a net benefit. Plus, the new volunteers and donor inspired in that district this cycle will show up on fundraising reports, and then every statewide Dem has that many more 'potential' donors years out from now, because if people got activated locally, it's more likely they will start to share the wealth in the future.

It's really irritating when the "Run Almost Nowhere" crowd thinks that every new Democrat that announces a bid is doing it because they are out to drain away some "limited" pool of resources. Come on people. That pool is dwindling over time and is only there because the candidates and campaigns of the past made them a pool to begin with.

You work with what you've got, but if we care about what we'll have to work with the next time around, we need to start to Change the Equation now. Ergo, Run. Everywhere.

David Harris Responds

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I'm raising this up from the comments on this entry. For one, David answers what I'm going to be real tired of hearing in Texas campaigns real quick, the complaint of "Mini-me Republicans" or "conservative centrist Dems". In the profiles of the four candidates in this entry, it's not about those things, it's about Democrats who stand up as Democrats, however that may be defined in their districts, who have backgrounds that standout from the traditional trial lawyer/politician candidate route.

Plus, his comments struck a Paul Hackett-esque Fighting-Dem chord with me. -kt

I find it almost comical when I read some of these comments. It is quite obvious that most didn't even go to my website and view my issues page but rather did a hip shoot blog without any substance. I have served my country for the last 14 years of my life in the military. I have done a combat tour in Iraq and several other "operational" deployments in my time there. I was a county, state, and national delegate. I have a Democratic voting record in 3 states: GA, HI, and TX. I have been an election judge. I am a founding member of the Texas Democratic Veterans and serve as a Finance Council Member for the Texas Democratic Women.

Yet somehow I get called a "political centrist" even after all the things I have done for, and with, the party? To the naysayers and the BS of the world, any time you want to debate me on the issues, just name the time and place. My question in return is: What have YOU done for your country lately? I think my qualifications MORE THAN speak for themselves. I think I have the ability to reach out and get independent or undecided voters to see that I am right on the issues. I am not a Republican that has now decided to jump ship because the iceberg is slowly approaching. I am a Democrat.

If you had taken the time to read what Strong Defense, Strong Families, and Equal Rights for ALL Citizens you would see that for every ideological debate: abortion, healthcare, environment, and education, can fall back to our over-arching themes for the campaign.

A lot of people sit out there and just play armchair quarterback and just bitch about candidates or the issues, or both. Half the time they haven't even been to a rally to see the candidate speak or get to know them personally. I call it the "FOX NEWS" syndrome - people just getting their 30 second sound bite and then make up their minds. So what have you done for your Precinct? Your County party? The State party? I volunteer when I can at the County party, even as a U.S. Congressional Candidate.

I say put up or shut up.

This is why the party in general struggles; because people like you can't stand behind the candidates because they may have a slight variation on the way you might see the issue. This is where the Republican party makes their money - right or wrong, they stand behind their people, come hell or high water. We on the other hand, completely dissect our candidates down to the individual atoms they are composed of. It is ridiculous. This is not the year we can afford to be divided.

We must speak as one. We must run as one. We must win as one, that is the bottom line.

"Political centrist" my ass - my blue donkey ass, that is.

-David Harris, Candidate TX-06

Bob Gammage for Governor?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Long-time Wesley Clark stalwart Bob Gammage, former Texas state representative, state senator, U.S. congressman, and judge on the State Court of Appeals and Texas Supreme Court, is contemplating a run for Governor of Texas. Gammage, a resident of Llano, made waves this weekend with postings and commentary that have spread first through the grassroots Clark community, then Democratic Underground, and finally the Texas blogosphere, first being reported by PDiddie.

Gammage served as a fellow SD 24 delegate to the State Democratic Convention last year, in the district which I was elected out of to the DNC as a Kerry delegate. I've sent him and e-mail and will call tomorrow, since I've still got all the old data from my race to be a delegate.

But talk about a resume, and if you read the comments from the other linked posts, you will start to get a sense of who Bob Gammage is- a guy who still has a network of old school Democrats but is committed to the concept of grassroots organizing. The fact that his trial balloon is going up through the netroots does not suprise me at all. He was also a member of the Dirty 30, which may ring a bell for some people.

Here is his original e-mail along with some commentary from an Austin supporter.

"I'm sending this to a few personal friends in order to get your candid opinions. About a year ago, I was approached by a group of people in the north Texas area and asked to consider running for governor. I was flattered that they would think of me and honored by the thought that anyone was even speculating about such a possibility, but I respectfully and firmly declined. A few days ago, I was contacted again, on the same day by individuals representing two other groups of people in different parts of the state who were unaware of one another, also asking that I consider running for governor.

Other than working on issues I think are important and supporting candidates I believe are or would be good public servants, I thought my political days were behind me. And maybe they are, but I have agreed to think about it and run it by people I care about, who care about my family and me, and whose opinions I respect.

I would like for you to give this some deliberate thought and then share your honest, unvarnished and critical opinions with me. We are all aware of the reasons why we need a strong candidate on the ballot next November, but at this point I'm sincerely more interested in the reasons I should not make this race.

The only announced Democratic candidate I am aware of so far is Chris Bell. I have met Chris and seen him on the campaign trail. He is a nice guy, I like him and I share most of his views on the issues of the day, but he doesn't seem to excite or inspire the crowds of actives before whom he appears who make up the Democratic base, and I question whether he could effectively appeal to those audiences beyond that base who are necessary to win a high profile statewide election. And, as bad a fund-raiser as you know me to be, Chris apparently hasn't been able to accumulate a campaign war chest or assemble a meaningful campaign organization.

The filing deadline is two months away, and the primary elections are in four months. Obviously, a decision needs to be made quickly, and I will truly appreciate your critical, well-thought-out reactions. Please consider this, and, if you wish, get the views of other people whose insight and judgment you trust. This is not idle speculation, nor is it any great secret. Whatever the decision is, I want it to be realistic, made in the light of day with eyes wide open, and with the benefit of your thinking.

The timing and circumstances are similar to those that existed when I made the decision to run for the Supreme Court 15 years ago -- time passed and despite recruiting efforts, no strong candidate had emerged, and some of you thought that with my record of running successful, late-starting, underfunded campaigns in several parts of the state I might have a chance of pulling it off statewide. Well, much to the surprise of ourselves and most other folks, we did. But this is a race for governor, and the popular perception is that a lot more is at stake and the intensity will be much greater. This is obviously true, but, who can we get to run? Or, more pointedly, who should or should not run, and why?

The personal down-side is I would once again have to postpone a number of things I've been working toward and hoped and dreamed I would be doing for the next few years. My wife's extended family and my own children think the prospect of such a race is, in a word, "awesome!" But we all know how ugly and mean-spirited such a race could be. I don't enjoy any more than anyone else hearing, or having my friends and family hear, the accusations and the aggressive, creatively invented negatives that can be conjured and thrown up by the opposition in an intense campaign. Been there and done that. But it was worth it then and we managed to do some good along the way, and if the fates ordain it, it would be worth it now in the effort to move our state, its policies and its resources in the right direction. But those are discussions for another day, IF and when the decision is made to run.

In complete honesty, I never thought I would ever be considering running for governor. I'm a little stunned that I am now, and I need you to tell me whether I should now be considering it.

Several friends have asked me why I'm not considering a run for Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General or some other statewide office. The answer is, I'm not considering running just to be elected to something. The primary reason I'm considering the Governor's race is because it is the top of the ticket, and we need an aggressive campaign message and messenger at the top in order to focus attention on the issues, refine the public message about what the Democratic Party stands for and to help our down-ballot candidates generate turn-out on election day. Lieutenant Governor and other statewide offices don't generate that kind of interest or command that kind of media attention.

Your thoughts, please.

Thanks, Bob

The following is from the grassroots supporter, not myself, which seems to have gotten people confused in the comments.

Bob Gammage was instrumental in the DraftClark movement adopting the "Crank It Up" slogan. He did, and we did, and we all worked hard to encourage and then support General Clark in his 2004 candidacy.

At the urging of a number of concerned Democrats across the state, Bob is considering running for Governor -- the filing deadline is January 2, 2006. Governor is at the top of the ticket. We need not only an inspiring, competent and compassionate candidate who understands the issues facing ALL Texans. We need a gubernatorial candidate who can deliver an aggressive 2006 campaign message. We need a messenger, with a compelling public message about what the Democratic Party believes in. We need a messenger whose presence at the top of the ticket will help generate turn-out for our down-ballot candidates.

Texas is at a crossroads and we face a crucial decision in November 2006. Do we continue the politics and policies built on the desires of the far-right, cronyism, and most importantly, corrupt and incompetent leadership...or do we seek a change. We have less than two months before filing ends for the 2006 elections. The primary is in four months.

One year from now, the 2006 campaign will be over.

Bob Gammage helped lead Texans For Clark in 2004 to bring about change at the national level. He donated, fund-raised, recruited, organized, and knocked doors for General Clark in New Hampshire and Oklahoma. When Wes endorsed Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry, Bob immediately went to work helping the Kerry Campaign, and continued helping John Kerry and the Democratic Party with fundraising, organizing and volunteer recruitment right through election day when he worked a poll for Kerry/Edwards in New Mexico.

Today, Bob is considering stepping up and putting his name, family, and life on the line to take Rick Perry to task for his incompetence and lack of leadership. Personally, we believe there is no one better suited than Bob. He speaks from the heart. He means what he says.

Bob has a compelling message and he can deliver it directly to the current Governor. He can deliver our message, broaden our base, and has a proven ability to reach across the aisle to solve problems in the public interest.

Many of you may not be aware of what Bob has accomplished. A lawyer and a teacher, as well as a veteran of both Army and Navy service, including a tour of duty in Korea, Bob was elected from the Houston/Gulf Coast area to serve in the Texas House of Representatives, the Texas Senate, and the U. S. House of Representatives. He was later elected to the Texas Court of Appeals from a 24-county Austin/Central Texas district, and in November, 1990, Texas voters elected Bob to the Texas Supreme Court in a statewide election.

Bob entered politics to clean up corrupt and incompetent leadership. During his very first session, he was a member of the "Dirty 30", of whom Texas Monthly wrote:

"IDEALISTIC? YES. REFORM-MINDED? ABSOLUTELY. BIPARTISAN? THAT TOO. [During the 62nd Legislature], the state representatives who came to be known as the Dirty Thirty were everything you've learned not to expect in politics. The group —- which eventually numbered 35 members -- put aside party loyalty to force out Speaker Gus Mutscher, who ruled the chamber like a dictator and would soon become entangled in the infamous Sharpstown stock-fraud scandal. Even more unlikely, perhaps, is that they were successful. Though the Dirty Thirty was a clear minority in the 150-member House, it continued to apply pressure. The next year, Mutscher resigned, marking at least one instance in which the little guys actually won."

Against overwhelming odds, Bob challenged the corrupt and incompetent practices of the day and became a successful member of both houses of the Texas Legislature, U.S. Congress, and Texas Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas. In the very next legislative session, only his second, Texas Monthly named Bob as an Honorable Mention in the Ten Best Legislators. The magazine wrote Bob "carried one of the largest legislative programs in the Senate (including a number of controversial measures like portions of the Speaker's reform package, consumer protection, and the eighteen-year-old rights bill), fought for it in the rough-and-tumble tradition of Babe Schwartz, and got much of it passed."

Bob sees incompetent leadership saddling our children and grandchildren with decades of future problems. Just how many special and regular sessions does it take to get school finance right? And sadly, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

We encourage you to read Bob's note below. E-mail your thoughts to Kathy who will get them to Bob. You can reach her at tx_demkat@yahoo.com. Time is short. If you believe as we do that Bob should take on this challenge, join with us and let's see if we can elect a competent leader with a heart.

Thanks for your consideration.

Is Sen. Armbrister Set to Retire?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Republican bloggers Chris and Evan say they think it's in the cards.

As Chris mentions, Sem. Armbristor, already facing 3 Republican candidates, still has $1.2 million in the bank. It's a Republican leaning district, but one that even in an open scenario would be competative as there are more swinging voters there than in other equally 'Republican' districts.

Update: After talking with some Austin folks, I'd put a bit more of a damper on considering this speculation. Armbrister has too much money and to many regional coordinators at the moment, giving no real reason to retire. And considering some of his votes in the lege last year, if he was planning on retiring, he could have gotten away with being a more, shall we say, Democratic if he wasn't planning to come back for another term.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls

By Damon McCullar

It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky

Date: November 11
Time: 7-8 a.m.
Location: Lubbock Inn, 3901 19th Street, 806-792-5181
Description of Event: Breakfast with Veterans
RSVP: Not required

Date: November 11
Time: 12:00-1:00
Location: LaLa’s Restaurant
Description of Event: Announcement Tour luncheon
RSVP: Not required

Date: November 11
Time: 2:00-4:00
Location: Lubbock Veterans’ Memorial, 82nd and Nashville in the Henry Huneke Park.
Description of Event: Announcement Tour stop sponsored by the American Legion Lodge #575, but it is for all American Legion members.
RSVP: Not required, 806-794-9006 for more information

Date: November 11
Time: 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Location: Silent Wings Museum, Lubbock (near airport)
Description of Event: Tour of museum
RSVP: Not required

Date: November 11
Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Location: American Wind Power Center, Lubbock
Description of Event: Announcement Tour stop, music by Buddy and Tina Wright
RSVP: Not required

Date: November 12
Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Location: Senior Citizens’ Center, 1217 Tyler Street, Amarillo
Description of Event: Announcement Tour stop:
RSVP: Not required

Date: November 14
Time: 6:00-7:30
Location: Texarkana
Description of Event: Announcement Tour stop
RSVP: Not required

Date: November 15
Time: 12:00-1:00
Location: SMU Campus, Hughes-Trigg Theater, Student Center, Dallas
Description of Event: Announcement Tour stop
RSVP: Not required

Date: November 15
Time: 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Location: Private home, Dallas
Description of Event: Announcement tour reception and fundraiser
RSVP: Kim Grout, 281-693-1801, kim.grout@radnofsky.com

Date: November 16
Time: 11:30-1:30
Location: Fort Worth Club
Description of Event: Announcement Tour stop
RSVP: Not required

Date: November 16
Time: 5:30-6:30
Location: 4129 Rowan, Fort Worth
Description of Event: Fireside Chat
RSVP: 817-737-2434

Date: November 17
Time: 12:00-1:00
Location: Monarch School, Houston
Description of Event: Announcement Tour stop
RSVP: Not required

Chris Bell
Chris will be speaking to the Waller County Democratic Club on the evening Monday, November 21. The club meets in the county courthouse on Austin Street in Hempstead. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM, and Chris will speak around 7 PM. Don't miss your chance to come meet Chris!

For more information about the Waller County Democrats, contact John Mull at 979-826-3841.

Nationally renowned political blogger Sean-Paul Kelley (of Agonist fame) will be special guest host on KTSA radio in San Antonio on November 23 and he has invited Chris to join him on the program to discuss the campaign.

The show runs from 7 PM to 10 PM on Wednesday the 23rd. Check back as the date approaches for an update on what time in the program Chris will be on

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

Dan Dodd
Dan Dodd is running for Congress in CD-03

Glen Melancon
Glen is running for Congress in CD-04

Glenn will address the Rockwall Democrats on Saturday November 19
at 9am. For more a map to the location visit their website:
www.RockwallDemocrats.com.

Please join Glenn at the Grayson County Democratic Party Chili
Supper Social. He will deliver a speech calling you to join the Fight
for Texas Families.
When: Friday, November 18, 2005, 6:30 pm
Where: Bingo Hall, Corner of Hwy 691 and FM Rd 1417
Who: All Grayson County Democrats
Door charge: $10.00

Charlie Thompson
Charlie is running for Congress in CD-05

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

On Sunday, November 13th, the campaign heads to Dallas for the DSCC rally for motivation and inspiration. On November 15th, David heads to Waxahachie for the National Organizing Kickoff conference call at Ellis County Democratic Headquarters. David then takes a break from the campaign for a field training exercise the 18th-20th. Please visit our site at www.followmetodc.com for more information and ways to get involved.

Ted Ankrum
Ted is running for Congress in CD-10.

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-28.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for election to Congress in the CD-28.

Ciro Rodrigez
Ciro Rodrigez is running for Congress in the CD-28.

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

November 11, 2005.
Veterans Day Parade
Kick-off at Killeen City Hall, 11:00 a.m.

November 12, 2005
Neighborhood Openhouse, from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
3707 Cheyenne
Round Rock

Kirk Watson
Kirk Watson is running for Texas Senate District 14.

A fiesta with Kirk Watson - Tuesday 11/15 @ Nuevo Leon Restaurant 1501 6th St, Austin. Tixs are $15.

Sharon Davis
Jim is runing for State Representative in District 08.

Jason Earle
Jason is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 47

Veteran's Parade 9am 11/11/05 Congress Avenue Bridge

Volunteer Social: Texas Tailgate Party 1pm 11/12/05 Parking lot on MLK/Congress, accross from Bob Bullock Museum

UDem sponsored block walk 9am 11/19/05 Galaxy Cafe (Brodie & Slaughter)

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Jim Stauber
Jim is runing for State Representative in District 50.

Karen Felthauser
Karen is runing for State Representative in District 52.

Paula Hightower-Pierson
Paula is running for State Representative in District 93..

Judge Jim Coronado (site under construction)
Judge Coronado is running for a spot on the Third Court of Appeals

Diane Henson
Diane is running for a spot on the Third Court of Appeals, Place 3

Bree Buchanan
Bree is running for a spot on the Third Court of Appeals.

Mina Brees
Mina is running for a spot on the Third Court of Appeals.

Mina is having her campaign kickoff for the 3rd Court of Appeals, Place 6 on Wed., Nov. 16 from 5:30 to 7:00 at the law office of Deats, Durst, Owen and Levy, 1204 San Antonio, Suite 203.

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Kinky's Slurs on CNBC

By Andrew Dobbs

Hey, I need y'all's help in finding a transcript from last night's Danny Deutsch show in CNBC featuring Kinky Friedman. According to one report I heard that Kinky said "New York is like a Negro talking to himself." He went on to say, when talking about locking up sexual predators, "lock them up and throw away the key, and make 'em listen to a Negro talking to himself." That sounds like some seriously offensive talk from a candidate that a lot of progressives are kicking around voting for.

Let me know if you saw the show or if you can find a transcript anywhere.

From the comments, it appears this was a reference to one of Kinky's books from 1993, though a certainly a bad one. The quote, I mean, I have no idea about the book.

-kt

David Van Os, Candidate for Attorney General, Speaks Out On Prop 2

By Damon McCullar

David Van Os, in a statement via email, had this to say about Prop. 2:

My opponent in the 2006 general elections, incumbent Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, is campaigning on behalf of the passage of Proposition 2. So is the Ku Klux Klan. Let there be no mistake about where I stand and what I appeal to you to do.

If you did not vote early, please let nothing stop you from making it to your polling place on Tuesday and voting AGAINST Proposition 2. The vote on Proposition 2 has become one of the defining moments in the modern history of Texas. Do we want a society that honors privacy, equality under law, and the separation of church and state? Or do we want a society that exalts discrimination, hate, intolerance, and the elevation of some people’s one-sided religious beliefs into state Constitutional law?

The Texas Constitutions of 1836 and 1845 prohibited members of the clergy from serving in the legislature. The hardy founders of Texas respected religion, but they did not want priests, ministers, or rabbis making public laws. This principle runs deep in Texas culture. When John F. Kennedy was campaigning for President in 1960, he felt compelled to come to Texas to deliver a major address pledging that if elected as the first Roman Catholic President he would not permit the Vatican to set United States public policy. Consistent with the values of the real Texas, I whole-heartedly support this principle and I urge you to support it on November 8 with the power of your vote in opposition to Proposition 2.

The Texas Bill of Rights is one of the strongest written charters of liberty, democracy, and equality in the world. Texans have always been proud of this. Texans were one of the first groups of people in the country to place the Equal Rights Amendment into their State Constitution (Bill of Rights, Article 1, Section 3a), doing so by a large margin by referendum vote on November 7, 1972. I am not a historical revisionist who is pretending that the promises of the Texas Bill of Rights have always been honored, for clearly they have not been through much of our history for many of the residents and citizens of Texas. But at least those promises have always been there as goals to fight for and to point to as destiny’s call. In Proposition 2, the forces of hypocrisy and hate are seeking literally to elevate discrimination to Constitutional stature. The Bill of Rights of the Texas Constitution was written to protect liberty and freedom, not prohibit them.

As parents in a conventional family structure of mother and father and four children, my wife Rachel and I stand with all our fellow Texas citizens who would be reduced to second-class citizenship by this odious amendment to our precious Bill of Rights. Rachel and I stand against intolerance, hate, discrimination, and hypocrisy. We stand against making anybody a second-class citizen. Please join us in voting against Proposition 2 on November 8.

David Van Os
Democratic Candidate
For Texas Attorney General 2006

State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa Supports Chris Bell For Governor

By Damon McCullar

State Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa pledged his support for former-Congressman Chris Bell today. You can read what Sen. Hinojosa had to say on the Chris Bell blog.

Something I found a little more interesting about what Sen. Hinojosa had to say was this:

Second—and this is less important than bipartisan leadership but no less true—Texas Democrats need some new blood and a fresh face leading us. I've been active in statewide politics since the 1970s, and I can see next year shaping up as a changing-of-the-guard year much in the way that 1978 and 1994 were. Many of the people who have talked about running for governor are close, dear friends of mine, but we need someone fresh with new ideas who is committed to public policy and to what is best for all Texans, and Chris Bell is just what we need here in Texas.

This idea has been banging around in the back of my head for awhile now. There has been some scanty evidence that this may be true. First, there was the Hackett race in Ohio. That showed that even the reddest Bush country is ready for a change (albeit, this was an isolated case).

The next big indicator in my mind is the fact the the President's approval ratings are the bottom of an oil well and seem to be drilling on down. If things don't change, there won't be any coattails for the next Republican Presidential Candidate to hang on to.

Tomorrow will be an indicator. Are the people of Texas still hung up on the wedge issues of God, Gays and Guns, or are they ready to send a message to Austin that they reject the Republicans pandering to the far right? Will Texans stand up and reject the Nonesense that was the 79th Session?

If the answers are yes, then in 2006 I think you will see another message sent to Austin. It will be in the hands of a host of newly elected, first-term representatives and senators. Hopefully they will all be good Democrats, but I think I might be stretching it there. What do you, the readers think? Is change in the air?

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls

By Damon McCullar

It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Chris will be speaking to the Waller County Democratic Club on the evening Monday, November 21. The club meets in the county courthouse on Austin Street in Hempstead. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM, and Chris will speak around 7 PM. Don't miss your chance to come meet Chris!

For more information about the Waller County Democrats, contact John Mull at 979-826-3841.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

Dan Dodd
Dan Dodd is running for Congress in CD-03

Glen Melancon

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Tue. Nov. 8,

5:30 - 8:00 p.m.
John will attend the South Austin Democrats Monthly Mtg.
Little Mexico Restaurant, 2304 South 1st Street
(between Oltorf & West Mary)

Wed., Nov. 9

5:30-8:00 p.m.
John will attend the San Marcos Area Democrats Meeting
Stonebrook Community Ctr
300 S. Stagecoach Trail in San Marcos

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-28.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for election to Congress in the CD-28.

Ciro Rodrigez
Ciro Rodrigez is running for Congress in the CD-28.

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

On Nov. 10, at 7:15 pm, Mary Beth will speak to the Williamson County Democratic Party in Cedar Park, in the JP courtroom located at 50 Discovery Blvd., Suite 204

Veterans Day is a Family Affair at the Harrell household.
On Nov. 11, Mary Beth will ride in her campaign float in the Fort Hood/VFW Veterans Day Parade, kick off is at 11 am at the Killeen City Hall. The float will be driven by her oldest son serving on active duty in the Army and due to deploy to Iraq before Christmas. Her youngest son, also serving on active duty, and her daughter will carry her campaign banner. Mary Beth's husband, Bob, a retired Army warrant officer, will also be riding in the float.

Later that day on Nov. 11, Mary Beth will join in at the Texas Democratic Party's Fall Fundraiser hosted by the AFL-CIO in Austin at 1106 Lavaca from 6:30 - 8 pm.

On Nov. 12, Mary Beth will be in Round Rock. Michael Barton, Vietnam Vet and Republican, will host a Neighborhood Openhouse for the candidate at his home at 3707 Cheyenne in Round Rock from 3 to 4 pm. He wants to give everyone an opportunity to meet Mary Beth and hear her speak. Mr. Barton is spearheading the group, "Veterans for Harrell", and hopes to have their website up by the 12th. We'll let you know as soon as the website is published.

Kirk Watson
Kirk Watson is running for Texas Senate District 14.

Jason Earle is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 47

UDems Speech 8pm 11/9/05 Garrison 1

Veteran's Parade 9am 11/11/05 Congress Avenue Bridge

Volunteer Social: Texas Tailgate Party 1pm 11/12/05 Parking lot on MLK/Congress, accross from Bob Bullock Museum

UDem sponsored block walk 9am 11/19/05 Galaxy Cafe (Brodie & Slaughter)

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Paula Hightower-Pierson
Paula is running for Texas House District 93.

Judge Jim Coronado (site under construction)

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the Third Court of Appeals, Place 3

Bree Buchanan
Bree is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Mina Brees
Mina is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Challenge to Armbrister

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Texas Senate seats don't seem to be attracting much interest from either party this cycle, due in part to their sheer size (they are as big most Congressional districts), as well as the fact most have been drawn to be uncompetitive. Open seats seem to drawing replacements from their own parties (SD 7 and Austin's own SD 14).

But word comes today that Sen. Armbrister (D- Sorta) will be challenged by anti-Toll activist David Stall in SD 18, who is running as a Republican. Stall at the same time, is working against Rick Perry's Trans Texas Corridor in any way, shape, or form that it crops up (which includes Amendment's 1 and 9 in the eyes of most Anti-Toll Roaders).

Stall will be making his formal announcement speech via Internet Broadcast, Monday at 2 pm, at www.StallForSenate.org.

New Candidate Announcements Across Texas

By Damon McCullar

In the last couple of weeks, there have three new candidates for public office that have caught my attention. Here's a brief glimpse.

Dan Dodd
Dan Dodd has announced that he is running for Congress in CD-03. Dan is a is a dedicated father, husband of 36 years and career Air Force Officer with an extensive family military background. CD-03 covers northeast Dallas county and southwest Collin county. Visit his website (linked above) for more information about him.

Glen Melancon
Glen is a professor of history at Southeastern Oklahoma University. He has served as the Cubmaster and Committee Chair for Pack 9, Wakefield Elementary School. He is also a part of the adult education team at St. Mary's Catholic Church. He is running for Congress in CD-04. That district covers much of extreme northeast Texas, including my home in Titus county.

Valinda Bolton
Valinda Bolton is running for state representative in district 47. Valinda is a nationally recognized leader on domestic abuse and sexual assault issues, an advocate for affordable housing. She is a founder of WOMAN, Inc. (Women Opting for More Affordable Housing) a community organization to develop transitional housing for women and their families and an experienced speaker providing training on the value of building collaborative efforts. She has served as the Training Director of the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence, as staff consultant to the Department of Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence, and as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, SafePlace, Red Cross, Texas Freedom Network, and democratic political campaigns. She faces Jason Earle in a primary for the Democratic nomination in this race.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls

By Damon McCullar

It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

Dan Dodd
Dan Dodd is running for Congress in CD-03

Glen Melancon
Glen Melancon is running for Congress in CD-04
Come sign Glenn's ballot petition at the Wild Wild West Country
Christmas Fair
Where: Downtown Whitewright, Grayson, TX, Democratic Party Booth
When: Saturday, November 5, 2005, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Please join Glenn at the Grayson County Democratic Party Chili
Supper Social. He will deliver a speech calling you to join the Fight for Texas Families.
When: Friday, November 18, 2005, 6:30 pm
Where: Bingo Hall, Corner of Hwy 691 and FM Rd 1417
Who: All Grayson County Democrats
Door charge: $10.00

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

On October 30th, the Harris campaign makes a stop in Dallas to volunteer at the Stonewall http://www.stonewalldemocratsofdallas.org/ sign in table in their early voting push for the NNIN campaign. October 31st we will block walking Kindergarten style, for trick or treating with Emma...:) November 3rd, the campaign attends the Tarrant County Executive Meeting to hear from the special guest speaker from the DNC. On November 5th, David will attend a joint precinct picnic in Arlington.

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Saturday October 29, 2005 Canyon Lake
John will be campaigning at the Canyon Lake In/Outdoor Market Days,
Come by and visit the Courage for Congress booth for signs and bumper stickers, 125 Mabel Jones Dr. Canyon Lake, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Saturday October 29, 2005 San Antonio

John Courage will speak at the Bexar County Precinct 3 Democrats Planning Session, North East Service Ctr. Toolyard Dr. (off Wurzbach Expressway at Perrin-Beitel), 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (John will speak at 1:30 p.m.)

Wednesday Nov.2 - Saturday Nov.5 Washington DC

John will be meeting with party leaders and Democratic activists in Washington DC.

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-28.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for election to Congress in the CD-28.

Ciro Rodrigez
Ciro Rodrigez is running for Congress in the CD-28.

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Kirk Watson
Kirk Watson is running for Texas Senate District 14.

Jason Earle is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 47

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Wednesday, Nov. 2, 7 pm - Democracy for America, Fort Worth, Ol' South Pancake House

Thursday, Nov. 3, 7 pm - Tarrant County Democratic Party Executive Committee Meeting, Carpenter's Union Hall, Arlington, Tx (see www.tcdp.net for more details)

Paula Hightower-Pierson
Paula is running for Texas House District 93.

Judge Jim Coronado (site under construction)

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the Third Court of Appeals, Place 3

Bree Buchanan
Bree is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Mina Brees
Mina is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

It's Official: Todd Baxter to Resign

By Damon McCullar

QR has the scoop. Rep. Baxter's statement is available here. The District 48 race just got a lot more interesting.

The Chris Bell Report... Fight Payday Lending

By Matt Hardigree

I've been doing some blogging for the Chris Bell campaign and I thought I'd share it with all of you (as proof that I can write something more than once a week). Whatever campaign you support, this is an important issue:

What's the last thing that someone in financial crisis needs? Another financial crisis. Unfortunately, unscrupulous payday lenders have set up shop in Texas and are preying on people in need of emergency funds. The lenders loan money to these cash-strapped Texans for a short term and then charge interest rates in the hundreds and thousands when they aren't immediately paid back.

In Texas, the payday business is booming like oil at the turn of the 20th Century. Except in the lender's business model, the derrick is planted firmly on the backs of hard-working Texans and military families. According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, there are more than 1,150 payday lenders in Texas. Combined, they've lent out an estimated $626 million to thousands of Texans.

To read the rest you can browse your way to the blog.

Earle Website Launch & Primary Thoughts

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Jason Earle, candidate for the Democratic nomination for HD 47 in Southwest Travis County (Keel's open seat), has launched his new website.

Over in the photos section you'll find one of Jason and I, interestingly, with Andy Brown in the background, taken at a recent UDems meeting. Though I would suggest having some way to get back to the home page after you click to other parts of the site, that's always annoying on campaign sites, so any campaign staffers reading this think about having that main image up top or such link home.

I like the Andy Brown campaign site, though the top banner is far too wide for 800x600 computer screen users, a big no-no that someone would be advised to fix soon. I enjoy reading the Brown Blog, though I wish there were comments so I could say how hot that picture is with Dusty Mangum.

This race is a contested primary, something I'll have more to post on in a bit. The dynamics of this race and the HD 48 race are enough to make my head spin as a blogger whose friends with people in all camps as well as with consultants who are on various sides. So let me make it clear...

I am officially neutral, not just by policy, but because I honest to god don't have a preference in these races yet. I don't live in either district and won't have time this fall to make it out to campaign for anyone yet, though I may try to make it out to some events to help gauge what's going on the ground. Campaigns and candidates are encouraged to keep sending me anything and everything, positive or negative. Though I would like to thank John Courage and Donna Howard for sending me personal happy birthday wishes last week! Stroking my ego is always appreciated, though I make no guarantee it will get you my vote!

This goes for the Governor's race as well (which I'm hearing is going to become a more contested primary once again soon enough). In that race, I'm equally dissatisfied with the options all around. Perry obviously doesn't interest me, One Tough Granny doesn't seem so tough anymore, my Kinky feelings have been dwindling since the revelation that DeLay's attorney was and still is one of his campaign advisors, and Bell, well, is there having just finished his $29k in 2 months fundraiser. Now, maybe if there was a kinky bell-ringing grandma with good hair running, we might have something. Of course, if you are Kirk Watson or John Courage, it's easy to get positive coverage here on BOR since you don't have primary challenges, aren't expecting any, and are generally awesome on top of that.

So in short, if you work for a campaign in Texas, read BOR, and I'm not reporting on it, e-mail me. I love hearing from campaign managers, hard working volunteers, tipsters, and actual candidates. In certain cases I'll take stances early in the primary (i.e. people running against Al Edwards or Frank Madla) but remember that our job here is reporting on, not reporting for campaigns in most cases, so if I'm neutral or cautious, it's because I have little interest in burning local bridges or have consultants stop having conversations I can overhear. And without that, BOR would be far less interesting.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week

By Damon McCullar

It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Event: Keynote Luncheon Speech to County Democratic Chairs
Date and Time: Saturday, October 15, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Place: Doubletree
Hotel at 290 and I-35, (512) 454-3737

Event: Speech, Williamson County barbecue
Date and Time: Saturday, October 15, 7-9:00 p.m.
Place: Live Oak Unitarian Church, 3315 El Salido Parkway, Cedar Park 78613

Tuesday, October 18, Houston

Event: Reception and Fundraiser, Speech followed by Q&A session
Date and Time: Tuesday, October 18, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Place: Private residence. Please contact campaign or Dr. Varon for details

Thursday, October 20, McAllen

Event: Reception and Fundraiser, Speech followed by Q&A session
Date and Time: Thursday, October 20, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Place: Private residence. Please contact campaign or McAllen contact for
details.

Saturday, October 22, Houston

Event: 50th Annual Bellaire Forensic Tournament, Address at Awards Ceremony
Date and Time: Saturday, October 22, 5:30 p.m.
Place: Bellaire High School Auditorium, 5100 Maple, Bellaire, TX

Thursday, October 27, Corpus Christi

Event: Speech followed by Q&A session, reception and fundraiser hosted by
Barbara and Tony Canales
Date and Time: Thursday, October 27, 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Place: Republic of Texas Bar and Grille, Omni Hotel, 900 North Shore Line
Blvd.

Event: Speech followed by Q&A session, Texas Democratic Women Coastal Bend
Chapter Date and Time: Thursday, October 27, 5:30-7:30pm Place: Omni Hotel,
900 N. Shoreline

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

The Greater Arlington/Mansfield Democratic Women invite you to a reception honoring Chris Bell.

Thursday, October 20, 2005 at 6:00PM
Tony's Pizza, Pasta, & Subs
1121 W Arkansas Lane
Arlington, TX 76013
(817)460-6082

Appetizers and Drinks will be served!

$5.00 Cover Requested ~ Cash Bar
(Please park in the parking lot east of Tony s)

For more information or to RSVP, contact Nancy Swartz or Tonya Rosenberger

Chris is proud to be visiting with the Dallas County Democratic Meetup Group on the evening of October 20. The meetup is being held at the Tipperary Inn at 5815 Live Oak St in Dallas.

The meetup starts at 7 PM with a local candidates forum, and Chris will then speak to the group around 8 PM. Hope you can make it out!

For more information, contact J.T. Price.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

October 16 – House Party, home of Victor and Wendy Milton, 10721 Timberwagon Circle, in Grogans Mill, The Woodlands; 2-4 p.m.; RSVP to wmaceo@houston.rr.com or call 281-292-0021. The more the merrier!

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

Dan Dodd
Dan Dodd is running for Congress in CD-03

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

The Harris campaign will be in Dallas on October 18th at a meeting with Stonewall Democrats and on October 20th at the Greater Arlington/Mansfield Democratic Women reception for Chris Bell. We are looking forward to meeting more voters this week!

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

John Courage will attend the Northwest Democrats Club meeting
8:30 - 10:00 AM Luby's Cafeteria Bandera Rd. in San Antonio

John Courage will attend Rep. Mike Villarreal's Picnic in the Park
1 - 3 PM at San Pedro Park in San Antonio

John will also attend a Planned Parenthood Event
3 - 5 PM in San Antonio

Sunday October 16, San Antonio

John Courage will be Block Walking in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood in North East San Antonio Noon to 4:00 PM

John will also attend the S.A. Progressive Action Coalition (SAAPAC)
Movie Night 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM Bethany Congregational Church, 500 Pilgrim (at Panda) inside Loop 410 San Antonio, TX

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-28.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for election to Congress in the CD-28.

Ciro Rodrigez
Ciro Rodrigez is running for Congress in the CD-28.

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Sat., Oct. 22, Bell County Democratic Party BBQ Fundraiser at Confederate Park in Belton from 3:30 to 6 pm.

Sun., Oct. 23, Erath County Democratic Women will host a Meet the Candidate get-together at 923 Timberbrook Dr., in Stephenville at 3 pm.

Kirk Watson
Kirk Watson is running for Texas Senate District 14.

Jason Earle is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 47

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Saturday, October 15
Donna will be participating in the Austin Moving
Forward event at Our Lady of Guadalupe, 1206 East 9th, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Monday, October 17
Donna will be attending the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Annie's List in Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, October 18
League of Women Voters Town Hall Meeting celebrating 85 years of women's right to vote, Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina Street, 6:00
pm - 8:00 pm

Wednesday, October 19 -
Austin Chronicle "Best Of Austin" awards - Donna will be
representing her church community whose minister was the critics' pick for best minister/spiritual leader, University Democrats meeting, Garrison 1, 8:00 pm

Saturday, October 22 -
League of Women Voters new member party, 11:00 am
Gray Panthers, Lyons Gardens, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Saturday, Oct. 15 - Taking Back Texas - 10:00-12:00 CWA Hall 412 S. Adams,
Fort Worth

Wednesday Oct. 19 - TexVAC (Texas Values in Action Coalition) Tarrant County
Legislative Lift-off Event see www.texvac.org

Paula Hightower-Pierson
Paula is running for Texas House District 93.

Judge Jim Coronado (site under construction)

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the Third Court of Appeals, Place 3

Bree Buchanan
Bree is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Mina Brees
Mina is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Mary Beth Harrell Announces Run for TX-31

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Taking on Republican John Carter of Round Rock, Mary Beth Harrell has announced her campaign against him as a Democrat in Congressional District 31, which covers all or part of 8 Central Texas counties just north of Austin. The Killeen Daily Herald picked up coverage of her kick off...

Mary Beth Harrell of Kempner threw her name into the ring Tuesday, stopping in Killeen and Round Rock to announce her candidacy.

“A lot of us do think the country is headed in the wrong direction,” she said. “We need to turn that around.”

...

Concerns about why the war started, when it will end and how to avoid a similar conflict in the future were some of the issues the military wife and mother talked about.

She also expressed interest in helping create an affordable health care program, lessening the pressure of gas prices and questioning the tax breaks that major corporations are allowed.

“We pay our taxes. They need to pay theirs,” she said.

...

Harrell’s call to politics started early, she said.

“If you go to my Web site, you’ll see my dad shaking hands with Bobby Kennedy when he was running for the Senate,” she said. “It’s been a family tradition. And it’s never changed.”

Harrell’s husband retired from the military after 23 years in the Army as a chief warrant officer 3. Her two sons are also in the military, one here at Fort Hood as a staff sergeant and the younger son is stationed in Arizona as a sergeant.

Harrell and her husband also operate the nonprofit St. Francis Animal Sanctuary and Assisi Animal Refuge.

Out of her 20 years in the Killeen community, Harrell has spent the last seven as a criminal law attorney, doing additional work as a prosecutor in Nolanville and interim prosecutor in Temple.

This district went 65/33/2 last November when Jon Porter ran against Carter, but it looks like Harrell will have more support and organization this go round. This is a race on one of those areas where we should be running Democrats for our longer term strategy of building back out base in the state, spreading our message, and helping those down the ballot. This district covers Williamson and Bell counties, high growth areas, one in which we need to regain some level of competition. Plus, I hope Harrell's efforts will aid some of the House seats that sit in her district, such as the Williamson County challenges of Karen Felthauser and John Stauber. I'd keep an Eye on Williamson County (blog) for more updates from those races.

Chris Bell Unveils Don't Mess with Ethics Plan

By Katie Naranjo

It is time to put on your Don't Mess With Ethics t-shirts because Chris Bell is announcing his Don't Mess with Ethics plan at the Texas Democratic Party headquarters. The announcement will begin at 11am so don't be late!!!

For more information hit up the ChrisBell.com website.

Friedman Campaign On Life Support

By Damon McCullar

The Friedman campaign, who boasted 300k in contributions, today laid off most of the campaign staff as reported by the Houston Chron. My sources in the Friedman campaign have told me of an organization bloated with campaign staff. They also tell me of a campaign that is totally disorganized and ready to implode upon itself. The campaign has, as of today, laid off most of its administrative staff and has kept on its consultants and interns. According to my sources and the Houston Chronicle, the Friedman campaign has gone into survivial mode and is just trying to get on the ballot next November.

Fundraising
It would seem on the surface that Kinky was doing in well in the fundraising department. Most Kinky supporters on this blog have sited Kinky's fundraising as evidence that he is a viable candidate, and suggest that the Kinkster maybe more viable due to his fundraising. According to my sources, Kinky has not been willing to do any personal fundraising. He refuses to contact his friends to raise money or to make any phone calls to that end.

At this point, one has to ask what is Kinky doing in politics period? His only goal right now is getting on the ballot. He's so concerned at this point with saving money to get on the ballot that he can't effectively campaign on anyting other that "Why The Hell Not". It's time the Friedman Campaign woke up and realized that this is politics and not a music tour. There is real work that has to be done. Where does the Kinkster go from here?

Jason Earle Announces his Candidacy

By Katie Naranjo

This Tuesday, Oct. 11th, Jason Earle will announce his bid for House District 47 at Pease Elementary School in Austin, TX. The event will begin at 11a.m. outside the school and it will be lively. If you do not know where the school is, it is at 12th and Guadalupe downtown. See you there!

Important Info:
Jason Earle District 47 Announcement
10 a.m.
Pease Elementary School (12th and Guad.)

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week

By Damon McCullar

It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

October 6, 11:30-1 p.m. reception and fundraising event, Fort Worth Club,
306 West 7th Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102, Contact: 817.882.8184

October 7, 6:00-8 p.m., Executive Women's Roundtable, 6422 Orchid Lane,
Dallas, TX, 75230 (off of Tibbs Street), BAR will speak.

October 8, 6:00-10:00 p.m., Donkey Fest, Denton County Rally, 806 Stowe
Lane, Lakewood Village, TX, 75068, Contact: 972.292.1838. Campaign
representative will attend.

October 9, 7:00-9:00 p.m., Lubbock House Party, Contact: 806.535.7418,
Barbara will do a call-in to the party.

October 11, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Democratic Club of Washington County, Blinn
College, Olney, TX, Contact: 979-451-9158, BAR will speak.

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Chris Bell is proud to be a featured guest as the Denton County Democratic Party presents DonkeyFest 2005 on Saturday, September 8. This fundraiser for the DCDP runs from 5 PM to 9 PM and will be hosted by Mary Begis, 806 Stowe Lane in Lakewood Village.

The event costs $25 per person, and $5 for kids under 6. All attendees are encouraged to bring a blanket or lawn chairs to enjoy entertainment from the String Theory Band, Phil & Elizabeth France, and Members of The Dallas Opera And Dallas Symphony Chorus.

For more information, or if you need transportation to this event, call 940.566.1165.

Chris will be in Brenham on October 11 to speak to a meeting of the Washington County Democratic Club. The meeting starts at 5:30 PM and is being held in the Blinn College Student Center on Blinn's Brenham campus.

For more information, contact Duane Olney at 979-836-9354.

Chris will be speaking at the University of St. Thomas in Houston on Thursday, October 13 at 12:30 PM. The event is being sponsored by the St. Thomas More Political Science Club and is open to all students.

Chris's speech will take place at 12:30 pm in the Crooker Center's Ahern Room.

A Q&A session will follow at the Political & Social Science House.

A campus map is available here.

For further information, contact Cameron Waldner at moreposc@stthom.edu.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Felix Alvarado is scheduled to appear October 10th at Donkey Fest in Denton.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

October 6 – Will speak at St. Mary’s University Law School in San Antonio; Alumni Room, Sarita Kennedy East Law Library; meet-and-greet & question-and-answer included; 11:00 a.m. – 12 noon; sponsored by Employment and Labor Law Association

October 7 – House Party at the home of Elinor Johansen, 2514 Glenwood Lane, Denton; 7:00 p.m.; RSVP Elinor 940-390-382-2352 OR Martha 940-390-6245

October 8 – Will speak at Denton County Democrats’ Donkey Fest; other featured speakers include Chris Bell and a spokesman for Barbara Radnofsky; Home of Mary Begis, 806 Stowe Lane, Lakewood Village TX 75068; $25 per person/$5 for children under 6; Food & sprits! Please bring a lawn chair or blanket. For transportation, call 940-566-1165. Entertainment by: String Theory Band and members of The Dallas Opera and Dallas Symphony Chorus

October 12 – Guest Speaker, Hill Country Democratic Women; 12 noon, at the Gathering Place, Spring Branch; Contact: Sandi Root, 830-980-7776

October 15 – Speaker (among other speakers), Lone Star Democratic Club of Montgomery County Grand Opening; more details to be announced

October 16 – House Party, home of Victor and Wendy Milton, 10721 Timberwagon Circle, in Grogans Mill, The Woodlands; 2-4 p.m.; RSVP to wmaceo@houston.rr.com or call 281-292-0021. The more the merrier!

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

The Follow Me To DC campaign continues block walking on the 9th and 10th. On October 11th, David will be attending a meeting of the Metroplex Democrats http://www.metroplexdemocrats.com/ in Arlington. On the 14th - 16th, David will be coaching the UTA ROTC team in the annual Ranger Challenge Competition on Camp Bullis in San Antonio.

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Saturday, October 8th - San Antonio
John will attend the Bexar County Tejano Democrats Meeting
9:30 a.m.
Mario's Restaurant - Fredericksburg Road
San Antonio, Texas

Saturday, October 8th - Austin
John will have a booth and will be meeting and greeting people at the
Second Annual - Oak Hill Cruise 'n' Blues Festival
Noon - 7 p.m.
Southwest Hills Community Church grounds
7416 Hwy 71 West 78735

Sunday, October 9 - Wimberly
John will be speaking at the WimDems' Rally Day event
Between 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
At the Senior Citizens Center in Wimberley.

Wednesday, October 12th
John will attend the San Marcos Area Democrats monthly meeting
5:30-8:30 p.m.
At the Stonebrook Community Ctr.
300 S. Stagecoach Trail in San Marcos

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-28.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for election to Congress in the CD-28.

Ciro Rodrigez
Ciro Rodrigez is running for Congress in the CD-28.

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Mary Beth's Official Campaign Kick-Off and Announcement will be held on Oct. 11, 2005. You can meet the candidate at both events. Join us at the Killeen Civic and Conference from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Refreshments and Food will be served. Then we'll be in Round Rock at the Louisiana Longhorn Cafe on Main Street. More refreshments and food will be served. A good time will be had by all.

Kirk Watson
Kirk Watson is running for Texas Senate District 14.

Jason Earle is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 47

Media Campaign Announcement (convenient for students)
-- Pease Elementary - 1106 Rio Grande
-- 10am Tuesday, October 11

District Campaign Announcement (free tamales and queso)
-- Rosie's Tamale House - 13436 W Hwy 71
-- 6-8pm Tuesday, October 11

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard

Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Paula Hightower-Pierson
Paula is running for Texas House District 93.

Judge Jim Coronado (site under construction)

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the Third Court of Appeals, Place 3

Bree Buchanan
Bree is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Mina Brees
Mina is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Charlie is having a fundraiser on Thursday, 10/13, at 5:30 at Saengerrunde Hall, 1607 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin. Special guest Richard "Racehorse" Haynes and State Rep Dawnna Dukes as mistress of ceremonies. Suggested contributions $35.00 but everyone is welcome. Sponsorships available. Contact Nancy Williams at Nnwilliams@aol.com for more info.

If You Want Change, Vote for It

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

The following is a guest column by Donna Howard, candidate for the Democratic nomination in HD 48 in West Austin. This is the first in a series of posts on behalf of active candidates. -KT

I want to thank BOR for this opportunity to speak directly to you.

My name is Donna Howard, and I'm running for HD 48. I was not seeking this job, but, after being asked by a number of people in my district to consider the race, I decided not only that I wanted to run but also that I could bring a wealth of real-life experiences to this effort. We are facing many critical issues in our community, and I want to be a part of the solution.

The stakes are high. How will we save our public schools, safeguard our children's heath, protect our pocketbooks, roll back soaring college tuition rates, strengthen our neighborhoods, and build a future that reflects our mainstream values?

With a state representative who is ready to lead, that's how. The incumbent has failed over and over again to demonstrate leadership, and our district and state have suffered.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he voted for the biggest tax hike in Texas history, including the nation's highest sales tax.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he pocketed $35,000 in illegal corporate campaign cash from Tom DeLay and then voted to dilute his own community's influence in Congress.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he voted to strip 170,000 eligible children of working parents of their health benefits, leading to higher costs for local taxpayers to fund emergency room care.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he voted to siphon billions of tax dollars out of our public schools for his campaign contributors’ private-school voucher scheme.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he voted to privatize state services with a phantom promise to save taxpayers $45 million, which now turns out to have cost hundreds of jobs and saved just $1 million.

I grew up in Austin and raised my family here in Austin-area public schools. I have taught at UT, my alma mater, and worked as a critical care nurse. I have worked in the community, served on the Eanes school board, and devoted my life to improving my neighbors' public education and public health. I don't need a party boss to tell me what to do.

Now, more than ever, we need to put our community first and partisan politics last. And that's why I'm running for the Texas House -- to give the people of HD 48 a representative at the State Capitol who will work for them, for a change.

If you agree that it's time for a change, join me in working for it. I encourage you to volunteer with my campaign for independent leadership that reflects our mainstream values. We need your energy, your best ideas, and your most generous contributions.

Please go to http://www.votedonna.com to see more about my positive agenda for HD 48. You will learn about my life experience, career, and volunteer work with the Texas Education Crisis Coalition, the Texas Freedom Network, and Common Cause. And I hope you will agree that this campaign is uniquely positioned to help guide us toward a future of progress and prosperity based on healthy children learning in safe classrooms from well-paid, qualified teachers.

And most of all, if you want change, vote for it. Because what we need is what we do not have under our current leadership -- a united effort that crosses party lines and ideologies and demands responsible support for public schools from all sectors of our community. If we get that right, everything else will follow. If we keep getting it wrong, not much else will matter.

-Donna

Everybody Loves Poll Numbers ***UPDATE***

By Damon McCullar

The WSJ has a poll out for the Texas governors race and senate race. Interestingly, in the senate poll they left out the only declared Democratic senate candidate, Barbara Radnofsky. Why they included Kirk Watson, who is running for STATE senate and John Sharp, who has never been interested in running for senate as far as I know.

Here are the numbers:

Rick Perry 40.1%
Chris Bell 27.2%
Kinky Friedman 18%

Carol Keeton Strayhorn 34.6%
Chris Bell 26%

KBH 50.4%
Kirk Watson 35.7%

KBH 51%
John Sharp 36.4%

The margin of error of this poll was 2.9%. I dunno what to make of this poll. They left out Felix Alvarado and Barbra Radnofsky. Why they aren't polling all of the declared candidates, I can't fathom.

I find it interesting that Kinky "I out raised Chris Bell 2:1" Friedman is polling 10% behind Chris. It's a mystery! I'm sure the Kinkster can get to the bottom of it.

Seems that Chris Bell is making strides toward the governor's mansion. A 13% behind one year out from the election is a respectable place to be. Assuming the name ID problem resolves itself, Chris should be in the thick of things in a year, assuming he's the nominee.

The Chris Bell Campaign had this to say on their blog:

As much as we think Chris' New Mainstream message can lift him to victory, we admit that this is a race to unset Rick Perry, and so it is that his falling poll numbers were particularly encouraging. This poll, taken after Hurricane Rita, shows Rick Perry dropping 5.1 points in a month. This is a stunning affirmation of Chris' contention that Rick Perry couldn't lead a silent prayer, the 100-mile-long traffic jam during the Rita Exodus being the most recent example.

Second, with Perry dropping and Kinky stagnant, Chris turns out to be the only one improving his standing, going from 25.9 percent in August to 27.2 in September. That number is bound to keep improving as Chris' name ID does and as he unites the Democratic Party around his New Mainstream message, but something must be working.

The Radnofsky Campaign had this to say:

This is a great poll for our campaign and for the Democratic Party. It clearly shows that Senator Hutchison is vulnerable. Crucially, it shows that even in a match-up with a non-opponent, she barely scratches the 50% mark.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week

By Damon McCullar

It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Calling all DFW area progressives! Chris Bell will be a special guest as the Dallas Air America affiliate, KXEB 910 AM, throws a party on October 6th at the FunAsia Theater in Richardson. Come on out to meet Chris, hear him say a few words about the governor's race, and then sit back and enjoy a screening of the new HBO documentary "Left of the Dial." More details are available on the KXEB website.

Chris Bell is proud to be a featured guest as the Denton County Democratic Party presents DonkeyFest 2005 on Saturday, September 8. This fundraiser for the DCDP runs from 5 PM to 9 PM and will be hosted by Mary Begis, 806 Stowe Lane in Lakewood Village.

The event costs $25 per person, and $5 for kids under 6. All attendees are encouraged to bring a blanket or lawn chairs to enjoy entertainment from the String Theory Band, Phil & Elizabeth France, and Members of The Dallas Opera And Dallas Symphony Chorus.

For more information, or if you need transportation to this event, call 940.566.1165.

Chris will be in Brenham on October 11 to speak to a meeting of the Washington County Democratic Club. The meeting starts at 5:30 PM and is being held in the Blinn College Student Center on Blinn's Brenham campus.

For more information, contact Duane Olney at 979-836-9354.

Chris will be speaking at the University of St. Thomas in Houston on Thursday, October 13 at 12:30 PM. The event is being sponsored by the St. Thomas More Political Science Club and is open to all students.

Chris's speech will take place at 12:30 pm in the Crooker Center's Ahern Room.

A Q&A session will follow at the Political & Social Science House.

A campus map is available here.

For further information, contact Cameron Waldner at moreposc@stthom.edu.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Felix Alvarado will be in Denton tonight (October 3rd.) speaking to the UNT Democrats at 7:00. On October 8th, he is scheduled to be at the Wise County Democratic Fundraiser in Greenwood. He is also scheduled to appear October 10th at Donkey Fest in Denton.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

On October 2nd, the campaign will attend the Civil Rights 2005 Conference in Addison to hear lectures covering the Patriot Act and Prisoner's Rights, with speakers that include David Van Os (for more information contact sackblair@sbcglobal.net). Block walking continues on Tuesday and on Thursday, David will be visiting with the Waxahachie chapter of Drinking Liberally (www.drinkingliberally.org). On Saturday, October 8th, the Greater Arlington Mansfield Democratic Women [http://www.tdw.org/GreaterArlingtonMansfieldTDW.html] will be hosting David at their Mansfield Hometown Festival Booth which was rescheduled because of Hurricane Rita's arrival in Texas. David will be at the booth from 9-12 collecting signatures and talking to voters about our district paying more for a gallon of gas everyday while our Representative cycles those profits back into his pocket through oil and gas PAC's

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Friday, Sept. 30, 2005 - San Antonio
6:00 – 10:00PM
John will be attending the Last Friday for the Aquifer event 1809 Blanco Rd. Home of AGUA & GEAA (Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas & Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance)

Saturday, October 1, 2005 – Dallas
John will be speaking at the
AMERICAN MUSLIM ALLIANCE
11TH ANNUAL NATIONAL CONVENTION
Crowne Plaza Hotel in Addison TX.

Tuesday, October 4, 2005 – Austin
5:30-8:30 PM
John will be attending the SAD Annual Yeller Dawg Fundraiser Texas AFL-CIO facility, 1106 Lavaca Street

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - Austin
8:00 PM
John has been invited to speak to the UT Democrats club UDems Meeting
University of Texas Democrats GARRISON 1 (Map: http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/gar.html)

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-28.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for election to Congress in the CD-28.

Ciro Rodrigez
Ciro Rodrigez is running for Congress in the CD-28.

Kirk Watson
Kirk Watson is running for Texas Senate District 14.

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Mary Beth will be speaking to the Salado Democratic Party on Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m in the Salado Communty Center.

Also, Mary Beth's Official Campaign Kick-Off and Announcement will be held on Oct. 11, 2005. You can meet the candidate at both events. Join us at the Killeen Civic and Conference from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Refreshments and Food will be served. Then we'll be in Round Rock at the Louisiana Longhorn Cafe on Main Street. More refreshments and food will be served. A good time will be had by all.

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard

Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Fort Worth Democracy for America meeting - Wednesday, Oct. 5 @ 7:00 pm - Ol' South Pancake House.

Paula Hightower-Pierson
Paula is running for Texas House District 93.

Judge Jim Coronado (site under construction)

Tuesday 10/4: SAD Yellow Dawg fund-raiser 5:30-7:30 p.m. AFL-CIO
Thursday 10/6: eastern loop through Lee, Fayette & Bastrop counties (no admission charge for the following events; y'all come)
Breakfast in Giddings with Lee County Democrats 8 a.m. Texas Grill 2880 290 East, Giddings
Lunch in La Grange with Fayette Co. Democrats 11:30 a.m. La Marina
Mexican Restaurant 1502 Business 71, La Grange
Speech at Bastrop Co. Democrats monthly meeting 6:30 p.m. First Nat'l
Bank Community Room, 1028 Main Street, Bastrop

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the Third Court of Appeals, Place 3

Bree Buchanan
Bree is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Mina Brees
Mina is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Charlie is having a fundraiser on Thursday, 10/13, at 5:30 at Saengerrunde Hall, 1607 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin. Special guest Richard "Racehorse" Haynes and State Rep Dawnna Dukes as mistress of ceremonies. Suggested contributions $35.00 but everyone is welcome. Sponsorships available. Contact Nancy Williams at Nnwilliams@aol.com for more info.

Buzbee for Lt. Governor

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Word from high level sources in the Texas Democratic Party has it that prominent Galveston attorney and former Galveston County Democratic Chair Tony Buzbee is moving closer to running for Lieutenant Governor in 2006. Buzbee, a Marine veteran and so called "legal genius type" has been rumored to be able to self finance his campaign. The Fort Worth Star Telegram ran a piece on him back in August and had this to say...

A little-known outsider with a sizable personal fortune and a central-casting resume says he's giving serious consideration to mounting a challenge against Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst next year.

Tony Buzbee, a 37-year-old lawyer and former chairman of the Galveston County Democratic Party, said the state's GOP leaders are spending too much time fighting among themselves and too little time solving problems like school finance. So he was receptive when some Democratic elders approached him a few weeks ago encouraging him to run for statewide office.

"I'm looking seriously at it, but I haven't said yes or no," said Buzbee, a former Marine Corps captain who led troops in combat during the Persian Gulf War. "I really don't like the way our state is being run right now, and I believe that those of us who have made something in our lives need to be willing to give something back."

The son of a butcher and a school cafeteria worker, Buzbee has made millions of dollars representing injured workers suing big companies and was named one of the top five commercial litigation attorneys in the state in 2003 and a "rising star" in 2004 by Texas Monthly.

Dobbs also had some comments back then on this post. I feel that this is great news if it pans out, because right our nominee is the Alvarado sister half of the Alvarado team, assuming they end up on the ballot. Let's round out the rest of those statewide spots as we ask Texans to Step Up.

So prepared to get buzzed about Buzbee. (And maybe you too can be those high level sources over at the TDP.)

Delay's Attorney is a Kinky Campaign Adviser

By Phillip Martin

Here's something interesting: a campaign adviser for Kinky Friedman also happens to be Tom Delay's attorney.

Back on August 11, Kinky Friedman, the independent candidate for Governor, hired Dick DeGuerin as a staff adviser. This came with little fanfare, but was noted in both the Houston Chronicle and on Kinky's blog as evidence that he's running a fairly conventional race:

"Don't be fooled by the "Kinky Volunteers Needed,"and "Why The Hell Not?" T-shirts available on Kinky Friedman's Web site.

Writer, musician, jokester and independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman is actually running a fairly orthodox campaign.

This week, Friedman announced that Dick DeGuerin of Houston, one of Texas' top defense attorneys, has joined Friedman's campaign as a staff adviser."

Dick DeGuerin also happens to be Tom Delay's attorney, and has spent most of the last few days speaking up for the indicted (former) majority leader:

DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin doesn't buy it. "He's attempting to destroy Tom DeLay," he told reporters in Austin yesterday. "Tom DeLay changed the face of Texas politics. Nobody can deny that. But Ronnie Earle wants to destroy him because of that."

Looks like Mr. Independent isn't quite so independent after all. Ronnie Earle has received tremendous support from many in the Kinky camp for his fight against corrupt officials; yet, a man who has spent the last 48 hours attacking Ronnie Earle is on Kinky's payroll.

What do you all think: would DeGuerin be paper or plastic?

Donna Howard Launches Website

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Donna Howard, candidate for the Democratic nomination for HD 48 against Todd Baxter, has launched her official campaign website:

www.votedonna.com

That makes two of our three announced candidates who have their web operations up and running early in the game, which is good for our party. Give it a look over to read up on her positions.

Challenger Andy Brown's site is here for comparison.

Bell Campaign PR Boondoggle

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I'm glad to say that I'm not the only one on this blog that read this article by John Kelso today in the AAS and thought it was a serious misstep by the Chris Bell campaign. (Please read the article before reading this post).

Which brings us back around to former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, whose nickname ought be "Who's He?"

Bell, who seems like a really good guy, and that might be the problem, is a Democratic candidate for governor.

Bell has all the name recognition of, uh, of, uh . . .

Bell is so hard up for press attention and name recognition that last week he took me on a tour of his old college haunts back in the late '70s at the University of Texas.

And his people called me to set this tour up. This wasn't even my idea.

So let me say right now this isn't me continuing some quest against the Bell campaign (I've held back my fingers a number of times this month), but it has forced me to write. So let's start bluntly.

Chris Bell for Governor Campaign- stop being fake.

You are not the Kinky Friedman for Governor campaign. You will never be as funny, as colorful, or as entertaining. Attempting to do clever creative press maneuvers such as this- 1) comes across as simply bizarre, 2) shows how desperate the campaign is for any media, and 3) makes your campaign look like a joke, almost Kinky-esque.

At the same time that your campaign operatives' message about the Kinky campaign is "he's not serious, you can't take him seriously, he's a joke, can you imagine him in office," you pull a stunt like this. How does becoming more like the campaign you deprecate (one with a unique media angle) make you more appealing to anyone? No one wants Kinky-lite, just like they don't want Perry-lite.

Be who you are, not what consultants try to make you. Just be who you are, don't tell us who you plan to be. I've heard enough of that from so many candidates running for office who spend half an hour going off on what 'we as Democrats should be saying'. That might have been needed in the dark years of Bush's first term, but now is the time to just be those people and let each candidate’s personality and strengths shine through.

Run against Perry, he's the enemy. The closest that article got to that was the incredibly bizarre quote...

"I hear the guy yelling, 'You better not let me catch you, you son of a bitch,' " recalled Bell, who ended up running into the Lazy Daisy all-night diner across Guadalupe and getting nabbed in there.

So how would Gov. Rick Perry have handled this differently?

"I guess the one thing he might have done differently is when the guy said, 'You better hope I don't catch you, you son of a bitch,' he would have asked, 'What do you mean by that?' " Bell said. "It was very clear to me. And food fights are awful for your hair."

Huh?

Texans don't have to take Kinky seriously, they never started to take Alvarado seriously, but with PR boondoggles such as this, it makes it hard for us to tell others to take Bell seriously either. I'll let Kelso end this post.

So now you're wondering why a gubernatorial candidate's people would call a humor columnist and set up something like this.

"People are a lot more likely to read about a food fight than his position on taxes," said Jason Stanford, Bell's press guy. "This could go down on my record as one of the dumbest things to do in politics, but it should make for a good column." Yeah, if you don't mind being painted as a stooge.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week

By Damon McCullar

It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Chris Bell has suspended campaign activites until the destruction of Huricane Rita has been assesed.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Saturday Sept. 24 - Sunday Sept 25

John will be participating in the Comal County Fair Parade in New Bruanfels on Saturday Morning and then will spend time on Saturday and Sunday at the Comal County Fair Grounds meeting and speaking with the residence of Comal, Hays , Blanco and Bexar County.
Here's a link to Fair information: http://www.comalcountyfair.org/

Also John will be blogging around the Country gathering support for his DFA Grassroots All-Star polling nomination. John is in 1st place at this time but need the support of every Texan around the country to maintain that lead.
To vote in the DFA balloting go to:
http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/housevote/

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-28.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for election to Congress in the CD-28.

Ciro Rodrigez
Ciro Rodrigez is running for Congress in the CD-28.

Kirk Watson
Kirk Watson is running for Texas Senate District 14.

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Mary Beth will be speaking to the Young Democrats club on the Central Texas College campus, Sept. 28, 5 pm, in Bld. 104, Room 120.

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Paula Hightower-Pierson
Paula is running for Texas House District 93.

Judge Jim Coronado (site under construction)
Judge Jim Coronado is running for the Third Court of Appeals, Place 2

Monday 9/26 7 p.m. Annie's List showing of "Iron Jawed Angels" at the
Paramount on Congress Ave in Austin.

Wed 9/28 5:45 PM Travis Co. Democratic Executive Committee; Travis Co. Commissioners' Courtroom, Granger Bldg. 11th St btwn Guadalupe and Lavaca, Austin, Tx.

Wed 9/28 6:30 p.m. Keep Austin Blue Mother Egan's in Austin.

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the Third Court of Appeals, Place 3

Bree Buchanan
Bree is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Mina Brees
Mina is running for the Third Court of Appeals.

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Chris Bell Suggested the Education Commission in April

By Katie Naranjo

In his April 17th blog Chris Bell suggested a commission on education to figure out the problems with school finance. Interestingly enough Rick Perry caught on 4 months later and with the other potential Democratic primary candidate.

Why the recent pair up of Sharp and Perry? A way to screw over strayhorn? Sharp who was major donor to Strayhorn's campaign is now sitting on a committee as the chair picked by her opponent.

More will come as the primary unfolds, but now we can rally around Chris Bell for the Democratic candidacy.

For the April blog http://www.chrisbell.com/node/249

Keep Your Enemies Closer

By Phillip Martin

As Damon reported a little earlier, John Sharp will not be running for Governor. The reason? Governor Perry appointed Sharp to chair a select commission on public school finance. The commission's job will be to carefully study the complex problem, and present a complete solution to the Texas Legislature in the near future. Due to the scope of that commission, Sharp will not be able to commit himself to a full-scale Governor campaign.

With this news, one of Perry's biggest potential challengers for Governor is officially out of the running, and Perry has put himself up as Mr. Bipartisan.

I will refrain from my usual editorializing, because I imagine a lot of people have a lot to say.

John Sharp Announcing He WILL NOT Run For Governor

By Damon McCullar

John Sharp will announce momentarily (1:30PM CDT) that he will not seek the governor's mansion in 2006. More after the announcement.

Update: Here's the Statesman story.

Texas Libertarians Running for Gov, CD 10

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

The Statesman gives us a nice update on what the Texas Libertarian Party will be doing in 2006. It appears that some of the less crazy ones are going to take on Perry et al and Congressman McCaul in CD 10. Of course, that's fine by me as Rep. Strama is in office today in part to a Libertarian being on the ballot in his race last year and Kelly White might be in office today had someone managed to file a Libertarian to run in HD 48 last year. Plus in the Governor's race, it really may be a free for all with everybody who doesn't want to vote for Perry having plenty of options to choose from.

Libertarian James Werner, a software sales executive who ran against U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, last year, will run for governor.

"For too long in Texas, we've really run out of legitimate alternative choices to the current political stalemate," Werner said. "People just don't have any serious and genuine options."

Although he received only 1.7 percent of the vote in 2004, Werner said he expects a "much higher tally" next year.

His official announcement will come Sunday, at the end of a Libertarian conference at the downtown Radisson Hotel. His opponents could include current Gov. Rick Perry, Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn or author Kinky Friedman. (apparently not any Democrats? -kt)

Werner said he has experience raising money for political campaigns and "running finances in the private sector."

"Ultimately, the best experience for governor is experience in the private sector, unlike career politicians who are much less likely to have an understanding of budgeting."

Michael Badnarik, an Austin Libertarian who ran for president last year, will not run for governor, Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict confirmed. Badnarik plans to run against U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, in District 10, which runs from Austin to Houston.

Adding to the Pack

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Make that yet another Republican jumping into the HD 47 Republican primary. Looks like Jason Earle is the only Democrat running on our side, though if anyone can put me in contact with his campaign, please drop me or Damon a line. From the Quorum Report...

Alex Castano officially kicked off his campaign for House District 47 today in front of about 100 adult supporters and a passel of children. Castano, a father of seven, had billed the event as a family affair and clay, crayons and an air castle outside the middle school where he announced provided a backdrop to his introduction.

Castano quoted from President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysberg Address to begin and said, "The people do not work to serve the government, but rather the government shall work to serve the people."

Once elected, he said he would stand up for the people of Texas and say no to big government. He laid out three key issues he would seek to overhaul as a member of the House: the state’s tax system, school finance, and immigration.

John Courage Talks About DFA Race, Campaign

By Damon McCullar

John Courage, candidate for Congress in CD-21 hosted a conference call tonight to talk about his impending contest for the Democracy for America Endorsement.

In the first round of voting on the endorsement, John was second going into the final hours of the voting. John was up against a field of 48 other candidates. The official results will be released tomorrow.

John has a goal of raising $1,000,000 by the end of the year. One month in to fund raising, he has $20,000 in pledges. Someone on the conference call told us that Morrison picked up $60,000 from being picked in the first Dean's Dozen.

John talked to us a bit about how his campaign is going so far. He likes his odds in '06. John ran against Lamar Smith in '02. At that time, CD-21 consisted of 14 counties with Bexar county making up the lion share of the the vote. Now in '06, the district is composed of 5 counties with Travis County being very significant this go 'round. John's also spoken with several Republicans that are fed up with what's going on in Washington and are voting Democrat this time.

John is running for Congress because he believes that Republicans are systematically dismantling Social Security and Medicare, the social safety net that has been in place since the days of FDR. He sees the Federal government ruining public schools by demanding more in mandates but giving less and less in funding. Republicans are asking more and more of our troops but giving them less in the form of veterans benefits when they come home. The VA hospital in Kerrville, for example, is merely a shell of what it used to be.

Finally, the politics of cronyism is strangling Washington. It can be summed up in a quote by Lamar Smith in one of his recent town hall meetings. He said, Tom DeLay "is a friend of mine." He continues to support his "friend" who cares more about a woman in a persistive vegetative state than those suffering from Hurricane Katrina.

Voting starts tomorrow at 9am in the final round of the Democracy for America Grassroots All Star competition. You can vote for John by clicking the following link:

http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/housevote

John Courage, Cadidate for TX CD-21, is in the Finals

By Damon McCullar

John Courage, candidate for Congress from the 21st district, has made the final round in Democracy for America's "Grassroots All-Star Competition".

You can vote for John Courage as a Grassroots All-Star by going to the following link (when it is active again for voting Tuesday):

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/housevote

Democracy For America had this to day via email:

Congratulations! You are a finalist in DFA’s Grassroots All-Star competition to take back the House. The final round of voting will start this Tuesday, September 20th at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time and conclude on Saturday, September 24th at 5:00 p.m Eastern Time.

Each voter from the first round of voting will be required to recast their ballot for the final round of voting in order to be counted. This will enable people to re-examine each candidate’s website and positions to select their favorite candidates.

We will feature a blog entry from each candidate on the front page of BlogforAmerica.com during the final round of voting. Please send us a short description (500 words or less) of your campaign and a picture that we can feature online.

We will be using an instant run-off voting system for the final round that enables people to vote for their favorite candidates. The voting will be open to all visitors to: www.democracyforamerica.com. Safeguards will be in place to assure a one person-one vote policy.

Live updates will be posted on BlogforAmerica.com once every hour. The candidate with the most votes at the end of balloting on September 24th will receive a DFA-List endorsement and a national e-mail from DFA’s Chair Jim Dean during the last week of September.

To vote, visit: http://www.democracyforamerica.com/housevote

Democracy for America is committed to winning back the United States House and we are excited about starting our 2006 endorsement process. Over the next few months, we will endorse more congressional campaigns. But this competition will enable us to steer early resources to the campaign that has the most support within the DFA community.

Thank you,

Chris Warshaw
Political Director
Democracy for America

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week

By Damon McCullar

TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Thursday, September 15
6:30-8:30pm Bay Area New Democrats
Andy Grout, Campaign Manager, will represent Barbara Ann
BJ Restaurant, Bay Area Blvd.
Contact is John Cobarruvias 281-486-5203; Anticipates attendance to be 150+

6:30-8:30pm Reception/Fundraiser
118 E. Hollywood, San Antonio, 210.733.7921
Judy Hall and Valerie Grace San Antonio

Saturday, September 17
10:00-12:30pm Texas Democratic Women of Fort Bend County - Brunch
Honoring the late US Congressman Henry B Gonzales; US cong Chas A Gonzalez & local officials attending; Rose Mary Ramos 281-265-0216 (h) 832-264-3750 (c) rmramos@houston.rr.com - Sweetwater Country Club, 4400 Palm Royale, Sugarland. Barbara will be introduced.

6-9pm Mexican Institute Gala
Westin Galleria
Sunday, September 18
2-4 pm Fundraiser/Reception
Houston

Monday, September 19
10:45-12:45pm Edna Gladney Center
Tour of Edna Gladney Center, 817.922.6047, 6300 John Ryan Drive, Fort Worth TX 78132

Evening meeting with supporters in Dallas

Tuesday, September 20
6:30-9pm Stonewall Democrats s of Dallas
Jesse Garcia, Communications director (on National Stonewall Bd of Dir); jgarcia71@aol.com
214-500-7066 (c) or 214-267-1681
Ojeda's Mexican Rest.; 4617 Maple Ave., Dallas, TX 75219
Regular meeting; expect about 100 people; Barbara Ann will take questions after the event

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Chris will be honored to serve as Master of Ceremonies on Friday evening at a banquet for the Houston Tejano Democrats at the Sheraton Suites Houston-Galleria.
Email the Houston Tejano Democrats to inquire about tickets to this event.

Chris is proud to be coming back to UT on Wednesday evening to speak with the UT University Democrats at 8 PM in Garrison Hall room GAR 1. The University Democrats did a great job in hosting Chris's official campaign launch last month on campus, and Chris is proud to be coming back to his alma mater once again to speak with Young Democrats about this race and what it means for the future of our state.

University Democrats meetings are open to all students, so come on down to room GAR 1 on Wednesday night for your chance to meet Chris and hear him talk about his ideas for Texas!

Chris will be in Abilene on September 22nd and is proud to be addressing a meeting of the Taylor County Democratic Club that evening.

The meeting starts at 7 PM at the T&P Events Center on N. First St. For more information, contact TCDC President Royse Kerr at rlk@1tex.net.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Felix Alvarado has a meeting with the University of North Texas Democrats at 7:00PM, Monday in the UNT main campus in Denton. It's in the Environmental Sciences Building room 125.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

400 signatures and going strong! Tuesday and Thursday block walking continues. The campaign has been overwhelmed with the response to volunteer and support David as this battle progresses. On September 24th, the Greater Arlington Mansfield Democratic Women [http://www.tdw.org/GreaterArlingtonMansfieldTDW.html] will be hosting David at their Mansfield Hometown Festival Booth [http://www.mansfieldchamber.org/yearly_events.php]. David will be at the booth from 8-12 collecting signatures and talking to voters about Barton's recent vote of NO on HR 3673.

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

September 17, 2005 - Democrat John Courage is publicly launching his campaign to represent the voters of Central Texas' 21st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Courage is expected to face incumbent Lamar Smith in the November 2006 election.

For over thirty years Courage has served his state and his country as a member of the U.S. Air Force, as an educator and as a community leader. He and his supporters are boarding a school bus on September 17th and traveling throughout the District to announce his campaign in the following locations:

* 10:00 am - Texas State Capital, Austin (east gate)
* 11:30 am - Veterans Memorial Park, Dripping Springs
* 1:00 pm - Old Blanco County Courthouse, Blanco
* 2:30 pm - Bulverde Senior Center, Comal County
* 4:00 pm - Bradley Middle School, North Central San Antonio

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-28.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for election to Congress in the CD-28.

Ciro Rodrigez
Ciro Rodrigez is running for Congress in the CD-28.

Kirk Watson
Kirk Watson is running for Texas Senate District 14.

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Mary-Beth will be speaking at the monthly meeting of the Hamilton County Democrats on Sept. 22 at 7pm, in the Lee Conference Center on the southside of the courthouse square in Hamilton.

She will also be speaking at the Election Workers Appreciation Lunch/Workshop hosted by the Williamson County Democrats
at the Walburg Community Center, 4000 FM 972, in Walburg, between 10 and 3 on Sept. 24

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Paula Hightower-Pierson
Paula is running for Texas House District 93.

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the 3rd Court of Appeals

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Jim Hightower Endorses David Van Os for Attorney General

By Damon McCullar

From the email press release:

David Van Os will fight for the people against the special interests. He is a genuine, old-fashioned Texas truth-teller who says what he means and means what he says. He is an authentic voice of the people in the proud tradition of Texas populists of the past like Jim Hogg and Ralph Yarborough. With David as the Attorney General of Texas, the people will have a lawyer who represents them for a change. I enthusiastically support David Van Os to serve as our next Attorney General, and I urge you to help put him there. --Jim Hightower

HD 47 (Republican) Candidate

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Rich Phillips is your "Pro-Family, Pro-Small Business Leader for Texas" and he's running as a Republican in retiring Rep. Terry Keel's (R) HD 47.

In an interesting article out today, he made some economic proposals that sound a bit iffy to me (in reaction to Texas being ranked #17 in terms of 'economic freedom'). Of course, being a Republican Primary candidate in West Austin can do that to a person anyways, but here's a taste.

Said Phillips, "Frankly, I don't think Texas should be second to anybody. Let alone Oklahoma. Texas can and should do better. This is the vision we share: that Texas lead the nation in growth and prosperity. And you can't tax and spend your way to prosperity."

Phillips' Agenda for Economic Freedom includes a call to roll back the Franchise Tax on Business from 4.5 percent to 1 percent. "Rolling back the franchise tax will create jobs, increase incomes and ultimately result in billions in new revenue to the State through economic growth," said Phillips. "Reagan understood this. I understand it. Only growth brings prosperity."

In addition to a reduction in small business taxes, Phillips announced his support for a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights to limit the growth of government spending to inflation plus population growth and a moratorium on new occupational license fees.

His plan also called for the immediate expansion of the homestead exemption from $15,000 to $25,000 for all homeowners which would reduce the taxable portion of everyone's primary residence and deliver an immediate tax break to Texas homeowners. Said Phillips, "From 1998 to 2003, Travis County residents were dealt a 52 percent increase in property taxes. Good people are spending more on their taxes than they are on their mortgage. That just isn't Texas."

That last quote is right up there with TEXAS isn't spelled TAXES crowd, which I guess we could include Mark Strama's opponent, Don Zimmerman into considering he only has three issues in his campaign, and each one of them is taxes...

Which is interesting considering that shockingly, a recent statewide poll pegged approval/disapproval for a state income tax at 45/47 which is pretty amazing considering it's supposed to be the third rail of Texas Politics.

Hugh Brady Officially Not Running for HD 48

By Phillip Martin

I received an e-mail today from Hugh Brady that he has officially decided not to enter the HD 48 race for Republican Rep. Todd Baxter's seat. That should leave us with three primary candidates, with Monday's announcement about Kathy Rider joining Andy Brown and Donna Howard in the Democratic Primary to unseat Baxter. From his statement:

“My late cousin, U.S. Congressman Noble J. Gregory, often quoted the observation of his fellow Kentuckian Louis Brandeis that 'the most important political office is that of the private citizen.' From my own experience, I know this is true and choose to remain a private citizen and continue my work with the Legislature in that capacity. Accordingly, I will not seek the nomination of my party for state representative from Travis County."

It is my understanding that Hugh will continue working with the Democratic Caucuses of the Texas Legislature (among other things), trying to defeat bad bills and triumph good ones as he has in recent sessions. For his full statement, click on the jump.

“For the past three months, I have been exploring a possible candidacy for state representative from District 48. Many friends, old and new, have visited with me and encouraged me to seriously consider this race. I am very grateful for their time, advice, counsel and support.

“A man should “not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good
action,” Sam Rayburn said, but instead should “try to use ordinary
situations.” Over the past ten years, I have done exactly this by working day-in and day-out with legislators of both parties, public interest advocates and private citizens to create positive changes for Austin and for Texas.

“My late cousin, U.S. Congressman Noble J. Gregory, often quoted the
observation of his fellow Kentuckian Louis Brandeis that “the most
important political office is that of the private citizen.” From my own experience, I know this is true and choose to remain a private citizen and continue my work with the Legislature in that capacity. Accordingly, I will not seek the nomination of my party for state representative from Travis County.

“Elections are about choices. The voters of District 48 deserve a vigorous debate between the competing visions and philosophies of the candidates who seek to represent them at the Capitol. I am confident that, in the end, the voters will choose the right candidate to represent their hopes for their children and their community.”

Former Mayor Kirk Watson Throws Hat Into Senate Ring

By Damon McCullar

From the Press Release:

Kirk Watson, former Mayor of Austin, attorney and mediator, kicked off his campaign for State Senate District 14 today with a strong list of endorsements.

“I am passionate about Texas and Senate District 14 and am proud to run and serve this district,” said Watson. “I look forward to continuing to hear the concerns of Central Texans and discussing solutions for our future.”

The Austin Police Association, Texas Public Employees Association (TPEA), and AFSCME Texas, the County, State and Municipal employees union, boosted the campaign with early endorsements for Watson, citing his commitment to safety, community and jobs.

“As Mayor, his vision helped make Austin what it is today – the 2nd safest big city in the country to live in,” Mike Sheffield, president of the Austin Police Association said Monday. In 2001, the Austin Police Department honored Watson with the title of “Honorary Colonel” for his commitment to public safety.

Greg Powell of AFSCME Texas shared Sheffield’s view. “Kirk has demonstrated he is a dynamic leader and tremendous advocate for Austin and will be a fantastic advocate for Travis County.”

“Kirk Watson understands the needs of our community,” Gary Anderson, executive director of Texas Public Employees Association stated. “He is certainly part of Austin’s future and we look forward to working with him as State Senator. He has a deep understanding and knowledge of the public employees system, which represent a large and dynamic part of Austin, and Kirk will be a strong supporter of public servants as he always has been.

“My father was a public employee for over 30 years, and that is why these organizations are so important to me,” Watson continued. “I look forward to representing everyone in my district because I remember my history.”

Kirk Watson grew up in the Fort Worth area and attended public school in Saginaw, Texas. He has been married for 26 years to Liz McDaniel Watson. They have two sons, Preston and Cooper. Both children attend Austin public schools. Senate District 14, currently held by retiring Senator Gonzalo Barrientos, incorporates most of Travis County.

For more information about the Kirk Watson for Texas Senate campaign, please visit www.KirkWatson.com

An HD 48 Threesome?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

It looks like Donna Howard won't be the only candidate with an educational background to try to challenge Todd Baxter in HD 48 next spring. Former AISD school board President Kathy Rider wants in on that action as well, creating a rather interesting 3 way race. Now, this could be spun two ways: one, she enhances the presence of education as "the" issue in the district making the primary a battle between which school board mom the voters want to be their gal, or splitting the female/education minded voters giving Andy Brown a run-off with one of the two ladies. It's hard to forecast this far out, but a run-off seems to be in the cards and in any case, there will be one female school board member to pick from... so let the campaign strategies begin?

Former Austin school board President Kathy Rider said Wednesday she will run as a Democrat next year for the Texas House seat held by Rep. Todd Baxter, R-Austin.

Rider, 60, was on the Austin school board from 1992 to 2002, and she served eight years as board president. She is a clinical social worker.

Also seeking the Democratic nod for the western Travis County seat are lawyer Andy Brown and former Eanes school board member Donna Howard.

But can someone please tell me why we don't have the big rush of candidates to run in HD 47 for Keel's OPEN seat?

Rhett Smith to Run for Governor

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I wasn't sure if I should have posted this in the BOR Humor category or not, but then again, I could put most gubernatorial posts on either side of the aisle in that category. But Rhett Smith, former candidate for President, then Congress against Lamar Smith (and of the infamous "Wall of Tortillas" he wants UDems to build down I-35), and then candidate for Mayor of San Antonio, now wants to run for Governor. As a Republican.

Of course, he'll have to face some stiff competition. From Perry or Strayhorn. Or maybe Kinky Friedman. Or Chris Bell, or John Sharp, or Felix Alvarado. Or the biggest threat, Jennifer Gale.

Of course, he will have to do without his old campaign site www.rhettsmith.com as it now belongs to Los Angeles Grad Student who's much cuter and going to the "God Blog Convention 2005". For what it's worth.

Paula Hightower-Pierson Enters TX-93 Race

By Damon McCullar

Paula’s dedication to children and children’s issues has been at the core of her commitment to public service. Noting a lack of local resources for victims of child abuse, Paula founded the Alliance for Children to address this urgent need. Since then, Arlington’s Alliance for Children has been a safe haven of kindness, counseling and care for over 20,000 child abuse victims.

In 1989, Paula was elected to the Arlington City Council where she served with distinction for four consecutive terms. Among other things, she chaired the Education, Crime Issues and Economic Development Committees and boards including Transportation, Housing, Downtown Revitalization and the Arlington Sports Authority.
During her 10 years of service on the City Council, her efforts and leadership skills were instrumental in such endeavors as saving thousands of jobs at the Arlington GM plant, inducing National Semi-Conductor to significantly expand a major facility in North Texas, and building the Ballpark in Arlington.

Paula has received recognition as a Life Member of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and as a Presidential appointee to the National Advisory Council of the United States Small Business Administration. Prior to creating her own company, Paula was a successful Realtor and served as Vice President of Business Development for the Henry S. Miller Company.

In 2000, Paula founded Expedited Recovery, Inc. to provide services to healthcare providers and their patients, and she presently serves as CEO of this dynamic, rapidly-growing corporation. As a successful businesswoman, Paula has an acute appreciation of the fact that access to quality healthcare is vital for families and businesses.
According to Star-Telegram columnist O.K. Carter, “If ever there was an opportunity for Democrats to reverse a shutout in Arlington stretching over more than two decades, that moment has arrived. Pierson is a tough, relentless campaigner who will show up with adequate resources.” (Arlington Star Telegram 8/29/05)

Today, Paula lives in Arlington with her husband, attorney Grey Pierson, and is the proud mother of two grown children, Chris Hightower and Lorie Quirk, and the very proud grandmother of Kendall Quirk, age 10, and Shaun Quirk, age 6. Paula and Grey attend the First Christian Church in Arlington.

She's running against Rep. Toby Goodman. He's a vulnerable Republican in the House. He only beat his opponent, Mike Gregory, in 2004 56.6%-43.4%. This might be a race worth watching.

Tax Relief at the Pump

By Katie Naranjo

It cost me $50.00 to fill my car up with gas today. Many Texans and Americans in general are hurting from the spike in gas prices due to Hurricane Katrina. Personally I have been curious as to when there will be any relief in prices at the pump and this morning Chris Bell provided an immediate short-term solution for Texans in an interview on the radio. To listen to the full interview Chris Speaks

What’s on my mind today is gasoline prices, which for people in Texas and all over the country are ridiculous.

Chris: They are going over $3.00 a gallon. It’s really sad because you see this a lot of times after natural disasters, and it is sad when you see people trying to profit during times of catastrophe. I really think that’s what is going on, because here in Texas we really don’t have a gas shortage. There maybe other parts of the nation that are going to be impacted because of the refineries shutting down in Louisiana, but here there is an ample supply of gasoline. I think that is obvious that there is gouging going on and it needs to come to a stop. What I have recommended is that we follow the lead of other states and suspend the gasoline tax in the state of Texas for a while. We just discovered over a billion dollar surplus, we can afford it. What we can’t afford is for people to be paying $3.00 a gallon for gasoline.

Prices are going up even though there is a gasoline surplus? Isn’t that something Gov. Perry should be addressing himself?

Chris: Well despite Gov. Perry’s laudable efforts to aide Hurricane Katrina victims he’s really done next to nothing when it comes to sky rocketing gas prices. I know that the governor’s office, here in Texas, and the attorney general’s office have received complaints about the gouging that is going on. The attorney general said he was going to send out investigators to look into the high prices, but absolutely nothing has become of it. I think it is safe to assume, in this particular instance, that politics is playing a role. Those who have worked so diligently to fund the governor’s campaign and the attorney general’s campaign, that they don’t want to pick fights with the major oil companies. This is about the lively hood of the people here in our state and they need to put politics on the back burner for a while and look at where we are heading. We simply can’t afford to be paying over $3.00 a gallon for gasoline. It’s that simple.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week

By Damon McCullar

TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Saturday, September 10, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
Johnson County Democrats Rally and 1940's Swing Dance
Cleburne Civic Center, 1501 West Henderson, Cleburne, TX 76033

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

09/15/2005: Democrats from Harris, Brazoria, and Galveston Counties are invited to the Bay Area New Democrats' Candidates Forum on the evening of September 15th. The event starts at 6:30 with a social hour and meet-and-greet, and speakers will go on around 7:30 PM. The event will be held at Tequila Willie’s Mexican Restaurant, 1055 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General.

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commissioner

David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

Shelter work continues and we are working to schedule tutors for the displaced students in the area. Thanks so much for the incredible response we have had with volunteers and donations. For those that have not registered with us, please head to our holding page (www.followmetodc.com) and join the mailing list to be notified of our site launch and campaign kick off. On September 13th, we continue with our precinct block walking (thank goodness Dave has had plenty of practice between road marching and marathon running!). On September 15th, we will be attending the Tarrant County Executive Committee meeting to hear about upcoming plans for the 2006 State Convention that will be held in Fort Worth. September 17th will be a full day with Dave serving as a panel member for a discussion on recruiting abuses and alternatives to military service in the morning and we will be attending the candidate framing workshop in the afternoon with Dr. Jeffery Feldman (hosted by www.takingbacktexas.org). That evening, we will take a much needed rest to recharge for the next week!

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Saturday September 10th - Bulverde
John will participate in the Bulverde Jubilee Freedom Festival in Bulverde in Comal County. He will be marching in the parade and will be meeting and greeting voters on the festival grounds. Parade begins at 11:00 AM and festival runs all day.

Tuesday, September 13 - Austin
John will be attending the South Austin Democrats meeting at Little Mexico Restaurant 2304 South 1st Street (between Oltorf & West Mary)
5:30 Eat and Greet; 6:00 Business Meeting.

Wednesday, September 14 - Austin
John will be attending the West Austin Democrats meeting at the Howson Library, 2500 Exposition, 7:00 - 8:45 PM.

Saturday, September 17 - Austin to San Antonio
Courage for Congress - Leave No Voter Behind Announcement Tour.
John Courage will formally kickoff his campaign for Congress with an
announcement tour through the 5 counties of the 21st Congressional District. The tour will begin in Austin at 10:00 AM and will conclude after stops in Hays, Blanco and Comal Counties in San Antonio at 4:00 PM.
Visit www.courageforcongress.org for details.

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-31.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-31.

Ciro Rodrigez

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Mary-Beth will be riding the Democratic Party Float in the Friendship Fest Parade in Bartlett around 10am on Sat. Sept. 17, then later that afternoon on the 17th - She will be at the Democratic Party Booth and walking among the crowd at the LULAC Fiesta in Temple. We plan to sign up as many new voters as we can in Temple that day also.

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Dan will be attending the Tarrant County Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting on Thursday, September 15.

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the 3rd Court of Appeals

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Shane Sklar Kicks Off Campaign in CD 14

By Phillip Martin

Shanke Sklar formally kicked off his campaign against incumbent Congressman Ron Paul in CD14 yesterday, announcing from his home town of Victoria yesterday. As the article notes, CD 14 stretches from Galveston all the way to Aransas county, making it one of the largest coastal congressional districts in the country. Sklar spoke of the need to work, in future years, with FEMA to ensure that Texas' gulf coast towns are prepared for hurricanes like Katrina.

"I thought with the terrorism preparations that we've had in our country, there might have been a little better plans set in place and response time. We could have done a better job...

This isn't a job for someone who simply sits back and lets things happen. We need a congressman who will make a difference."

Sklar, who has worked for Congressman Chet Edwards in the past, recently finished his fourth year as Executive Director for the Texas Cattleman's Association. To help Shane Sklar in his efforts, contribute to his campaign here.

Scripps Howard Texas Poll Number Are Out.

By Damon McCullar

That's right folks, the Texas Poll is out and the DMN has the story. There is some interesting results in the poll. Gov. Perry's job approval rating continues to fall (39%/45% approve/disapprove among the general public, 55%/30% with GOP voters, 24%/60% with Democratic voters). However, if the Republican primary were held to day, he would win it(46% Rick Perry, 28% Carol Keeton Strayhorn, 22% Undecided).

KBH is sitting sitting pretty with a 64%/9% approve/disapprove rating.

The Democratic primary is a horse race with John Sharp pulling 16%, Chris Bell pulling 10% and Felix Alvarado pulling 8% with 12% favoring other candidates. 54% of Democrats in the state remain undecided about their choice for Governor.

The poll had a margin of error of +/- 3%.

Here are some statements from the campaigns:

Carol Keeton Strayhorn:

"He's been governor for five years, and a staggering 54 percent of members of his party are looking to vote someone else," said Mark Sanders, a spokesman for Mrs. Strayhorn.

Gov. Rick Perry:

Luis Saenz, the governor's campaign director, said Mr. Perry has been busy helping evacuees from flooding in Louisiana.
"The polls don't matter a whole bunch," he said. "Regardless of where they are today or the day before, the governor is focused on providing leadership and dealing with a great national tragedy."

Chris Bell:

Jason Stanford, a spokesman for Mr. Bell, said the survey indicates Texans "are shopping around for a fresh face with a new voice and new ideas."

The Chris Bell Blog also has this to say:

The Texas Poll in today’s newspapers has some very good news for Chris Bell. Rick Perry is obviously vulnerable in a general election with a negative rating among all voters that exceeds his positive job performance rating. The only question is who are the Democrats are going to offer: someone with old ideas or someone with a new way of looking at things?

It's on that question that the Texas Poll speaks quite clearly: Despite not running one statewide ad or ever holding any statewide office or nomination, Chris at 10%, right behind someone who's been on every statewide ballot since the Reagan administration. We attribute his double-digit showing to a strong base in Houston, his ethics complaint against Tom DeLay, and the grassroots campaign that has introduced him to Democrats around the state.

John Sharp: Mr. Sharp could not be reached for comment.

Felix Alvarado: There's nothing in the DMN story from his campaign, but I, the intrepid blogger have sent an email to the campaign and am awaiting a reply.

This what the Alvarado campaign had to say:

The Alvarado Campaign is pleased with the results of this poll, however we realize that we have much more work to do.

Senator Gonzalo Barrinetos to Retire

By Damon McCullar

From QR

Senator Gonzalo Barrientos (D-Austin) will announce at an 11:30 press conference this morning that he has decided not to seek re-election. Instead, he plans to look at some private sector opportunities and enjoy his grandchildren.

However, Senator Barrientos did imply he might have a few additional observations at his press conference. Stay tuned.

Paging Kirk Watson...

Representative Round-up

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

QR: Retired police officer and current Sunnyvale Town Council member Thomas Latham will run against state Rep. Elvira Reyna (R-Mesquite) in the GOP primary for House District 101.

Senator Staples officially announces for Texas Commissioner of Agriculture.

Representative Rick Noriega's fundraisers this week have been cancelled because he has once again been conscripted. This time he has been asked by Houston Mayor Bill White to manage the evacuee center at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Off the Kuff has a story from his wife who served for him in the lege this year while he was away in Afghanistan.

ITPT: According to a press advisory from his office, Barrientos will “announce future political plans” on Wednesday morning. 11:30AM. Speaker’s Committee Room. Can we only hope that they include an open Senate seat for Kirk Watson to run for?

Charlie Baird Official Throws His Hat in the Ring for the 299th District Court

By Damon McCullar

Today Charlie Baird, current justice for the state's highest criminal court threw his hat in the ring for the 299th District Court.

District Courts are on the front lines against serious threats such as murder, robbery, rape and child abuse. I am running because I have the experience, qualifications, and respect for the rule of law that are exactly what we need to protect people as well as our legal system. My 15 years of judicial experience and my seven years as a law school professor make me uniquely qualified to serve the people of Travis County.

Judge Baird is running for the 299th District Court of Travis County. The current judge, Jon Wisser, is retiring at the end of his term. Judge Baird will be a candidate in the March 7, 2006 Democratic Primary.
Judge Baird served on the Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in Texas, from 1990 through 1998. The Houston Bar Association rated him the Most Outstanding Statewide Judge in 1997. Since leaving the Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge Baird has been serving as a visiting judge on the intermediate appellate courts and the local trial benches in Travis County. He is the author of more than 1,000 judicial opinions. Additionally, Judge Baird has served on the faculty of Texas Tech University School of Law, South Texas College of Law and Loyola University New Orleans School of Law, teaching courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, capital punishment, criminal appellate and post conviction remedies, international criminal law and criminal trial advocacy. He is a two-time recipient of the professor excellence award at South Texas College of Law.
Judge Baird received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from South Texas College of Law in 1980, and his Masters of Laws in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia in 1995. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 1976.

David Harris Suspends Campaign Events for Katrina Relief Efforts

By Damon McCullar

David Harris, candidate for CD -06, suspended campaign events today to dedicate more time to relief efforts in Arlington.

Campaign events are suspended in lieu of work in shelters that needs to be accomplished. Anyone willing to volunteer in the Arlington area, please see www.missionarlington.org for more information. If the web site is down due to increased activity, they can be contacted at the following: Mission Arlington (817) 277-6620 210 South St, Arlington They desperately need assistance sorting and organizing donations. Thanks for the generous contributions that BOR readers continue to bring in.

Andy Brown Campaign Kick-off

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Seems that the Andy Brown campaign is going to have their kick-off event hosted by former statewide candidate Garry Mauro. Info below.

Thursday, September 15, 2005
5:30-7:30 pm
At the home of Cristina & Garry Mauro
2208 Townes Lane, Austin, Texas

Please RSVP by contacting the campaign at (512) 636-4345 or kristi@voteandy.com. You may contribute online at www.voteandy.com.

Best regards from the host committee,

Robbie & Tom Ausley
Melanie & Ben Barnes
Myra Tucker Bull
Kent Caperton
Liz Carpenter
Diane Dwight
John Fleming
Deborah Green
Cindy & Greg Kozmetsky
Elizabeth Hartman
Marguerite Jones
Lowell Lebermann
Lola & Mick Long
Cristina & Garry Mauro
Glen Maxey
Ambassador Stan McLelland
Lynn & Tom Meredith
Tory & Milam Newby
Noelle Newby
Betty & Duncan Osborne
Deborah Peel
Janis & Joe Pinnelli
Eugene Sepulveda
Julia Null Smith
Mary Gordon Spence
Margot & Grant Thomas
Sharon Watkins
Delane & Tom Weber
Nancy Williams
Kristi Willis
Suzanne & Marc Winkelman

Just the Facts?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

From the announcement of Molly Beth Malcolm, former TDP Chair of Chris Bell this week came some interesting quotes. (Besides the fact that I don't understand how her endorsement is a positive thing considering most of the "new grassroots" of the party never liked her, she led the party to loss after loss statewide, and was not liked by quite a large part of the county level party machinery...)

But that aside...

If calculation, caution, and consultant’s advice are your thing, then Chris is not your candidate.

Calculation and caution must not include that 6 months of exploring. And as far as consulting goes?

Total contributions from Jan 1-June 30: $152,653.87
Total expenditures from Jan 1-June 30: $127,593.77
Expenditures on Consultant Services: ca. $109,127.00
% of expenditures on consultant's advice: 85%

Chris is not now and never will be Republican-lite.

"Parents are nearly powerless to filter out a commercial culture that relentlessly pushes a permissive attitude toward explicit sex and violence. We need to find the moral courage to empower parents in this battle, and let’s start with violent video games. In any of the “Grand Theft Auto” video games, the player can beat up old ladies, steal cars, murder police officers, run over pedestrians, and pick up and murder prostitutes. Other states have made it a crime to sell this crud to our kids without a parent’s say-so, and I think we should do the same here in Texas." (Link)

Does that mean that Joe Lieberman isn't Republican-lite either?

Chris Bell Calls for Suspension of Gas Tax

By Damon McCullar

HOUSTON – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell today called for a month-long suspension of the gas tax to counterbalance the recent spike in pump prices.

“Gas is not a luxury item,” said Bell, a Houston Democrat. “Most of us need gas to get to work or to school. High gas prices are a threat to the economy, a drag on the relief effort, and a burden on all but the wealthiest drivers. We need to do this right away.”

Bell called for the gas tax break a day after the Comptroller announced that the state was running a $1.2-billion budget surplus. The State of Texas collects 20 cents per gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel. Last year, the state collected $2.26 billion in gas taxes and $673 million in diesel taxes.

“We can afford this tax break,” said Bell. “What we can’t afford are these gas prices. I think it’s great that the Attorney General is warning against price gouging, but drivers are getting gouged anyway. Suspending the Texas gas tax is something we can do give Texans real relief real quick.”

AAA recently reported that Hurricane Katrina sent gas prices in Texas to record levels for regular grade, self-service gas. Prices jumped 50 cents overnight, according to an AAA official, and now are exceeding $3 a gallon in many Texas cities.

Georgia’s Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue on Friday signed an executive order suspending the state motor fuels taxes through the end of the month, and Oklahoma’s Senate Pro Tem, Democrat Mike Morgan, on Thursday called for a suspension of that state’s gas tax until next year.

“Giving people a tax break at the pump is just common sense. It’s a bipartisan idea that leaders around the country are embracing, and I don’t see any reason why we can’t do it here in Texas,” said Bell.

David Van Os Rails Against Price Gouging in the Wake of Hurricane Katrinia

By Damon McCullar

David Van Os, candidate for Attorney General had this to say about the price gouging occurring in the wake of the national tragedy known as Hurricane Katrina:

News commentators, industry representatives, politicians, and other voices of the corporate-political-media establishment are somberly telling the rest of us to expect more increases in gasoline prices as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

However, I have some questions for the political-corporate elites and their friends in the media punditry. Who gave the big oil companies an unalienable right to profit off tragedy? Do the oil companies have a God-given right to forever maximize their profits? Why shouldn't the oil companies and their silk-stocking executives be expected to do their part to assist in relief efforts? Why shouldn't the oil companies be expected to show some public spirit and reduce their profit expectations at this time of national distress? Where are our public servants who should be calling on the oil companies to do their part? Are our public officials too beholden to corporate industry to exert moral leadership on this matter?

What do you think?

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week

By Damon McCullar

TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Barbara Ann Radnofsky attended a meeting of the Houston Interfaith Alliance at Second Baptist Church in Houston on September 1st to assist in mobilizing the Houston Interfaith Community to respond to the influx of refugees from Hurricane Katrina from Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. Barbara’s summary of the meeting, which was facilitated by Dr. Ed Young of Second Baptist, is set forth at http://www.radnofsky.com/blog.php?items_id=95. All volunteers in the Radnofsky campaign are encouraged to participate personally in the relief effort across Texas.

On Thursday, Field Director Robert Andrews of Austin and Deputy Field Director for Veterans Larry Romo of San Antonio represented Barbara at the Bexar County AFL-CIO Labor Day Reception in San Antonio, and Nueces County Field Coordinator Susie Smith represented Barbara at the monthly Corpus Christi TDW meeting. On Friday,. Robert Andrews and Travis County Field Coordinator Ralph Bordie, along with Kendrick Hackett of Austin, represented Barbara at the AFL-CIO Fish Fry and Reception in Austin.

Barbara will be represented or will personally attend Labor Day weekend events across Texas including the Collin County Labor Day Picnic in McKinney at Towne Lake Park in McKinney on Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m., the Labor Day Cook-Off in Pasadena at the fair grounds on Sunday, the Dallas County Democratic Party Labor Day Picnic in Fair Park, at the Food and Fiber Pavilion, from 1 till 4 p.m. on Monday, the El Paso Labor Day Breakfast, El Paso Airport Hilton, 2027 Airway Blvd., 8:00 a.m., on Monday, the Democratic Celebration of Labor Day, Cypress Pavilion, Brackenridge Park, San Antonio, Texas, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm, on Monday, the Corpus Christi Labor Council Breakfast, IBEW Hall, 9:00 a.m., and the Senate District 24 Democratic Labor Day Picnic in Lampasas which begins at 11:30 AM at Hancock Park on Rt. 281 in Lampasas on Monday.

Barbara will also be represented by Field Director Robert Andrews at the regular monthly Austin Stonewall Democrats Meeting in Austin on Tuesday, September 6th at the Magnolia Café on South Congress in Austin at 7:30, and at the first meeting this semester of the Aggie Democrats in College Station at 8:30 on Wednesday.

Barbara continues to encourage all campaign volunteers to participate personally in the relief efforts for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina across Texas, asking her volunteers to invest their time and energy in showing simple human kindness and compassion to the many women, men and children Texas is hosting.

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

9/5/2005: Chris will be the featured speaker at the Senate District 24 Democratic Labor Day Picnic in Lampasas. The picnic starts at 11:30 AM at Hancock Park on Rt. 281, and Chris will be speaking around 1 PM. Come on out and spend your Labor Day with other Hill Country Dems! You'll have a chance to meet Chris and hear him talk about his plans for the campaign ahead. Don't miss out on the fun!

9/5/2005: Chris will be stopping by the Austin County Democratic Club's Labor Day Picnic in Sealy on Monday evening. The Picnic starts at 5 PM and Chris will be speaking around 6:30 PM.

9/7/2005: Chris is honored to be travelling to Dallas on Wednesday, September 7th to take part in DFA Dallas's Summer Speaker Series at the Dallas Public Library. Democracy for America's Dallas meetup group has invited Chris to come speak about his ideas for Texas and his plans for the campaign ahead, so if you're in the Metroplex, this is a great chance to come out and meet the next Governor of Texas!

The meeting starts at 7 PM at the meeting room of the Downtown Public Library across from City Hall. For more information, please contact Juli Roland at juliro@sbcglobal.net.

9/5/2005: The Picnic is being held at City Park in Sealy. From I-10, take the Sealy exit and head north on Hwy 36 into town. At the second light (Main Street), make a left. The park is directly across the street from City Hall. For more information, contact JoBeth Hines.

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Felix Alvarado will be in Lampasas on the 5th, and on the 7th he is in San Angelo.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

"Take Back Texas" Picnic sponsored by the Democrats of Senate District 21. Hancock Park on Highway 281 just south of downtown Lampasas. Sept. 5th. The event starts at 11:00AM.

Hot Dog Roast sponsored by the Brazos County Democratic Party, Texas
Democratic Women of the Brazos Valley, and the Brazos Valley Central Labor Council. Sept. 5th at 6:00PM, music starts at 4:00PM. Haswell Park Pavilion, 1142 East William Joel Bryan Parkway, Bryan, Texas

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General. Check out his new website.

Saturday morning 9-3 I am guest speaker at North East Bexar County
Democrats.
Saturday afternoon I am guest speaker at Collin County Democrats Labor Day
picnic.
Sunday afternoon 9-4, Val Verde Democrats picnic, Del Rio.
Monday 9-5, SD 24 Democrats Labor Day Picnic and Rally, Lampasas.
Monday 9-5, Brazos Valley Central Labor Council picnic, Bryan.

Hank Gilbert
Hank Gilbert is running for Ag Commish

Charlie Thompson
Charlie is a retired Naval Flight Officer exploring a run for Congress in CD-5

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

On September 2nd, David will be attending petition signing events in Waxahachie, Corsicana and Centerville, ending in Houston for radio and press events. (Anyone interested in assisting in the south county events, please email Michelle at FM2DC@aol.com or call 817-706-2521)

1. We are traveling to the Houston Food Bank to carry donations for them to purchase additional food immediately. Food banks will always take donations of food, but the purchase power they get as a charity far out weighs any thing that we could give them. For every $1 collected, they are able to purchase $25 in food. This is money that will go directly to feed the estimated 25,000 that will be bused to the Astrodome this weekend. If you would like to donate, any amount would be greatly appreciated. Checks can be made out to "Houston Food Bank" and we will be delivering those checks to them at noon on Friday and then volunteering a couple of hours to pack care packages for those displaced families.
2. A shelter (along with 20 others in Houston) has opened on Galveston Island at the following location:
Moody Methodist Church
2803 53rd Street
Galveston, TX
There is no way we would be able to go to the beach and not be thinking of those people that are now displaced so I wanted to pass on to you a list of what we are doing this weekend in the event that you would like to help. We are taking blankets, board games, books and toys so that the displaced children will have something to temporarily distract them. No amount of items you would be willing to donate would be too much. They have 200 people now and are expecting it to be at 300 by the weekend. Currently they are in need of items as follows: bedding (sheets, blankets and sleeping bags), clothing in good condition (need more mens clothes), new underwear (children and adults), shoes, school supplies, bottled water and drinks, non-perishable foods, toiletries (hygiene and feminine products), towels, washcloths, diapers/wipes, baby food/formula, and paper goods. David is working on getting a donated truck so we will take as much as anyone would like to collect. We will be accepting donations at our house from 5:30 to 11:00 this evening from anyone willing to bring items over. My address is as follows:
2205 Mainsail Lane
Arlington, TX 76002
Exit 360S towards Mansfield. Our neighborhood is off of 360 south, just past the TCC campus and Webb-Lynn road. (the corner of it actually begins at the corner of Webb and 360) Once you pass the campus entrance and Webb-Lynn, slow down...the houses you will see on your right behind the fence are part of Lake Port Village where I live. The only entrance into the area on 360 is a right on Port Phillip, turn in here. The first street is Mainsail, take a left here. We are the third from the last house on the right side as on Mainsail. It is a red and gray brick two story, with a red door, we have a white Kia in the drive and a wisteria vine twisted around the brick column at the front door.
My cell is 817-706-2521 if you can't find it...:)

3. If you have time during a break or at lunch, we will be delivering letters of encouragement and prayers to those people at the shelter. If you would put it in an envelope with your first name and last initial on the outside, I will deliver it to a family and bring you back their names and their story. Many of them have not yet begun to understand what has happened to them or cope with the realization that they may never return. Any words of encouragement that you would be willing to offer may make the difference for them on a day they need it.

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Friday, September 2nd in Austin
At the AFL-CIO Hall, there will be a B-B-Q picnic. John will be there to speak to the crowd and visit fellow union members, as a guest of the National Association of Letter Carriers. John Courage is a member of the American Federation of Teachers and Texas Federation of Teachers. The picnic starts at 5:30.

Saturday September 3rd in San Antonio
John will be at the Northeast Bexar County Democrats (NEBCD) meeting at Luby's Cafeteria (on Loop 410 between Nacogdoches Rd. and Broadway). John Courage is a founder and past president of the NEBCD.
The meeting begins at 8:30 AM

Also on Saturday September 3rd, John will speak at the San Antonio Area Progressive Action Coalition (SAAPAC) meeting at Grady's Restaurant (on San Pedro Ave. at Jackson Keller 1 mile south of Loop 410). The meeting begins at 1:00 PM

Monday - Labor Day, September 5th in San Antonio
John will be meeting voters at 'A Democratic Celebration of Labor Day' At Brackenridge Park - Cypress Pavilion, (enter on N. St. Mary's. The pavilion is east of the zoo entrance.) The event runs from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Also on Monday September 3rd, in San Antonio, John will speak at the Bexar County Democratic Women's monthly meeting at Jim's Restaurant at San Pedro and Ramsey. The meeting begins at 6:00 PM, Tuesday September 6th in Austin. John plans to join the Lake Travis Democrats for their monthly meeting at Travis Co. Bridges/Roads Building, next to PECU Bldg. on 620 and Mansfield Dam
6:30 P.M. - Light Supper - pizza, salads, desserts, and drinks
7-8 P.M. - Business Meeting

Wednesday September 7th in San Antonio
The Alamo Volunteers with Courage will meet at the Oakwell Library (4134 Harry Wurzbach - 1/2 mile south of McArthur Park off Loop 410).
The meeting begins at 6:30 PM. Come find out what you can do to help this campaign!
Contact: Zada True-Courage
Phone: 210-499-5776

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Friday:
Sometime around 1pm, Nick will deliver food we've collected to the Houston
Food Bank. People can drop off food at our Clear Lake office until noon
tomorrow and we'll take it up to the Houston food bank. We did not do press
on this, just trying to help out.

Saturday:
Ft. Bend County Democrats Prayer Breakfast
8:30am
16748 Quail Park
Missouri City, TX

House Meeting (get to know Nick Lampson)
8422 Manassas Ln
Houston, TX 77083

Sunday
Labor Day Cook Off
Pasadena Fair Grounds

Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-31.

Richard Raymond
Raymond Rodrigez is running for re-election to Congress in the CD-31.

Ciro Rodrigez

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the 3rd Court of Appeals

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

PAC Non Suprises

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

ITPT bring us a tale today of the new Maverick PAC of Texas, made up of old Bush/Cheney Texas fundraisers, announcing their support of Bush's former Lt. Gov, Rick Perry.

Big suprise I know. About as big as Desis for Texas's endorsement of Chris Bell for Governor. Considering some of them are interning for him and, well, look at their treasurer, who happens to be campaign staff.

Should I be waiting for the Drug Policy Forum of Texas to endorse Kinky Friedman anytime soon?

Flynn May Have GOP Opponent In HD 2

By Vince Leibowitz

State Representative Dan Flynn (R-Van), may have a Republican Primary opponent next year.

According to sources within the Republican Party of Van Zandt County, Flynn may be opposed by Charles S. "Chuck" Tull, Jr., current President of the Edgewood Independent School District Board of Trustees, and son of former Grand Saline Police Chief C. Stanley Tull, Sr.

Flynn, who won unopposed—in both his Party Primary and in the general election in 2004—defeated former Greenville Mayor Sue Ann Harting and Rains ISD Trustee (and former justice of the peace) Mickey Cooper in the 2002 GOP Primary after an expensive and bitter battle.

Flynn, who is heavily backed by his party's far-right-wing, including millionaire tort reform/voucher advocate James Leininger, is considered to have a lock on next year's GOP Primary. According to January semi-annual Texas Ethics Commission reports, Flynn had about $21,000 in cash on hand in his campaign account. Subsequent reports indicate Flynn's campaign also carries around $13,000 in debt.

Hank Gilbert for Ag Commissioner

By Damon McCullar

I didn't get to attend the Rural Texas Democrats Summit this weekend. Events here in Austin kept me close to campus, but the Tyler Morning Telegraph has a wrap up on it. Featured in the article is Chris Bell, Democratic candidate for Governor, but the thing that I found most interesting is that we now have a candidate for Ag Commissioner. The last paragraph of the article says:

Several other Democratic candidates were present for the convention, including David Van Os, who is running for attorney general, and Hank Gilbert, candidate for agricultural commissioner.

I know very little about Hank Gilbert, other than the fact that I met him at the SDEC Meeting here in Austin and at the time he told me he was only considering a run for Ag Commish. If anyone has any contact info for Hank Gilbert, please shoot me an email. Vince, I hope you have a report to file on the Rural Democrats Summit.

I'm heading to the LBJ Birthday Picnic at The Salt Lick this afternoon. I understand that Felix Alvarado and Maria Alvarado, candidates for Governor, and Lt. Governor respectively will be in attendance. I am looking forward to meeting them both. Chris Bell, John Courage, David Van Os and many of the 2006 field of candidates will be at the event this afternoon. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll run into Hank. If you've not got anything to do this afternoon, head on down to The Salt Lick, tickets to the picnic are $20 at the door.

A Walk With Andy

By Katie Naranjo

For those of you who haven’t seen Andy Brown on the weekends lately it is because he has been walking the neighborhoods of HD 48 meeting with voters. His early start has given him name recognition and happy salutations when knocking on doors.

Thus far the statistics stand: 3 months of walking and over 1,000 doors knocked on

The results: 330 supporters on his website (many notable names), over 60,000 in donations (without even a fundraiser) and bunches of bumpers stickers and literature handed out.

The Bio: Andy is the former campaign manager for Lloyd Doggett and is currently working in litigation over intellectual property rights. He has clerked for a federal judge and worked for Pete Laney when he was Speaker of the House. His resume is a mile long and very impressive considering he is a young democrat at the ripe age of 32. His hobbies are Taekwondo competitions (he is a black belt) and working pro bono on immigration cases. He is hardworking, experienced, intellectual, and charming, yet very humble in his mannerisms which create an appeal as a candidate.

HD 48: The history of the district is becoming positive for Democrats, with HD 48 races being so close that Kelly White lost by 147 votes in the 2004 election. Andy expressed optimism about HD 48, when discussing voters who will be voting democrat in November as a result of the Republican administration’s inability to resolve the education finance problem. For Andy, education is much more then a committee and problem to be resolved, but rather an issue he concentrates on because, “education is what separates America from 3rd world countries.”

The opponent: Todd Baxter (Republican) is the current representative of HD 48 and has been linked to accepting large corporate contributions during his 2004 race against Kelly White. He voted to kick 250,000 children off of CHIPS program in 2001 (the kids have not been allowed back on to this date) and supported vouchers for private schools. Todd is a classic representation of corporate interests over constituent interests.

Andy on the issues: Q. How would you tackle education finance?
We first need to assess the areas where funding is needed and what programs need monetary compensation and then subsidize the programs up to 60% of the budgeted cost. Currently the state pays for 35% of the schools costs for educational programs, where as in the 70’s the state paid for 60% of the cost. The increase of state compensation will keep local taxes in the districts and overall enhance the educational institutions of Texas.

How will you work to improve ethics on the state level?
I will work for campaign finance reform in the state of Texas. Currently there is a corporate run legislature because there aren’t limits on contributions from PACs and corporate PACs in state races. Limiting contributions from PACs will ensure that the interests of the district are not lost at the capitol.

Andy’s style when approaching voters is laid back and very conversational. The usual protocol follows and general introduction and then an inquiry about specific issues constituents want addressed. The reason for the inquiry is not the usual political rhetoric, but rather an interaction Andy hopes will aid him in representing his district rather then corporate interests. When asked why he is running Andy refers to his roots in the district as a graduate from McCallum high school and long time Austinite. He takes pride in his district, but has been becoming more upset with the lack of representation in his state representative Todd Baxter.

For more information about Andy, his accomplishments and goals for Texas visit www.voteandy.com

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week

By Damon McCullar

TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

8/27/2005: Chris will be traveling to East Texas in late August to address the Rural Texas Democratic Summit. The Rural Summit starts on Friday evening with a Blue Ribbon Ball, and then on Saturday there's a full day of meetings, workshops, and exciting guest speakers. Chris will be addressing the gathering on Saturday morning. The Rural Summit is being held at the Ramada Inn in Tyler. Regristration for the conference is $25 per person, and space is limited so register today! Register by phone at 903-530-5157 or by email at etdemsummit@hotmail.com.

8/28/2005: Chris is proud to be joining Hays County Democrats on Sunday, August 28th as they hold their annual LBJ Birthday Party celebration at the world-famous Salt Lick BBQ restaurant in Driftwood. Check out the HCDP website for all the details. See you there!

9/5/2005: Chris will be the featured speaker at the Senate District 24 Democratic Labor Day Picnic in Lampasas. The picnic starts at 11:30 AM at Hancock Park on Rt. 281, and Chris will be speaking around 1 PM. Come on out and spend your Labor Day with other Hill Country Dems! You'll have a chance to meet Chris and hear him talk about his plans for the campaign ahead. Don't miss out on the fun!

Felix Alvarado
Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General. Check out his new website.

8/26-27: Rural Democratic Summit, Tyler
9/3/2005: North East Bexar County Democrats, San Antonio. David will be one of the Guest Speakers
9/5/2005 Labor Day Democratic Picnic, Lampasas. David will be one of the guest speakers.

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, fresh from a tour of El Paso and Lubbock, traveled to the Hill Country on Thursday, August 25th. She held an interview with Greg Shrader, Editor and Publisher of the Kerrville Daily Times and Gerard MacCrossan, Assistant Managing Editor, and toured Mooney Aircraft Company, an important Hill Country business located in Kerrville. She was met by BOR’s Karl-Thomas Musselman and his parents, Fredericksburg City Councilman Tom Musselman and Kelley Musselman, and attended a reception hosted by Gillespie County Democrats. In addition to speaking with Fredericksburg residents at the reception about critical issues facing Texans and in particular Hill Country residents, and with Tom, who teaches government and history at Fredericksburg High School, about education issues, Barbara and Kelley shared thoughts about how each could avoid the motherly instinct to clean their son’s college dorm rooms – Karl-Thomas and Max are safe for now! After the reception, Barbara and Ed returned to the Hanger Hotel and spent the rest of the evening strolling through the Gillespie County Fairgrounds.

Friday, August 26, 2005, Barbara will ride in the Gillespie County Parade in Fredericksburg at 10:00 a.m. She will attend the Gillespie County Fair at noon. Barbara will tour the important Kerrville Veteran’s Hospital at 3:00. At sundown, Barbara and her husband, Ed Supkis, will attend a private Shabbat service for members of her faith from across the Hill Country hosted by Kerrville resident Nancy Banks.

On Saturday August 27th, Barbara will attend a luncheon hosted by the Kerrville chapter of Texas Democratic Women from 11:00 to 12:30 at the Riverhill Country Club, 100 Riverhill Club Lane, Kerrville, Texas 78028. At 1:00, Barbara will attend a reception hosted by Kerrville TDW, Kerr County Democrats and Schreiner University Young Democrats at Schreiner University. Theater, 2100 Memorial Blvd, Kerrville, Texas 78028.

On Sunday August 28th, Field Director Robert Andrews of Austin will be representing Barbara at the LBJ Birthday Party held by the Hays County Democrats at the Salt Lick Pavilion in Driftwood, Texas, from 3 to 6 p.m.

Charlie Thompson
Charlie is a retired Naval Flight Officer exploring a run for Congress in CD-5

David Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD-06.

David Harris will be attending the UAW march on Joe Bartons's office on August 31st, at 4 PM in Arlington to support their effort to protest attacks against Social Security and soaring gasoline prices. Everyone interested is encouraged to attend.

On September 2nd, David will be attending petition signing events in Waxahachie, Corsicana and Centerville, ending in Houston for radio and press events. (Anyone interested in assisting in the south county events, please email Michelle at FM2DC@aol.com or call 817-706-2521)

The family will take a well deserved break from the madness to celebrate the Labor Day holiday in Galveston with friends.

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

On Friday August 26th at 7:00 PM in San Antonio, John will be participating in the Platica with Suzanne Pharr. Participants will discuss the role of racism, sexism, and homophobia in right-wing political organizing. The event will be at Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, 922 San Pedro [near SAC @ Evergreen].

On Saturday August 27th in Crawford, John will be making a bus trip to Camp Casey in Crawford with a group of San Antonio Democrats and Activists to show his solidarity with Cindy Casey and the other Gold Star mothers. John Courage, a former member of the US Air Force, has been a long time opponent to the Iraq War.

On Sunday August 28th from 3:00 to 6:00PM in Driftwood, John will be participating in the Hays County annual LBJ Birthday Celebration and Fundraiser. The locations will be at The Saltlick BBQ Pavillion in Driftwood.

On Monday August 29th at 6:00PM in San Antonio, John will speak at the San Antonio Democratic League Meeting. The meeting will be held at The Picante Grill (on Broadway across from the Witte Museum).

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Mary-Beth Harrell
Mary-Beth Harrell is running for Congress in the CD-31.

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Donna Howard
Donna Howard is seeking the nomination for State Representative in District 48.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the 3rd Court of Appeals

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Desis For Texas Endorses Chris Bell for Governor

By Damon McCullar

Desis For Texas, a South Asian PAC, has endorsed Chris Bell for Governor.

Since I've been in Houston, Congressman Bell has been a voice of responsibility, prudence and good sense. I remember watching the news when I first went to college, and seeing him campaign for the City Council elections. Right there, in that first bid for public service, were the seeds of what grew into his political ethos. He was telling Houstonians about how their government needed to be more efficient, more transparent, more honest about how they were spending the tax revenues and more accountable to the people. He demonstrated that we could have a better, stronger and more progressive city government without having to raise taxes, and in fact, by cutting them. He also authored legislation that made it more difficult for former municipal employees and servants to parlay their service into lucrative lobbying contracts, lining their pockets with monies exacted from hard-working Houstonians. I had never seen a politician talk that talk, much less walk that walk. At the time, I was just beginning to question my involvement in the Republican party, and I remember thinking that if this is what Democrats were like, perhaps I should switch parties.

To read the entire endorsement, check out the Chris Bell Blog.

Donna Howard- HD 48- Hat in the Ring

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

It's official. From the press release...

DONNA HOWARD TO RUN FOR TEXAS HOUSE 'DO-NOTHING' LEGISLATURE NEEDS 'CAN-DO' SPIRIT

(AUSTIN) -- Austin public education advocate Donna Howard today confirmed reports that she is planning to run for Texas House District 48 and will formally announce her campaign next month.

"This "do-nothing" Legislature has let our public schools slip to the brink of bankruptcy," Howard said. "I will be offering voters a "can-do" spirit to solve the real problems our communities face."

A former Eanes ISD board member, Howard was born and raised in Austin, graduated from Reagan High, and has spent her adult life working to help strengthen the community. She was a co-founder of Advocates for Eanes Schools, a parent organization that monitors the activities of the school board, and helped start the Texas Education Crisis Coalition, a grassroots group of parents and community leaders.

Certified as a Master School Trustee by the Texas Association of School Boards, Howard has previously run as a Democratic candidate for the State Board of Education.

"Partisanship and special-interest pandering aren¹t getting the job done," Howard said. "I will push for a united effort across party lines and ideologies to fix our public schools."

Howard earned a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's in health education, both from the University of Texas. She has worked as a critical care nurse at Brackenridge and Seton hospitals, served as the first hospital-based Patient Education Coordinator in Austin history, and helped get the Seton Good Health School off the ground. She has also been president of the Texas Nurses' Association (District 5) and a Health Education instructor at UT.

Married to Austin attorney Derek Howard, the couple has three children, all educated in Austin public schools. Howard and her family are active in their neighborhood and in their church, where she has served on the board.

So it will be a primary between Donna Howard and Andy Brown (assuming no one else jumps in). I've been impressed with both candidates though Donna holds a special place for me as she was one of the candidates that was running in a SBOE District that included Fredericksburg four years ago when I came politically aware and active with the first John Courage campaign. My only hope is that this will primary will raise awareness of our candidate in HD 48, battle test them, and will be one that's clean and not down on the level of Rick v. Carol.

Zimmerman to Challenge Strama

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Republican Don Zimmerman has officially launched his campaign in District 50 to challange Mark Strama in 2006. His tagline? Real. Republican. Rezults. No, I'm not kidding. Those red Z's everywhere are kinda creepy.

But in any case, someone needs to tell him that Republican and Results (with an s) don't belong in the same sentence together as his party, the one in control of all three branches of this state, havn't delivered any so far this year on anything important to the State of Texas.

Might I suggest instead... Fake. Flazhy. Failure.

KBH In Trouble?

By Damon McCullar

The latest Survey USA polling data is out and KBH has slipped 7 points in her popularity since her high of 64% in June. As of August 16th, Survey USA puts KBH's approval rating at 57%.

The Barbara Ann Radnofsky Campaign had this to say about the new poll numbers:

Impressive poll results showing a significant drop in support for our opponent punctuated our campaign trips to El Paso, Lubbock, and Austin last week. Survey USA approval ratings showed that Senator Hutchison's electoral façade has begun to crack. Across the board drops, in some cases as significant as 10 points, indicate that Texans have responded to our message: Senator Hutchison should be judged on her record.

Recent news reports showed that Senator Hutchison has abandoned the issues on which she based her announcement to seek re-election, choosing to focus on three issues our campaign identified: veterans’ affairs, education, and health care. She has crawfished on a variety of issues our campaign raised.

* She has flip-flopped on veterans affairs after a series of speeches and press releases from our campaign, and has finally called for a VA Hospital south of San Antonio, after months of my campaigning for such a facility.

* She has flip-flopped after her abandonment of her Constitutional obligation of Advise and Consent, and is now calling for Senate vetting of Supreme Court appointees, after her prompt rubberstamping of the President's nomination and her immediate call on her colleagues to ensure the nomination.

* She wrongly claims to be supportive of health care when in fact she voted against the bipartisan Bingaman-Smith amendment that restored Medicaid funding cut from Texas. After the last eleven years of rubberstamping and failed leadership, Texas now leads the nation in percentage of uninsured children and adults. She now parrots our campaigns call for insurance reform. We call on her to echo our call for prompt pay and preventive care.

* She wrongly claims to support education, while on her watch Texas has achieved the lowest high school graduation rate in the U.S. We call on her to echo our recommendations for mediation and full funding for grants for higher education.

* She has proudly touted her role in passage of the transportation bill. We call on her to concede that the transportation formulas in the bill that she rubberstamped have harmed Texans, sending our hard-earned Texas dollars out of state so that we can build needless construction projects in Alaska.

At our campaign stops across Texas, voters have already begun to call for public debates between Senator Hutchison and me. In less than two months, we've had an effect and changed public policy, and have focused attention on the needs of Texans.

(Getting) More Kinky

By Vince Leibowitz

I'm not a big Kinky Freidman fan, but he was in Tyler (Smith County, in East Texas) this weekend. After seeing Damon's post, I thought I'd post these links to stories about the Kinkster in ETexas:

KLTV-7 (ABC)

Tyler Morning Telegraph

Kinky Friedman Does His Best Judge Roy Moore Impression

By Damon McCullar

Kinky Friedman did a interview with ABC's This Week recently (if the ABC link doesn't work, try here). It was an interesting interview. He starts out by saying that we need to get the Ten Commandments, "I might have to call them the Ten Suggestions", in the schools. I seem to remember the Supremes saying that you can't do that. Granted that the venue for the Ten Commandments in that case was a county courthouse, but I think the ruling would be extended to the classroom. Another question I have about that is, what does the teacher tell his or her first-grader when he or she asks "What does 'You shall not commit adultery' mean" or more to the point "What does adultery mean?"

The other item that Mr. Friedman suggested was that we have non-denominational prayer in schools. This subject has again and again been struck down by the Supremes except in very, very limited cases. The biggest problem with that is that there are people in this country that don't believe in God what-so-ever. What are those folks supposed to do? Get sent out of the classroom? There's an old saying that says "As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in school" and that's fine by me Offering up a silent, personal prayer at anytime during the day doesn't offend anyone else's religious beliefs.

Finally, Mr. Friedman says "To paraphrase Ronald Reagan ... 'the other guys got the experience, that's why I'm running.' That's exactly why I am running". So Mr. Friedman does admit that he has no expericence in government. Maybe that explains why he's not voted in so many years. Or maybe it explains why when asked about tutition deregulation as he walked through campus this spring he had no idea what it was. I just paid my tutition bill. I know very well what tutition deregulation means.

So at the end of the day, how is a candidate that supports prayer in school, posting the 10 commandments in public and who quotes Ronald Reagan the progressive. I don't get it.

Pete Gallego Endorses Chris Bell for Governor

By Damon McCullar

Pete Gallego, Chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and former Chair of the House Democratic Caucus has endorsed the Chris Bell Campaign for Governor and he will be serving and as the campaign chairman.

In his own words:

My name is Pete Gallego. For those of you out there who don’t know me, I’m the Democratic state representative from the most beautiful part of Texas, Big Bend, but today I have the honor of telling the readers of the New Mainstream Blog that I have agreed to serve as the chairman for the gubernatorial campaign for my friend, Chris Bell. His campaign is putting out a press release tomorrow, but Chris wanted me to tell you about it today.

Chris and I have been friends for a long time, but I’m not backing his campaign just because we’re friends. I’m endorsing Chris for governor and plan to campaign hard for him because he "gets it." He understands what the world is like and where he wants to lead the state, and he’s fearless when it comes to talking about the world the way it is and not the way it polls.

His fearlessness goes further than his ethics fight with Tom DeLay. When he was on the Houston City Council, he helped pass the city's first property tax rate cut and wrote one of the farthest-reaching ethics reform laws for any American city.

Chris Bell also understands that the liberal and conservative labels don’t apply as well to someone who concentrates on solving problems. Like he says, he has no desire to spend the rest of his adult life stuck in a partisan ditch, never risking a move toward common ground.

I’m excited for everyone to hear what he has to say about solving the problems that Texas faces. Chris has always been the kind of leader who could appeal to both sides without abandoning his core ideals. He’s been telling me about the big ideas he wants to talk about during the campaign, I can tell you that not only are rank & file Democrats going to stand up and cheer, but Republicans are going to have an impossible time trying to marginalize him.

I think that’s the real point behind his New Mainstream ethos. We all have Republican and independent friends who tell us how worried they are that the cynical partisans who run the Republican Party are ignoring reality and putting politics before policy. There are more and more people pushed out of the Republican tent, and whether we are Republicans or Democrats, we are wondering when politicians are going to see the world like we do. We are the New Mainstream, and Chris gets it.

These are a few of the reasons I am proud to endorse Chris Bell for Governor, and what I’m asking you to do right now is free. Forward this message to a couple friends and invite them to join the New Mainstream by signing up for email updates. Trust me, you’re going to want to hear what he has to say without the media filter.

Mixin' It Up in CD 31

By Damon McCullar

As Kuff announced today, there is a candidate in CD 31 running for Congress on the Democratic ticket. Mary-Beth Harrel is her name. I got to hear her speak at a meetting of the Willimson County Democrats earlier this summer. She's a great candidate for that part of Texas.

From Off The Kuff:

I think she's staked out some strong positions on a number of issues, and I hope the questions she's asking get repeated frequently, both in her district and elsewhere. As with all of the DeLay-drawn districts, she's got a tough climb - incumbent John Carter was the best-performing Republican in CD31, with over 66% of the vote (Victor Carillo at 62% brought up the rear) - but I think there's a lot of room for improvement there. Williamson County is slowing turning more purple, and the Democrats have already got state rep candidates in place there. Get some more good things going in the Coryell and Bell County areas, and we can see some good things happen.

One other item to note is that Harrell is married to a retired military officer and the mother of two active-duty sons. She's from Killeen, site of Fort Hood, the departure point for Iraq of many Texas soldiers, reservists, and other personnel. She can speak authoritatively about service and sacrifice, and I think people will listen. For now, I encourage you to check out her website and consider donating or volunteering to help her win.

David Harris Throws His Hat in Ring in CD 6

By Damon McCullar

That's right folks, you heard it hear first. David Harris is exploring a race to take on Smoky Joe Barton up in Tarrant County. David is a father of three and husband of 7 years. He has served his county in Iraq where he received a Bronze star for actions in Iraq. His current gig is Assistant Professor of Military Science/Training Officer, University of Texas at Arlington. Previous to that he severed in the United States Army on active duty until the end of 2002, where he transferred to the reserves. He was called back to active duty in January 2003 to serve in Iraq. He came back March of 2004 David and his wife have served as interns for the State and Local Democratic Party and were delegates from Texas to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Mass.

His website will tentatively launch on October 15th, 2005. The web address will be www.followmetodc.com.

The key issues to David's campaign will be threefold. They are a strong defense, strong families and protecting the rights of all Americans.

David needs 500 signatures to get on the ballot. He is well on his way to that. If any of you folks up in Tarrant County are interested in helping David out, feel free to drop him a line at fm2dc@aol.com or Follow Me To DC, PO Box 1408 Fort Worth, TX 76102.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week

By Damon McCullar

TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

8/23/2005 6:30pm
Chris Bell is coming back out to West Texas on August 23rd to speak to Midland and Odessa Democrats at a dinner hosted by the Texas Democratic Women of Midland! The dinner event starts at 6:30 PM at the Hilton Midland Plaza at 117 West Wall Street downtown.
Don't miss your chance to come hear Chris talk about his vision for Texas! For more details or to RSVP, contact Gloria Greer.

8/27/2005: Chris will be traveling to East Texas in late August to address the Rural Texas Democratic Summit. The Rural Summit starts on Friday evening with a Blue Ribbon Ball, and then on Saturday there's a full day of meetings, workshops, and exciting guest speakers. Chris will be addressing the gathering on Saturday morning. The Rural Summit is being held at the Ramada Inn, 3310 Troup Highway,
in Tyler. Regristration for the conference is $25 per person, and space is limited so register today! Register by phone at 903-530-5157 or by email at etdemsummit@hotmail.com. Ramada Inn,

8/28/2005: Chris is proud to be joining Hays County Democrats on Sunday, August 28th as they hold their annual LBJ Birthday Party celebration at the world-famous Salt Lick BBQ restaurant, 18001 FM 1826, in Driftwood. Check out the HCDP website for all the details. See you there!

Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Felix Alvarado will be at the the August 26, 2005 meeting of Texas
Democratic Women-South Plains. It will take place at Furr's Family Dining, 6001 Slide Road, Lubbock around Noon

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General. Check out his new website.

8/19: IBEW 7th District Conference, Austin
8/20: No-nonsense rally in Austin, Texas 10:00 a.m.
8/20: NWPC--National Womens Political Caucus Noon Luncheon
8/20: Camp Casey, Van Os family and friends will be at Camp Casey in support of peace.
8/25: Franklin County League of Democrats, Mount Vernon
Rachel will be the guest of the Texas Democratic Women chapter in Palestine at the same time.
8/26-27: Rural Democratic Summit, Tyler

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Barbara was in El Paso Wednesday through Friday where she has toured the El Paso Rail Yard ( a major source of jobs in El Paso which Senator Hutchison seems willing to relocate to New Mexico), visited Cinco Puntos Press and the El Paso County Democratic Headquarters, attended two receptions in her honor, and addressed the Mayor’s El Paso Regional Economic Summit and the West El Paso Tejano Democrats.

After leaving El Paso Friday morning, Barbara flew to Lubbock, where she is attending a fundraiser Friday evening, August 19th, hosted by Sue Weninger at the Caprock Winery, 408 Woodrow Road, Lubbock.

Saturday August 20th Barbara will have breakfast with the National Grain Sorghum Growers Board in Lubbock, have a private fundraiser in the afternoon, and attend the Cattle Barron’s Ball Saturday evening. She returns to Houston Sunday to spend her last day with her son Max before he leaves to begin study as a freshman at Texas A & M.

Next week Barbara will join Burnt Orange’s own Karl-Thomas Musselman for the Gillespie County Fair and Parade in Fredericksburg. She will be in Fredericksburg and Kerrville from Thursday through Saturday. Look for her in the Yellow Dog Convertible in the parade Friday morning!

Charlie Thompson
Charlie is a retired Naval Flight Officer exploring a run for Congress in CD-5

Daivd Harris
David Harris is running for Congress in CD 6

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

John will be attending the Northwest Bexar County Democrats meeting in San Antonio at 8:30 AM Saturday Aug.20th at the Luby's Cafeteria in Bandera Rd.

On Saturday the 20th in Austin, I will also be meeting with a representative of the Project 90 group out of Washington DC to garner their national support for my campaign.

On Sunday the 21st I will be attending a fundraising event for the San Antonio Area Progressive Action Coalition at the Bethany Congregational Church, 500 Pilgrim (at Panda), inside Loop 410 in San Antonio.

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Nick will be at a morning coffee at the home of Rick and Kelly King, 3622 Shady Grove Drive in Manvel, TX (Brazoria Co.) on Saturday.

Nick will attend Indiafest in Houston later in the day at the George R. Brown Center.

Mary-Beth Harrel
Mary-Beth Harrel is running for Congress in CD 31

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is running for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the 3rd Court of Appeals

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

A Note from Juan

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Yes, I know I said I'd not be posting much. And I'm not, but when I get interesting communication and stories, I just can't sit on them for two weeks.

I was quite excited today when I saw a message from Juan Garcia in my inbox today after my recent (and totally late) post about his being at our Fredericksburg July 4th parade. (We are gearing up for the Gillespie County Democratic float for the County Fair parade this next week, so if I'm here I'll be riding in that.)

I don't make it a policy to print e-mail exchanges at all, but there were a couple of lines that inspired me and gave me hope that even though we don't hear as much out there about Juan Garcia, there is still a very real chance that we may soon enough.

I am interested in continuing public service since leaving the active duty Navy; The past weekend spent visiting two buddies at ****'s Burn Unit in San Antonio only intensified that desire. But as you know, you only get one chance to be a first-time candidate: indebted to no one, aligned with no faction, free to follow your own conscience. I want to be smart about it. I appreciate your work, and look forward to meeting.

I haven’t even had a chance to meet him yet and I'm already a fan. Juan if you're reading, know that this blogger is behind you, and that wherever and whenever you feel prepared to serve again, we'll be ready.

Chris Bell for Governor Lauch Round Up

By Damon McCullar

It was great on Sunday to finally meet some of my fellow Bloggers: Greg, The Red State, Eye on Williamson County, and Rawhide from Pinkdome (I was really starting to the the Pinkdome folks were constructs of the Matrix, the seem to only exist on AIM and their site).

Something that was even more impressive was the crowd on Sunday. They were very enthusiastic for a 95 degree day with high humidity. I met folks from every major metropolitan area in the State. Everywhere I go with the campaign, I see a new suburban populism evolving. The turn out for the events in the suburbs tends to bring out more of a crowd, or at the very least a more enthusiastic crowds. This was evidenced by the high turn out of subanites at the launch on Sunday. Specfically, I met folks from Round Rock, Mckinney, and Katy.

Here's what the print media had to say about the event:

Austin American Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, The El Paso Times San Antonio Express News and The Houston Chronicle

The event was sponsored by University Democrats. Alex Hunt, president of UDems started the program by introducing Marlen Whiley. Marlan is a former UT Student Government President and led the student opposition to former Attorney General Dan Morales' affirmative action ruling. Marlan in turn fired the crowd up with a rousing speech and had them chanting "Chris Bell" as Chris and his family came to the stage.

The emphasis of Chris' campaign is going to be on families. You can check out his Pact with Parents on the Chris Bell Website. The full text of the speech is available Here

In my live blog post there was some debate on Chris' support for equal rights for gays and lesbian. Chris' position is

I have always supported equal rights for all Texans, and for that reason I support civil unions for gays and lesbians who want to spend their lives together. But a vast majority of Texans are not ready to call that ‘marriage,’ and I agree that we as a society are not to that point.”

That being said, putting a ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution is a solution in search of a problem. The state law defining marriage is already on the books and is facing no legal challenge and no real threat of being overturned by the Texas Supreme Court. The proposed amendment will have no practical effect one way or another on the institution of marriage in Texas. This constitutional amendment is completely unnecessary and designed not to improve our state in any way but rather to tear people apart.

This position is echoed by the Dallas Voice August 5th and his voting record in Congress (scroll down and look at his votes on civil rights issues).

I'd be curious to hear some comments from other folks that were there about their impressions of Chris' speech.

Buzbee for Lt. Gov?

By Andrew Dobbs

I'm baaack... sorry I haven't blogged in a while--things have been rather busy with me between work, family stuff, moving and getting ready for classes. I'll try and let my words fill all of your lives more often, as I know most of you don't know what to do without me... ;)

Anyways, I'm back because the first major Democratic candidate for Lt. Gov. has seen his name in the papers today. Friendswood attorney Tony Buzbee--2002 candidate for State House, former Galveston County Chair--was reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to be considering a run for the most powerful position in Texas politics.

A little-known outsider with a sizable personal fortune and a central-casting resume says he's giving serious consideration to mounting a challenge against Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst next year.

Tony Buzbee, a 37-year-old lawyer and former chairman of the Galveston County Democratic Party, said the state's GOP leaders are spending too much time fighting among themselves and too little time solving problems like school finance. So he was receptive when some Democratic elders approached him a few weeks ago encouraging him to run for statewide office.

"I'm looking seriously at it, but I haven't said yes or no," said Buzbee, a former Marine Corps captain who led troops in combat during the Persian Gulf War. "I really don't like the way our state is being run right now, and I believe that those of us who have made something in our lives need to be willing to give something back."

The son of a butcher and a school cafeteria worker, Buzbee has made millions of dollars representing injured workers suing big companies and was named one of the top five commercial litigation attorneys in the state in 2003 and a "rising star" in 2004 by Texas Monthly.

Buzbee is one of the most exciting trial lawyers in the state--having risen to the level of superstar in just a few years. Smart as a whip, an A&M grad, Marine officer, with money to spare; he could be a very good candidate. He lost his only other run for public office in 2002 when Larry Taylor poured more than $50,000 of TRMPAC money into the race.

It is good to see more Democrats lining up to run statewide, especially in the less-than-glamorous offices. I don't support Mr. Buzbee or any other candidate at this point, but here's hoping he runs and many more after him.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Week ***UPDATE***

By Damon McCullar

TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! This post has gotten long due to the number of candidates in the field. Use the extended entry to see what's going on this week and who is running for what! If anyone has any leads on candidates or knows of someone I'm leaving out, please email me or leave a comment.

***UPDATE**
I received some event information from the Maria Alvarado campaign and have updated the Extended Entry. Check it out!

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

8/14/2005: Join us at a rally in Austin on the afternoon of Sunday, August 14 as Chris formally launches his campaign for governor! Chris is inviting his friends and supporters from all across Texas to come take part in the festivities and hear him lay out his vision for the campaign ahead! RSVP on the Chris Bell website so that they can keep in touch with you as the launch party approaches! The launch rally will begin at 2 PM on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, near the the Martin Luther King, Jr. statue in the East Mall. Our thanks to the University Democrats for sponsoring the event! We're going to have buses to bring people up from Houston, so be sure to tell us if you want a ride. And if you're in another city and want to help us organize carpools, let us know!
8/18/2005: Chris Bell will be the keynote speaker at a meeting of the Texas Democratic Women of Central Texas in Waco on August 18. The meeting starts at 6 PM at the CenTex Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Waco. For further information or to RSVP, contact Tammy Hartgrove at 254-715-3157.

Felix Alvarado is seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor.

Maria Alvarado is running for Lt. Governor.

Maria Luisa will be in Houston on Tuesday and in the evening meet with the members of the Katy Democrats Club (August 16, 6:30 PM - Chesterfield Club House - 1707 Briarchester Drive).

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General. Check out his new website.

8/11-8/13/2005: Texas AFL-CIO Convention Houston
8/13/2005: Meet and Greet at Private Residence Galveston
8/16/2005: Dallas Stonewall Democrats
8/17/2005: Dallas DFA Special Meeting
8/19/2005: IBEW 7th District Conference, Austin

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Barbara Radnofsky will be represented by Field Director Robert Andrews and Ralph Bordie at a meeting of the Burnet County Democrats in Burnet at the Burnet County Democratic Party
Headquarters. 104 Washington Street, in Burnet at 7:00 on Thursday August 11th.

Barbara will be attending a reception at the 45th Annual Texas AFL-CIO Convention in Houston Friday at 6:30 at the Hilton de las Americas. The Reception is in the Ballroom of the Americas D.

Barbara will be in Austin August 13th and 14th to attend Austin Music events sponsored by Austin attorney Mark Muellar.

Barbara will be flying to El Paso Wednesday to begin a six day tour of El Paso and Lubbock. El Paso attorneys Jim Scherr, Steve James and Hector Zavaleta are hosting a reception for her at the El Paso Club, Chase Bank, 18th Floor, Wednesday August 17th from 5:30 to 7. For more information please contact Alma in Jim Scherr's office, 915.544.0100

Charlie Thompson
Charlie is a retired Naval Flight Officer exploring a run for Congress in CD-5

Shane Sklar
Shane Sklar is running for Congress in CD-14.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22.

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is running for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the 3rd Court of Appeals

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let's get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

Chris Bell Liveblog

By Damon McCullar

Howdy Folks!

I'm here with The Red State, Greg's Opinion, Eye On Williamson County and Pink Dome to live blog the Chris Bell Launch. If you have any questions for Chris, there will be a press availability after the speech. Email Me with you questions and I will try to get them answered.

2:15pm: Alex Hunt welcomes Marlan Whitley to introduce Chris. He is a UT Alum along with Chris.

Marlan tells of a young reformer who got his start on the Houston City Counsel. He fought to get election finance reform in Houston politics. He tells us that Houston liked him so much that they sent him on to Congress. When Tom Delay and his boys tried to install beltway politics in Austin, Chris broke ethics truce and brought ethic complaints against Mr. Delay. The Boys in Washington employed their classic strategy: If you can't beat them, redraw them.

There's loud cheering welcoming Chris to the podium.

The full text of Chris's speech will be available here soon.

He's tellings what the core of his campaign will be.

-Education
-State Government Reform
-Pact with Parents

Exerpts from the Speech:

Government can't raise your kids and it shouldn't even try. Good parents matter more than anything I could do as governor. So I'm going to make a pact with the parents of Texas, and we're going to do it by applying something as radical as common sense to the way the world really works.

This is the big payoff of my Pact with the Parents of Texas. If you do your part, then I'll do everything I can to make Texas Public schools the best in the country. I'm calling for nothing less than a moon shot for public schools in Texas with a specific goal of having the best public schools in the country in 10 years.

Rick Perry wants you to believe that we are on the right track on education. Don't you be fooled . The so-called 'Texas Miracle' is nothing more than a politically expedient mirage. It's nothing more than Enron-style accountability and it has corrupted the curriculum and increased the dropout rate to around 40 percent -the highest in the country. The folks running schools from Austin think they can use tests to make our kids smarter. A test won't make you smarter just like a ruler won't make you any taller. Testing isn't the answer; it's just another way to ask the question, but Rick Perry and the lobbyists for the testing companies either don't get it or hope you haven't yet figured it out.

Kelly White to Back Donna Howard in HD 48

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

A source close to the goings ons in HD 47 tipped me off and confirmed some big news in Western Travis County.

Andy Brown, quick to announce his bid for the Democratic nomination after Kelly White (who narrowly lost to Todd Baxter last fall) stated she would not seek a rematch, will be challenged in the primary by former State Board of Education nominee and former Eanes School Board member Donna Howard. Kelly White will be signing on as Donna's treasurer and Ann Kitchen who held the seat prior to being bumped out by Todd Baxter, will also be joining the girls club in support of Howard's candidacy.

Two big issues and reasons for this move.

Public School finance- as a former school board member of one of the "rich districts" in Texas (which used to send money to my district in Fredericksburg until we ourselves became a rich district two years ago) Donna would be able to hammer Baxter on this one relentlessly. When Donna ran for SBOE in 2002, she ran in a district that included this part of Travis County and stretched out into the Hill Country to my hometown of Fredericksburg, which was the home of the incumbent Dan Montgomery who is actually one of the few more moderate minded members of the otherwise crazy SBOE. From what I remember from her then, I was very impressed with his knowledge and skills as a candidate.

Choice- In a district where polling has shown about 60% of the voting populace to be pro-choice, the pro-choice powers that be would like to see a woman run for the seat and represent it. Now I honestly doubt that Andy Brown would be any less pro-choice than Donna Howard, but something tells me there's a feeling that it's more genuine coming from a female candidate to those that intimately care about this.

I was actually looking forward to not having a large primary battle in this district (or HD 47 assuming we even get some official candidates down there) but unless Brown decides to back out for some reason, I expect one to ensue. My only hope is that it is clean, fought on the issues, and remains positive because the enemy here is Todd Baxter and we have to remember this is a seat that in light of the failure of the lege to do much of anything, we should win in 2006.

Andy Brown Lauches New Website

By Damon McCullar

There was were a lot of questions about who is Andy Brown after my post on interns for his campaign. You can now find out everything you want to know about Andy Brown from his new website. Give it a gander!

More on Draft Sharp

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Sometimes I have to be really impressed by Texas Democrats. This week's stories about the Draft John Sharp website have generated more than their fair share of comments around these parts. I also have to find it slightly amusing that the post got forwarded from one of the consultants I commented on over to Kelly Fero and then ended up in Charles Whitaker's inbox (Yes, he exists, I've e-mailed him, and that's the last time I'm saying sorry) which then got forwarded to some friends of his in North Texas, one of which happened to be another Burnt Orange Report writer who forwarded the whole thing back to me. All within 36 hours.

So, Charles Whitaker, the man with a desire to draft John Sharp, who contacted consultants down here in Austin to whip up a site, used to work for Sen. David Cain (no, not David Cain, Juggler for Jesus), celebrated his 50th Birthday last fall, and works for United Way as a union liaison at present. He, Leta Kay from Max Sandlin's campaign, and Alan Haynes all worked for Sharp I am told.

He posted an update to the site this morning...

When a group of us decided recently to launch DraftJohnSharp.com, we really didn't expect that the response would be so swift or so enthusiastic. In the last three days alone, more than 6,000 unique visitors have been to the site.

Since last Thursday, more than 3,200 of you have forwarded supportive comments to John Sharp, urging him to run. Most of you have opted simply to send the ‘boilerplate’ message, but several hundred of you have also written your own comments, which have been posted here on the site.

Of course, we have also received a handful of very negative comments from people supporting another candidate, but we have declined to post these.

The majority of the comments received so far have come from Texas' biggest cities: Houston, Austin, Dallas, McAllen and San Antonio, in that order. At least 38 other Texas cities are also represented, from Amarillo to Brownsville. About one dozen comments have been left from people who are out of state.

We have been forwarding all of these comments to Mr. Sharp via email, but have not yet had any indication of his intent. Thank you for your responses, and please spread the word about this site so we can continue to show John Sharp that he has the broad support he needs to run a successful campaign for Texas governor in 2006. We will keep you updated on developments.

I'm sure plenty of those hits are due to Greg and I's research and posts so I will say that Charles, Archer Nathan, and Company stirred up some blog buzz on it, though the shadow of shadiness certainly is hanging over it. I don't doubt for a minute that it's a good way to ease the public and political chatter class into dealing with a Sharp candidacy, especially when it could distract us from concentrating on the Chris Bell launch. I've held the opinion for quite some time now that it is more of a matter of when, than if, when it comes to the question of John Sharp and a race for Governor of the Great State of Texas.

Join The Brown Team

By Damon McCullar

That's right, the Andy Brown Campaign is looking for a few good guys and gals to intern for the campaign. If you are interested cotact Marc Duchen at marc@voteandy.com

Andy Brown is running for Texas House District 48 against the Republican incumbent Todd Baxter.

Draft Sharp Update

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Though certainly never meant to be a scandal, it's good to hear from the Archer Nathan group what has been up with the Draft John Sharp site. Below are some of the comments left in the other thread as well as an e-mail from Mark Nathan.

Karl-T: While all this attention is flattering, your post might have been a bit shorter if you had just asked me about the site in question directly. As I told Greg Wythe in an email after his post about www.draftjohnsharp.com on Sunday night, Archer Nathan was hired by a client in Dallas to create the site. Yesterday, the Statesman reported that our client is Charles Whitaker, a John Sharp supporter, a former Sharp aide, and, yes, a real person (sorry to disappoint). To be clear, Archer Nathan is not working for John Sharp, but we like his chances in 2006, and we also hope he runs. By the way, www.draftjohnsharp.com has had quite a spike in traffic over the last several days (thanks blogosphere!), and more than 3,200 folks have sent support messages to Sharp via the site since it launched last Thursday...

Posted by: Mark Nathan at August 9, 2005 11:46 AM

And an e-mail to Greg I was copied on...

Mr. Wythe:

We were hired to create draftjohnsharp.com by a client in Dallas who is a John Sharp supporter, and we in turn hired TradeMark Media to help us. Archer Nathan is not working for John Sharp (you can send your $5 to the address below), but we like his record and we hope he runs.

Thanks,
Mark.

Well it's good to hear there is no under the table shadiness in this part, but it's still true that a little cyber-sleuthing did help uncover part of what was going on. Now as to Greg's investigation into some of the comments supporting Sharp... I'll leave that one to continue unfolding over at his site.

And I would like to clarify, thanks to some kind souls including SDEC Committeman and all around awesome guy Ken Molberg, that I didn't intend to claim that Charles Whitaker was just a non-existant person (there are two listed in the Dallas area as it is), just that he didn't appear to have ever been active online in any sense (and certainly not politically) because at least something would have shown up in any number of google searches. And lacking that, it made it seem very unlikely that he'd be the originator of the site. Ken, if I'm ever up in Dallas this fall, we should all grab a drink with the now semi-infamous Charles Whitaker.

The Story on Draft John Sharp

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I haven’t been ignoring the launch of www.draftjohnsharp.com, I've been poking around the web gathering information in order to write this overly comprehensive post. Bear with me, it's long, but it's probably the biggest indication of what is about to come in the Texas Governor's Race.

I'm going to start out with a bit of an off the wall claim but I'll try to provide evidence to back it up. Gardner Selby ran 'from the lege' blog post today that is listed on the DraftJohnSharp site claiming that John Sharp "hasn't had the guts to look at it yet" and that the site was created by a Charles Whitaker of Dallas.

One, Sharp's statement makes it seem like he's very aware of this project that some random person who worked for the Comptroller of Publican Accounts for 5 years in the mid-90s happened to come up with. Two, I don't believe there is a Charles Whitaker of Dallas or at least, he didn't make the site at all. I believe it is the very same Austin consulting group that Greg thinks it is when he first scratched the surface of this story. So that is where I will begin...

First, some primers. Thanks to Greg, we already know that the domain is privately registered through GKG.net which does that as part of its business. But this isn’t' the dead end that Greg originally thought. Remember GKG.net...

Then Greg ganders at the source code (and though I did this I must have overlooked it) and finds that there is some old forgotten lines in there that prove that some of the template once was from the Lee Leffingwell campaign site in his run for Austin City Council this spring. Who consulted for the Leffinwell campaign this spring (as well as Dunkerly)?

Mark Nathan, who is part of the consulting firm of Archer Nathan, which is the brain trust from Will Wynn's successful campaign to become Mayor of Austin. (Christian Archer was State House Candidate Kelly White's deputy campaign manager and the group did her field program.)

Now, back in January, Vince Leibowitz reported on an SD 2 Summit that Christian Archer presented at, and mentioned that Archer Nathan Consulting was one of the key groups behind the TakeBackTexas.org website which sent out third party mailers in the 2004 House races.

Now, that website is under construction again, but if you look at the Whois data for the domain, it's of course publicly owned by Mark Nathan but more interestingly, the sponsoring registrar and some e-mail addresses point to none other than GKG.net! The exact same GKG.net e-mails can be found on the keepbetty.com whois info. And as someone who owns multiple domains, I can say that one usually keep with the same registrar over time.

But Charles Whitaker of Dallas made the Draft site right? Well, why would he have Lee Leffingwell meta tags in the source code? Want more proof? Compare the CSS style sheets of the current Draft site to those that I pulled from the way back machine which logged the stylesheet for the original Take Back Texas site that we know was owned by Mark Nathan. Oddly identical, minus a couple of colors and fonts. The same order, the same classes, the same blocks. Not only this, but the source code for the archived Take Back Texas site makes the same reference as the Draft site to needing to refer to the style sheet twice, which isn't the most common, and has many of the exact same inline markings as the Draft Site.

So unless this otherwise non Google Searchable noteworthy Charles Whitaker of Dallas happened to have worked with Mark Nathan on that site in 2004 and had all the code and design, I'm calling BS to that source and saying it was Archer Nathan Consulting who did the Draft site.

If someone was trying to conceal the owner of the Draft Sharp site because it would create some business or consulting conflict that you want the media to avoid picking up on, then I'd expect that from tech savvy people who know this business. Some random grassroots supporter with only good intentions wouldn't go through this much trouble. Which leads me to believe this is a trial balloon by the Sharp campaign and friends to gauge support and start moving towards an announcement.

Ok, that gets us to the likely fact that Archer Nathan is the consulting group behind the DraftJohnSharp site. But we aren't finished. A comment exchange left on one of Greg's posts says...

Greg, I received an e-mail from Save Texas Reps to "Draft John Sharp." I thought Save Texas Reps was a site that stands up for real Democrats and not those who sell out to Republicans. As someone who refused to participate in the so-called Dream Ticket in 2002, of which John Sharp was chief architect, I am disturbed and offended that Save Texas Reps is siding against Chris Bell, someone who has never pandered to Republicans or George Bush. Republican LITE will never win us elections. I don't understand why the likes of John Sharp and his loyalists continue to believe that it will. John Sharp is Republican Lite. It's that simple.

Posted by: Marie on August 8, 2005 03:12 PM

SaveTexasReps isn't endorsing Sharp or Bell for Governor. Alfred Stanley is a long-time supporter of SaveTexasReps (a co-founder in fact) and he asked us to send that email. Kelly Fero, Sharp's longtime advisor, has also been a huge contributor to SaveTexasReps over the years (giving labor, not $$) so sending an email to the list supporting Sharp was just paying some dues to old friends and good Democrats.

Posted by: Texas Nate on August 8, 2005 03:34 PM

Now I got the same e-mail, which was quite curious to me at first, because it didn't come in the usual formatted e-mail I get from Save Texas Reps. The text as follows...

From: Alfred@yahoo.com
Subject: Draft John Sharp
Date: August 8, 2005

John Sharp has proven he can make Texas government work better for all of us...

Rick Perry has proven he can't make government work at all...

Please forward to all your friends urging them to visit this web site and urge John Sharp to run for Governor!

Alfred Stanley

http://www.draftjohnsharp.com/

Now who is Alfred Stanley would be the next question right? A political fundraiser, of Alfred Stanley & Associates, he was the landlord for the Texas Democratic Party Headquarters both in its former and current location (and if I remember correctly, Stanley is now in the old HQ location). Andrew told us that in this older BOR post about Soechting spending a large grant of money to the TDP on elections instead of a permanent HQ, a logical choice at the time in his opinion.

(Stanley consulted and fundraised for former City Councilwoman Jackie Goodman and more recently Greg Hamilton for Sheriff and Ron Davis for County Commissioner.)

Stanley was a co-founder of SaveTexasReps. The owner of that site, who left the comment on Greg's site, also owns Mercury Campaigns, which did the TDP's website and was involved in the Dean for Texas effort. Stanley was also a donor to the Dean campaign to the tune of $500-$1000 dollars. But more importantly is that most of Mercury Campaign's work started with the Tony Sanchez campaign where they did the state Internet and E-mail operations. The same Tony Sanchez campaign which Mark Nathan ran statewide field for after leaving his job as an aide to Mayor Will Wynn whom he had helped get elected, which brings us full circle.

IN SHORT...

It seems to be very convenient that at the same time a random Draft John Sharp site with 'private' registration pops up, an e-mail gets sent out to the Save Texas Reps list in a non standard format promoting the Draft site, by one of Austin's premier fundraisers. This comes just days after a big story in which the TDP Chairman makes noise supporting a contested primary, which was confirmed to me in half hour telephone conversation I had with Mr. Soechting last Friday.

In this conversation I understood in so many words that John Sharp was planning to enter the race and that the chair wasn't particularly worried how the Bell or Alvarado campaigns would react. There was a belief the party would benefit from a contest, drawing out voters, battle testing the eventual nominee, and making the nominee earn the nomination in light of a $15 million dollar media affair for Republicans which would kill the party if we had another quiet nomination as in 2002.

So what could we have soon? A party blessed primary contest, with Archer Nathan and Kerry Fero doing consulting, Alfred Stanley as fundraiser, and maybe Mercury Campaigns pitching in some tech work?

Maybe, maybe not. But if so, that's your Burnt Orange Report for the day. I'll continue to delve into it and make some phone calls to tie up ends. Greg has already started looking into it more with some slight of hand noticed in the Draft Comments sections.

Who is Dick DeGuerin?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

The Kinky campaign made a press release today noting that Dick DeGuerin, one of Texas’ top defense attorneys, will join the campaign as a staff advisor. A Democrat who once represented Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, DeGuerin was most recently quoted in the article with TDP Chair Soechting (they are good friends) about the suggestion that Kinky should run in the Democratic Primary.

“The polarization of politics today has left our state lacking any real leadership,” said DeGuerin, who is perhaps best known for representing Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the early 1990s.

“The deep divisions between the left and right in our state are destroying the ability of our officeholders to get anything done.”

About two weeks ago, there was some big news about one of DeGuerin's clients, real estate heir Robert who was released from federal prison after serving time related to his efforts to escape prosecution in the 2001 dismemberment slaying of his Texas neighbor.

Durst, 62, was acquitted in 2003 of killing 71-year-old Morris Black. He testified that he accidentally shot Black as they struggled over a gun. He admitted cutting up Black's body and dumping it in Galveston Bay, saying he had panicked after the shooting.

He jumped $300,000 bail and fled Texas in October 2001. Weeks later he was caught near Bethlehem, Pa., with two .38-caliber pistols after he was accused of trying to steal a chicken sandwich and other small items.

Last December, he pleaded guilty to illegally carrying a weapon across a state line. Though sentenced to nine months, he got out early because of credit for his time in jail awaiting extradition to Texas four years ago.

...

Durst is the son of the late Seymour Durst, patriarch of the Durst Organization, a privately held, billion-dollar real estate company that owns several New York skyscrapers. Durst has been estranged from his family since the early 1990s.

Just wanted to build some background.

Who's Dirty Now?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

If you are a Republican in the state of Texas, you are well aware of the personal enjoyment you receive flogging Democrats for being friends of those slick trial lawyers. So after launching a Constitutional Amendment against them (the infamous Prop 12) to limit awards, you'd think that all the fun was gone.

Most certainly not.

If you're Rick Perry you attack your primary opponent CKMRS for taking money from what was the Democrat's last lifeline of money in this state. Of course, this would be a great line of attack, if it wasn't for the fact that the Good Hair Campaign took $35,000 of those dirty dollars as well. This fits perfectly with the tradition of being a Texas Republican officeholder and being hypocritical.

A Perry spokesman accused Strayhorn last month of "selling her soul" by accepting donations from trial lawyers.

In December, Perry was the biggest recipient of contributions from the HillCo political action committee, which had gotten $100,000 from a Corpus Christi-based trial lawyers' political committee, the Dallas Morning News reported Thursday.

Strayhorn's campaign accused Perry of hypocrisy.

A Perry spokesman said it was impossible to say the money came from trial lawyers because it had gone through two committees.

What, just two committees fooled you? I thought Republicans were the masters of routing money through committees. Tsk Tsk. The Perry campaign fired back saying at least the MoFo could only buy a bed with the money, unlike Carol who was rolling around in one with actual trial lawyers.

"Governor Perry took money from the HillCo PAC while the comptroller is personally soliciting private plane rides and hundreds of thousands of dollars from personal-injury attorneys."

Of course, one must wonder if there is enough of that glorious dirty money left for us Democrats to play with in 2006.

WaPo Touches On '06 Texas Races

By Vince Leibowitz

A story in this Sunday's Washington Post about some high-dollar fund-raising efforts by President Bush and Vice-President Cheney touched on a couple of marquee Texas races for 2006.

Specifically, the article mentions the pending Lampson/DeLay match up in CD 22 and the '06 race for governor.

In particular, the Post notes that "Democrats are pushing donors big and small" to help former Congressman Nick Lampson raise $1 million before the end of the year to help fund what the paper terms his "long shot" bid to unseat the House Majority Leader in his home district.

Of course, the Post also touches on one of the things that may help DeLay in 2006:

But there DeLay has access to some kinds of money that his opponents can't match. He stuffed hundreds of millions of dollars into the energy and transportation bills passed last month to benefit projects in his suburban Houston district. He'll spend much of this month making sure the largess -- including $50 million to improve an interstate that cuts through his district and $324 million for Houston Metro -- does not go unappreciated. On Monday, DeLay will show a softer side, speaking at the opening of the foster care foundation he and his wife started.

The Post had relatively little to say about the race for governor, but mentioned Democrat Chris Bell and his ethics complaint against DeLay:

Speaking of DeLay, his former colleague ex-representative Chris Bell (D-Tex.) is planning to run next year for governor of Texas. Bell broke an unwritten truce last year between the two parties when he filed an ethics complaint against DeLay. Bell, a freshman who earlier that year had been redistricted out of his seat -- thanks to partisan maneuvering directed by DeLay -- is the first major Democrat to indicate he will challenge Gov. Rick Perry (R).

Chris Bell Takes His Message National

By Damon McCullar

Chris Bell gave the keynote address today at the YDA Convention in San Francisco. The speech was covered by Pragmaddict over at Corked Bats. This is what he had to say about Chris's speech.

First, Chris Bell's message was clear from the beginning of his speech. He will be an "Education Governor," one who offered a strong vision for what his ideal Texas would look like. He made a committment to making Texas schools the best in the nation. And I'm particularly persuaded by the strategy of using this sort of message. Specific goal-setting was one way of speaking drastically missing from the Kerry/Edwards campaign, and I think it hurt them. Talking about poverty or health care or education in abstract "I want to reduce/increase it" terms is a significnatly less effective way of speaking than "I will cut poverty in half/I will create 50,000 new jobs/I will make Texas schools the best in the nation."

And he has a bright, fresh approach to education, framing it as an economic issue as well. A solid move for an economy debate that is dominated by tax policy. And in the tradition of Lakoff, after offering a new frame and metaphor, he also got into the nitty-gritty about education policy and advocated a strongly localized approach. A few choice quotes from his speech below.

"Let's raise teacher pay, get out of the way, and let them teach."

"Tests don't make you smarter, just like rulers don't make you taller."

"Jesus didn't need a poll-tested focus group to kick the money-changers out of the temple, and David didn't need third-party surrogates to take down Goliath."

"How can we call ourselves progressive if we fail to offer progress?"

A very good speech filled with excellent framing techniques--I am officially sold!

Chris Bell and Felix Alvarado are currently the only candidates for governor on the Democratic Ticket. Chris announced his candidacy on July 28th via an email to his supporters and will launch his campaign from the University of Texas on Sunday, August 14 at 2pm.

I would love to hear what Katie and Byron thought of his speech.

Welcome

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

If you are coming here from the Kinky Friedman site which just posted a blog entry and listed us on their front page, welcome to the Burnt Orange Report.

Though this blog is owned and written by Democrats, our primary interest (all puns and hints intended) is covering the political scene here in the Great State of Texas, with the governor's race being one heck of a show for us as Burnt Orange Reporters.

So I welcome y'all in poking around these parts, becoming regular readers if you please, and joining the conversation here. For a quick primer on all of our Kinky Coverage on BOR, check out this listing of entries.

Consider this an Open Thread.

On The Campaign Trail with Barbara Ann Radnofsky

By Damon McCullar

I was asked to join Barbara Ann Radnofsky this morning on the campaign trail. Little did I know that it would be the running trail at Town Lake. I tried to explain to her staff that bloggers are lucky to exercise their fingers, and that's only if they post everyday (which I don't). Also, they wanted me up at 7 a.m. To that I replied, "Up at 7 a.m.? I'm lucky if I've gone to bed by 7 a.m." So with my trusty Radio Shack tape recorder I hit the trail with Barbara Ann Radnofsky and I asked her a few questions along the way. The sacrifices I make for my art!

DCM: Good morning Barbara!
BAR: Hi!

DCM: Barbara, why are you running for the US Senate and why do you think you are qualified?
BAR: On the why reason, it's really a straightforward matter. I just want to make a difference. It's as simple as that. And on my qualifications, it's hard to put them in order...I think in terms of wanting to have citizen politicians, someone who's not been a politician all their life. I'm a mother of three kids, I've been very active in consumer protection activities, both as a mother and a lawyer. Just to give you an example, I filed a petition with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban lighters that aren't adequately child resistant. Although that's not a matter of being elected to public office, I think it shows civic service. I'm a lawyer. I've been a lawyer for 26 years and I think maybe the quality of my practice that makes me best suited for the Senate is that I'm a mediator, which I call being a professional problem solver.

DCM: Congress recently enacted a "sweeping" energy bill. According some reports, it gives massive tax cut and subsides to oil companies, yet they are raking in record profits in the billions of dollars. How would you address that?

BAR: First of all, I've seen the reports that it's sweeping. I think it's pretty significant, the stuff that was eliminated from it or didn't make it into the bill. And I think, for example, to abandon the standards for fuel efficiency, which Kay Bailey Hutchinson (KBH) voted against, and to not mandate basic miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency means it's not a sweeping bill. And you're right, it includes tax incentives for that which will already be done because it's highly profitable--is just causing us to lose revenue. So I think there are a lot of problems in it. The transportation aspect is loaded with pork. I think there needs to be more done on renewable energy, and there's no question we need to encourage renewable energy.

DCM: The President has had several controversial appointments in his second term. What do you see as the role of the Senate in "advise and consent" and how do you feel about the Republican "Straight up or down" rhetoric?

BAR: Well, I think we can talk about both Judge Roberts and John Bolton. The nomination of Judge Roberts caused people to immediately, and I mean immediately, call on the Senate to confirm him. For example, KBH, within minutes of the announcement, called on her colleagues in the Senate to ".ensure that Roberts would be in place by October." Now that's without regard to their investigation and their doing their constitutional duty of advising. And part of advising means that you have to be informed. I take that seriously. I think a Senator under the Constitution has a duty to advise the President, and he or she shouldn't take it lightly. And I think it is an abandonment of your Constitutional duty when you call on your colleagues to immediately confirm somebody. He may be supremely qualified, but you have to go through the process. Now on Mr. Bolton, I think a recess appointment, which I think is kind of connected to what you are talking about, circumvents the role of the Senate, period. And while there is some precedent in emergent times for a recess appointment, this isn't that time, particularly when you have such a controversial figure whose credibility is in doubt. So, we need to consider what is the effect on our international standing, how we are viewed when a person whose credibility is in question--and that's why the Senate has hearings on advise and consent. As you can tell, I'm kind of a process kind of person because through due process that's where you get fairness, and the result is better and you get better buy-in when you have due process. It may end up with the same result, it may not.

DCM: Another law that was recently passed was the Central America Free Trade Agreement. How do you see that impacting Texas and would you do anything differently?

BAR: Well, I'll give you an example of what I would do differently. The provisions in CAFTA and many of these trade agreements give an unfair leg up to foreign corporations who are allowed to escape the laws of the host state in which they function, and the only criteria by which they are judged is economic parity. In other words, you get a foreign company who wants to do business in a state that has regulations that protect their citizens, environmental regulations for example, and because they are environmental regulations the foreign company is allowed to contest the effect of those regulations if it has an economic impact. In other words, does it cause them to be at an economic disadvantage because it cost them, so they don't have to comply, or if they do have to comply they are allowed to sue and get money damages and/or relief from the trade organization. And that puts Americans and American companies at a disadvantage because that company can, in effect, escape those environmental regulations. And don't you find it ironic that those who think we ought to control litigation and not let people sue for money damages are going to allow foreign companies to sue for money damages in that context and who are going to get big dollar damages because an environmental regulation cost them money? Those kinds of provisions. Sure, it makes it easier for outsiders, but what it does is suck away our jobs, pollutes our environment, and doesn't promote fair trade.

DCM: I grew up in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and I understand you've been there several times during your campaign. I'd like for you to comment on what role you see rural Texas having in your campaign and what have been your experiences as you have traveled around the state?

BAR: You're right, I've been to Mt. Pleasant twice just in the campaign, probably...in the last nine months I've been in Mt. Pleasant twice and I've made...I've made about 215 trips across the state. And you're also right, I've tried to concentrate on places Democrats, Republicans, and Independents are ignored. I've learned the most by going to places like Mt. Pleasant and having these question and answer sessions, but really the questions are the most instructive of all and in terms of what I've learned is that healthcare is incredibly important to everyone and is being ignored, and that so-called wedge issues aren't. There is a whole lot of common ground on these so call controversial issues, and the rural folks have a whole lot of common sense and they hate being written off. It's not fair. So, that's what I've learned, and strategy-wise, I'm not writing off anyone. I think it's a big mistake. That's how I ended up in Mt. Pleasant twice.

DCM: I've heard you advocate building a VA hospital in the Valley. Why do you think that's important?

BAR: Well, you're right, there is no VA hospital south of San Antonio. Veterans can get certain episodic care, but many of them take a heck of a long bus ride and some of them are pretty old and as you know, the ones that qualify for VA care, with few exceptions, have a service-related disability. They fell into that category during the Clinton Administration where you could get VA coverage at a hospital even if you didn't have a service-related disability. Those days are gone, so the ability to get VA care for our most injured of veterans--and South Texas is disproportionately represented with servicemen who are active and who are injured. It's a matter of duty to the men and women who served. It's as simple as that. There's a large area of this state, larger than some other states, that has no VA hospital. The VA and the administration were wrong to ask for no new money in the face of strong evidence that these facilities needed to be properly funded. The VA wrongly stated that we have about 15,000 servicemen that they needed to service when we really had excess of 100,000. And that doesn't take into account an aging serviceman and servicewomen population and the increased need for mental healthcare for veterans. It is obvious that we need a place.

If I could give you an overview of what KBH has done in this area-- in the spring of this year, she, as subcommittee chairwoman on appropriations for veterans' affairs, twice voted down amendments that would have at least partially funded the VA problems, including a very well thought out amendment by Patty Murray. She then rubberstamped the Republican administration's line by saying we don't need more money. She didn't call for hearings, she didn't do an investigation and then she claimed she didn't know about the problem until it surfaced recently. We issued our first two press releases. The first two press releases we did in our campaign spoke to the issue of veterans' affairs, frankly so did the third, and in response she visited the Waco VA hospital and changed her vote, and she voted for the $1.5 billion appropriation that was so needed. But the point is in April of this year she knew it, or should have known it. The American Legion and every major veteran's group, in written form and verbal form, called for full funding of VA needs. She ignored it. No hearings, no investigations, just a rubberstamp--and that's not in the people of Texas' interest.

DCM: I understand that you bill yourself as a moderate. What have you done to engage the religious middle as well as moderate Republicans and Independents?

BAR: Well, I have directly spoken to Republicans. As a matter of fact, the first speech after KBH's announcement that I gave was to a young Republican group. They were courteous, they listened to what I had to say, and I think they found we had a lot of common ground. I've also reached out to non-partisan groups and spoken to them about me in a non-partisan way. For example, in my teaching work I never impose political views and, of course, in my law work and mediation work I'm seeking to get a good solution. In terms of church groups, I've been meeting with church groups around the state and that includes Baptist, Methodist, Protestant, Jewish, and to the many Asian community members. What I've found is there is a whole bunch of spiritual people out there that do not agree with extremist philosophies that say the state should be telling us how we should teach our children in terms of religion.

DCM: There's an event in the next week or two called Justice Sunday II. What do you think of political figures attending such events in an official capacity?

BAR: I think the theme of Justice Sunday II this time around is "Save This Honorable Court and These United States." I think there is a role for people at church functions; I mean we have freedom to worship here. But as I understand it, this is a political event and I don't think there should be attempts to confuse people about the nature of it. I'm not afraid of people advocating, but I think they should be honest about what they are advocating. It all goes back to the promotion of religion and the Bible outside of the family and our places of worship, and trying to equate the Bible as merely a great piece of literature akin to, say, Huckleberry Finn in school. I think that demeans religion, I really do. So somebody showing up at this event, if they want to talk they should reveal what their agenda is. When you go to the Supreme Court and they say "God save this honorable court and these United States" it's an understanding by our Founding Fathers and by the court that the judiciary protects us. By the way, I'm opposed to terrorist threats against our judiciary. I think it's sad that a political candidate has to state where they are on that particular issue.

DCM: Here in Texas there's been a lot of press coverage about a "militia" calling themselves "Minute Men" that says that since the government isn't protecting our borders that they should. How would you address the immigration problems that we face here in Texas?

BAR: I think that immigration is tied to security, and a discussion of immigration should be tied to a security discussion. I think it is interesting the way you phrase the question, because these militia are claiming that the country and its leadership have failed us on immigration and border security. Now that indictment, that challenge to the present system, may have some value, but the solution is certainly not marauding bands of extremists. It's only a matter of time before they kill someone. I read the Constitution when I heard about the "Minute Men" movement, and it's real clear in the section on militia that it's talking about a congressionally authorized or state authorized militia. It does absolutely not contemplate these kinds of independents. I'm opposed to it. I'm opposed to them trying to take the law into their own hands. And long term, nobody says it's a solution. They're quoted as saying they're doing this, not to be the permanent solution or even a stop-gap measure because they cannot possibly have the effect that's needed. All they are trying to do is draw attention, drawing attention in a dangerous way.

DCM: In the states that these so-called "Minute Men" have been active, I think that they have had the permission of the state government. Does that make them a state authorized militia?

BAR: No, no. And again, it doesn't solve the problem. We have no statewide leadership in Texas advocating for a solution to help Texas meet its cost, tremendous administrative costs of dealing with the immigration issues or our incredible burdens on security. As you know, many of the cities in Texas have some of the highest risk factors, or combination of risk factors, including ports. Those aren't being properly funded and haven't been since the establishment of the Homeland Security Department.

DCM: So you are saying that we shouldn't focus just on the border with Mexico, we should focus on all the ports of entry from foreign lands?

BAR: And we need to focus on efforts beyond the border. The border isn't the first stop for terror. When we try to target illegal immigration, we have been targeting free trade between Mexico and the United States, and I mean a fair system of trade, where investments by our neighbors down below and above the border, which isn't some black line but a zone, where neighbors get along. And so to stop trade in southern Texas and to claim that solves the security problem is incorrect. There requires a comprehensive solution, not a stop-gap measure that everyone agrees isn't workable, and I'm talking about our junior Senator's proposal, which I think has been concededly attacked and correctly attacked as something not practical.

DCM: There are a lot of folks in the state, both Republicans and Democrats, that have written your candidacy off and said you don't have a chance. How would you address folks of that opinion?

BAR: I'm glad to say a lot of people have changed their mind. When I first started the 215 trips there were certainly a lot of people that questioned legitimately would I stick with it. What I did was in terms of showing that I've been paying my dues for the last 26 years in serving my family, my clients and the public through my consumer protection activities. I also showed them I could raise money for good causes, as I did last year and raise money for me, which I did this year, since my business plan contemplated raising half a million dollars. What I also showed them was that Texans ache for a problem solver, they really do. So people said a year and a half ago that there's no way you'll be the Democratic nominee from the State of Texas for the Senate. And I'd ask you to ask folks now that were saying that, whether they have completely changed their mind and will concede that I'm more than the front-runner, I'm the presumptive nominee. And as far as how we fight the uphill battle in November, it's got to be done with a series of strategies that have already been implemented. Tell what campaign you know of that already has a national finance director, a communications director, field operations, and all three of those humming along in a significant way. I have event planners, I have a fine manager, I've made contacts with folks in and out of the state, and I'm still traveling non-stop. I show people what I've done so far just since my opponent has announced, and keep in mind that for the six months since I filed in January, I didn't have an opponent. I didn't get an opponent until the end of June, and that allowed me to focus.

DCM: There's been a lot of coverage about the state of military readiness of our military. The Army in particular has had problems meeting their recruitment goals. There was some controversy about the material readiness of our military with regard to armor on military vehicles. How would you ensure our military preparedness in the future?

BAR: Congress needs to insist on its right to be informed fully about what's going on. Congress needs not to abdicate its responsibility for intelligence receipt, and demanding accountability of the decision makers of our military and defense leaders, which includes civilian leaders as well as military. I will say that our military officers are more than willing to provide information to Congress. I think that's the solution. I think we do not need a Congress that is a rubberstamp to the administration, and that's what we've got. We've got a rubberstamp.

DCM: I'm at the end of my interview--is there anything else you would like to add?

BAR: I can say this has been a great journey, and I am having an effect. I think, just like this country has a great tradition of citizen soldiers, we ought to have a tradition of citizen leaders, and that includes politicians. There is no reason that a mother like me, wife of a physician, a ten-year teacher of mediation, a lawyer, a consumer protection advocate, and someone deeply concerned about her country, and a spiritual person to boot, there's no reason a person like that can't competently serve in the Senate. Frankly, the Senate right now is like this dysfunctional classroom in which the students who are bullies have taken over, and they are preventing the rest of everyone from functioning properly. This extremism has to stop. We have to go about the right process in solving problems, not just being hamstrung by this extremist debate. I really believe that. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe it.

DCM: In the states that these so called "Minute Men" have been active, I think that they have had the permission of the state government. Does that make them a state authorized militia?

BAR: No, no. And again, it doesn't solve the problem. We have no state-wide leadership in Texas advocating for a solution to help Texas meet its cost...tremendous administrative costs of dealing with the immigration issues or our incredible burdens on security. As you know, many of the cities in Texas have some of the highest risk factors, or combination of risk factors, including ports. Those aren't being properly funded and haven't been since the establishment of the Homeland Security Department.

DCM: So you are saying that we shouldn't focus just on the border with Mexico, we should focus on all the port of entry from foreign lands?

BAR: We need to focus on efforts beyond the border. The border isn't the first stop for terror. When we try to target illegal immigration, we have been targeting free trade between Mexico and the United States and I mean a fair system of trade. So to stop trade in southern Texas and to claim that solves the security problem is incorrect. There requires a comprehensive solution, not a stop-gap measure that everyone agrees isn't workable and I'm talking about our junior Senator's proposal, which I think has been concededly attacked and correctly attacked as something not practical.

DCM: There are a lot of folks in the state, both Republicans and Democrats that have written your candidacy off and said you don't have a chance. How would you address folks of that opinion?

BAR: I'm glad to say a lot of people have changed their mind. When I first started the 215 trips there were certainly a lot of people that questioned legitimately would I stick with it. What I did in terms of showing that I've been paying my dues for the last 26 years in serving my family, my clients and the public through my consumer protection activities. I also showed them I could raise money for good causes, as I did last year and raise money for me, which I did this year since my business plan contemplated raising half of a million dollars. What I also showed them was that Texans ache for a problem solver, they really do. So people said a year and a half ago that there's no way you'll be the Democratic nominee from the State of Texas for the Senate. And I'd ask you to ask folks now that were saying that whether they have completely changed their mind and will concede that I'm more than the front-runner, I'm presumptive nominee. And as far as how we fight the uphill battle in November, it's got to be done with a series of strategies that have already been implemented. Tell what campaign you know that already has a national finance director, a communications director, field operations and all three of those humming along in a significant way. I have event planners, I have a fine manager, I've made contacts with folks in and out of the state and I'm still traveling non-stop. I show people what I've done s far just since my opponent has announced and keep in mind for six months since I filed in January, I didn't have an opponent. I didn't get an opponent until the end of June and that allowed me to focus.

DCM: There's been a lot of coverage about the state of military readiness of our military. The Army in particular has had problems meeting their recruitment goals. There was some controversy about the material readiness of our military with regard to armor on military vehicles. How would you ensure out military preparedness in the future?

BAR: Congress needs to insist on its right to be informed fully about what's going on. Congress needs not to advocate its responsibility for intelligence receipt and demanding accountability of the decision makers of our military and defense leaders, which includes civilian leaders as well as military. I will say that our military officers are more than willing to provide information to Congress. I think that's the solution. I think we do not need a Congress that is a rubberstamp to the administration and that's what we've got. We've got a rubberstamp.

DCM: I'm at the end of my interview, is there anything else you would like to add?

BAR: I can say this has been a great journey and I am having an affect. I think, just like this country has a great tradition of citizen soldiers, we ought to have a tradition of citizen leaders and that includes politicians. There is no reason that a mother like me, wife of a physician, a ten year teacher of mediation, a lawyer, a consumer protection advocate, and someone deeply concerned about her country and a spiritual person to boot. There's no reason a person like that can't competently serve in the Senate. Frankly, the Senate right now is like this dysfunctional classroom in which the students who are bullies have taken over and they are preventing the rest of everyone from functioning properly. This extremism has to stop. We have to go about the right process in solving problems, not just being hamstrung by this extremist debate. I really believe that. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe it.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls Next Week ***UPDATE***

By Damon McCullar

TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls!

I had some late breaking events to post for both David Van Os and Barbara Radnofsky. Their events are below.

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is running for Governor.

8/6/2005: Chris will be the featured speaker at the general session of the Young Democrats of America National Convention! The YDA National Convention is being held in San Francisco this year, and Chris is proud to be joining a large delegation of Texas Young Democrats making the trip west for the event. Chris will be speaking to the convention at approximately 11:30 AM PDT, during the mid-day general session.
8/9/2006: Chris will be speaking to the Katy Area New Democrats Organization (KANDO) on the evening of Tuesday, August 9. The meeting starts at 7 PM at the Fort Bend County Library at 2620 Commercial Center Blvd in Katy.
8/14/2005: Join us at a rally in Austin on the afternoon of Sunday, August 14 as Chris formally launches his campaign for governor! Chris is inviting his friends and supporters from all across Texas to come take part in the festivities and hear him lay out his vision for the campaign ahead! RSVP on the Chris Bell website so that they can keep in touch with you as the launch party approaches! The launch rally will begin at 2 PM on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, near the the Martin Luther King, Jr. statue in the East Mall. Our thanks to the University Democrats for sponsoring the event! We're going to have buses to bring people up from Houston, so be sure to tell us if you want a ride. And if you're in another city and want to help us organize carpools, let us know!

David Van Os
David Van Os is running for Attorney General. Check out his new website.

8/5/2005: Hidalgo County Democratic Party Luncheon
McAllen with Howard Dean
8/5 and 8/6/2005: DNC Hispanic Summit San Antonio
8/5 8/7/2005: Democracy School Austin
8/9/2005: Statewide Campaign Steering Committee Meeting Austin
8/10/2005: West University Democrats Houston, Guest Speaker
8/11-8/13/2005: Texas AFL-CIO Convention Houston
8/13/2005: Meet and Greet at Private Residence Galveston

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Barbara will be represented August 5th by Edinburgh Attorney Victor Carrera at a Democratic Party Rally in McAllen featuring Howard Dean, from 10 to 2.

Barbara will be represented by Norma Fisher Flores of El Paso, a member of the DNC, Larry Romo, of Texas Democratic Veterans, and State Field Director Robert Andrews of Austin at the DNC 2005 Hispanic Summit this weekend in San Antonio at the Hyatt Riverwalk.
There will be a fundraising reception for Barbara in Houston Sunday at the home of Esther & Woody Fox, 5607 Jackwood, Houston 77096. RSVP to Linda Rabinowitz at 713.729-5631.

Barbara will be speaking to the Texas Young Democrats and Jefferson County Democrats in Beaumont Monday August 8th from 7 to 8, Pipe Fitters Local #195 (3184 HWY 69N Nederland 77627). Contact Joe Deshotel 409.781.4651 for more information.

Field Director Robert Andrews will be representing Barbara at a meeting of the Burnet County Democrats in Burnet at the Burnet County Democratic Party Headquarters. 104 Washington Street, in Burnet at 7:00 on Thursday August 11th.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21.

8/5/2005: John will be at the DNC/Hispanic Leadership Summit Reception with Howard Dean at Plaza Juarez located by the San Antonio Riverwalk. The reception is hosted by Congressman Charlie Gonzalez.
8/6/2005: John will spend the day at the DNC/Hispanic
Leadership Summit at the Hyatt Regency hotel in San Antonio.
8/7/2005 John will attend the DNC/HLS grassroots training
program also at the Hyatt Regency hotel.
8/9/2005 John will be in Austin at a meeting of the South Austin Democrats at the Little Mexico Restaurant, 2304 South 1st Street. He
will do a meet and greet 5:30 to 6:00 PM

Alsoo on Tuesday the 9th John will attend in Austin, a meeting of the Vote Rescue group (a voting rights coalition). The meeting will be at Vinny's Italian Cafe from 6:00 - 8:00PM.

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22. He has no events planned for this week.

Charlie Thompson
Charlie is a retired Naval Flight Officer exploring a run for Congress in CD-5

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is an Austin lawyer running for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

Dan Barrett
Dan is runing for State Representative in District 97.

Diane Henson
Diane is running for the 3rd Court of Appeals

Charles Baird
Charles is running for the 299th district court here in Austin. Let get behind him and Keep Austin Blue.

That's it for this week folks. If any other 2006 Democratic Hopefuls would like to have your events featured in this weekly post or on Burnt Orange Report, please contact me via email with your schedules or any campaign announcements. None of the candidates listed have been endorsed by Burnt Orange Report and if there is anyone running in the same race and would like equal billing, by all means contact me and I will list your name and events.

Felix Alvarado for Governor? And His Sister For Lt. Governor?? Have I missed something?

By Vince Leibowitz

Felix Alvarado, A Fort Worth middle school assistant principal and candidate for U.S. Congress in Texas' CD 12 last year, has evidently announced his intention to enter the 2006 Democratic Primary for Governor.

And, his sister, Maria Luisa Alvarado, a career military office, is evidently running for Lt. Governor.

I'm not sure how I missed this, but it appears I'm not the only one. I can't find any mention of it here at BOR using the site search. At any rate, if I'm late on this one and somehow missed it, please forgive me.

I found out about Felix Alvarado's candidacy in the very last paragraph of a story on Kay Bailey Hutchison in the San Antonio Express News, the very same story Karl Thomas referenced in his earlier post "Kay Sheds A Tear":

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. Felix Alvarado, Fort Worth Middle School assistant principal, also said he plans to run in the Democratic primary.

And, I found out about Maria Luisa's candidacy via a link on her brother's website, which takes you to the front page of a website they both share, OneTexasForAll.com.

All I have to say is, "wow."

I'm not familiar with Alvarado's campaign in CD 12 last session and, based on her biography, it appears that Maria Alvarado is a newcomer to the political scene. So, given that only two candidates have thus far formally announced for Governor (even though the SAEN says Alvarado is considering a run, his website seems to indicate he's already decided), I obviously have no prediction on this worth sharing. It's still far, far too early. Tony Sanchez, John Sharp, Ted Lyon, and whoever else is considering running remain undecided. But, given the way these things work, I doubt the Democratic Primary will simply be a two-way race.

At any rate, I'm going to email both prospective candidates and see if I can get an e-mail interview of some sort.

Vince Leibowitz is County Chairman of the Democratic Party of Van Zandt County and a regular contributor to Burnt Orange Report. He may be reached at Vince_Leibowitz@verizon.net or Vince_Leibowitz@bluebottle.com

Primary Ambitions?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

This was referenced in yesterday's post about Kinky's campaign event and action figure, but today's AAS story sheds the light.

(By the way, we here at BOR link to what now seems to be often log-in required content for online news publications. If you don't want to register, I suggest you check out BugMeNot.com and if you have Firefox, use the extension.)

Apparently an off-handed comment by Texas Democratic Party Chair Charles Soechting that Kinky should considering running in the Democratic Primary wasn't as idle as once believed.

A Houston lawyer said he recently told Soechting that he was supporting Friedman and that Soechting replied: "He ought to run as a Democrat."

The lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, who backed Democratic gubernatorial choice Tony Sanchez in 2002, said Soechting seemed serious about considering Friedman.

"Politics has gotten to be such a mess," DeGuerin said. "It's gotten so polarized that someone needs to shake up the status quo. The Democrats have been in disarray. They've let the Republicans run all over them."

Soechting confirmed DeGuerin's recollection, saying he'd like to visit Friedman to gauge his Democratic Party values.

"No question he's a real smart guy; people like him," Soechting said. "A lot of people would like to see a candidate for governor appear to have a little wild man like Kinky in him. There's something to be said about being a little wild, a little unpredictable. I've been accused of that myself."

Friedman, who has previously indicated no yen for running as a Democrat, said: "I'm flattered at the possibility of being the Democratic pallbearer, I mean standard-bearer. . . . I'm open to talking to them. I don't think it's going to happen."

This is one of the reasons I have such a hard time pegging Mr. Soechting. One week I'll feel like calling for a new Chairman, other weeks I have to scratch my head and say Hell, Yeah! This week I'm just confused, as the Chris Bell campaign probably is, considering they have yet to get the papers to shake off using the Sanchez and former Comptroller John Sharp have yet to clarify plans line.

Bell spokesman Jason Stanford said that if Friedman, who once ran for justice of the peace in Kerr County as a Republican, had Democratic Party values, he'd be running as a Democrat already.

"It's going to come down to who has the best ideas," Stanford said. "The real problems get solved at the grown-ups' table."

A great sound byte, but one that makes little sense. Plus we all know in Texas that the real problems don't get solved at the grown-ups' table. They simply don't get solved at all.

Case in point? School Finance- no. Property Texas- no. Sexy Cheerleaders- no. Chuck Wagons and Dutch Ovens- yes.

Kinky verses Bell? I'd like to watch the battle of the campaign blogs on that one.

Kinky Pulls a Crowd

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

First off, two days ago Kinky was down in San Antonio having a campaign event. Keep in mind...

He's not on the ballot yet.
He's an Independent candidate.
It's 15 months from Election Day if he gets on the ballot.

The event pulls 2,000 people.

OK, unless someone is massaging the numbers, I can't help to be but a little blown away. The closest thing to compare this to was Howard Dean's 'summer before the primary' visit to Austin at Plaza Saltillo (I was in Germany at the time) where he drew around 3000 people, which at the time was the largest event held in his campaign.

The two hour event went on for five hours. The line to meet kinky went on forever. We sold out of Kinky beer mugs after two hours. We sold more merchandise at the event than any event held to date. These were everyday folks who believe that Kinky can restore some decency and pride back into Texas politics. They were pumped up and so was Kinky. Kinky is still talking about the event this week.

Conservatively, over 2,000 Kinky fans attended the fundraiser. San Antonio volunteers showed up and helped us collect over 500 new volunteers and everyone had a great time. This thing is building and is going to sweep over the entire state before we are finished. Well done Kinky faithful.

Then, I get an e-mail in my inbox yesterday with yet another Kinky campaign invention which I'm sure the MSM will just love as usual. He's raising money (now $30,003 out of $75,000 this week) to create a Kinky Friedman Action Figure.

I have to wonder who cooks this stuff up. The best I can come up with (when I was having too much fun at a friend's apartment) was that someone should call their Campaign HQ the "Gubenatorium" (inspired by the Bell campaign's now defunct "Exploratorium" since he's no longer exploring *sob*). That's a freebie, up for grabs to whoever takes it first.

Ex-Austin Mayor Eyes State Senate Race

By Damon McCullar

Ex-Mayor of Austin, Kirk Watson told the Austin American-Statesman this morning that he will run for the state senate seat of Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos if he decides to retire after the 79th Legeislature is finally out of session. This confirms long standing rumors that Watson is eyeing the office. He left open the possibility of openly challenging Sen. Barrientos in a primary election. Rep. Elliott Naishtat has also floated the possibility of seeking the senate seat only if it becomes open.

Dan Barrett Tosses His Hat In The Ring For 2006

By Damon McCullar

Dan Barret has announced that he will run for the Texas House of Representatives in 2006. He is running in the 97th district which is in Forth Worth and is made up by the southwestern corner of Tarrant County.

I saw a lot of you Tarrant County Dems at DemFest this summer. Lets get out there and get Dan Barret elected.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls

By Damon McCullar

TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls!

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is running for Governor.

Chris is going to be up in North Texas on Friday, July 29 for the Cooke County Democratic Party Rally! The rally is being held at the Leonard Park Pavilion in Gainesville between 6PM and 10 PM on the 29th. Directions: Take the FM 51 (496b) exit off I35, turn (west) and go one block to the Leonard Park entrance. For more information contact Sylvia Bayer at 940-665-4851 or by email at sacbayer@yahoo.com.

David Van Os
David Van Os is currently running for Attorney General.

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara is running for Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

July 27, 2005 Barbara Ann Radnofsky attended the Mexican American Bar
Association reception in Houston for new attorneys, including inspiring speeches by judges and bar leaders. The most inspirational moments came from the new lawyers, each of whom spoke briefly about their backgrounds and dreams. Folks in this region will be well served by these articulate public-spirited new lawyers.

July 27, 2005 Austin: Field Director Robert Andrews represented Barbara Ann at the monthly meeting of Keep Austin Blue on July 27th, and reminded the crowd Barbara will be in Austin on August 3rd for the monthly DFA meetup at Mother Egan's on Wednesday August 3rd.

Tuesday August 2nd Barbara Ann Radnofsky will be attending a meeting of the CWA Legislative Committee in Houston.

On August 3rd and 4th Barbara will be in Austin and in Bastrop County. She will be speaking at the Monthly Austin DFA meetup at Mother Egan's on Wednesday August 3rd at 7:00 On Thursday she will participate in University Baptist Church weekly meal for the Austin homeless community along with members of the UT chapter of Hillel, which is involved with UBC in this ministry beginning at 4:45. This event is part of Barbara's ongoing dialogue with the critical mainstream religious community across Texas as the campaign progresses. After the meal she will be speaking to the Bastrop
County Democrats at 7 in Smithville at the First National Bank Community Room, 312 Main Street, Smithville, before returning with her husband to Houston.

Thursday morning Barbara is meeting Burnt Orange Reporter Damon McCullar who will join her for a run on Town Lake and an interview, along with a brief but healthy breakfast..

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21. He has no events planned for this weekend

Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson is running against Tom DeLay for Congress in CD-22. He has no events planned for this weekend.

Charlie Thompson
Charlie is a retired Naval Flight Officer exploring a run for Congress in CD-5

Andy Brown
Andy Brown is an Austin lawyer running for State Representative in District 48.

Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information.

That's it for this week folks. If any of your other 2006 Democratic Hopefuls would like to have your events featured in this weekly post or on Burnt Orange Report, please contact me or via email with your schedules or any campaign announcements.

CHRIS BELL RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR

By Damon McCullar

The Chris Bell Exploratory Committee has stated that Chris Bell will be running for Governor of the State of Texas on the Democratic ticket.

The formal announcement was made today by email:

Over the past half year, I have traveled all over Texas, literally exploring the race for governor. You have indulged me in this process as I sought the answers to some important questions, some personal (and Alison's doing better every day, thanks) and some of them public: Can a Texas Democrat win? Are Texas Democrats ready to try something different? Do people see what is happening in Texas the same way that I do?

Well, I have my answers, and today I am proud to share the news that I've decided to run for governor.

If you ever want people to question your sanity, explore running for statewide office as a Democrat in Texas. When this started, I had no clue as to how people might respond. I have not been that nervous about getting on the phone since running for Houston City Council the first time. Everyone agreed that it would be a tough road for any Democrat but, interestingly, the overwhelming majority of people with whom I spoke could also see that Rick Perry is creating a huge opportunity for a Democrat. They also agreed it wasn't enough for me to be right about Rick Perry being wrong; it would take a positive message that could unite all Texans.

As I've traveled the state, I've been talking about the "New Mainstream," the disaffected majority of Texans who know that Rick Perry couldn't lead a silent prayer. I've been talking about how budgets are moral documents that have both a fiscal impact as well as a human cost. And, as a public school parent, I've learned that parents and teachers across Texas share my frustrations with Enron-style accountability that encourages dropouts and systematic fraud by teaching our kids nothing as much as how to take yet another standardized test.

To read the entire announcement, check out the Chris Bell Blog.

The unique thing about this declaration was that there was no press conference. Average Texans were finding out the answer to whether Chris would run at the same time as the Austin power brokers and the mainstream media.

Chris Bell, former Congressman from Houston is best known for breaking the "ethics truce" and bring ethics complaints against Rep. Tom DeLay. Chris has also served on the Houston City Council before running for Congress. More information about Chris Bell, his history in public service, and his vision for Texas can be found on his website.

Chris Bell Announcing within 24 Hours

By Damon McCullar

A senior source in the Chris Bell Exploratory Committee has stated that Chris Bell will be making an announcement tomorrow via email about whether or not he will be running for Governor of the State of Texas on the Democratic ticket.

The formal announcement will be made tomorrow by email and there will be an announcement on the Chris Bell Blog. Anyone wishing to receive the formal announcement can go to Chris Bell's Website and sign up for the email alert.

Chris Bell, former Congressman from Houston is best known for breaking the "ethics truce" and bring ethics complaints against Rep. Tom DeLay. Chris has also served on the Houston City Council before running for Congress. More information about Chris Bell, his history in public service, and his vision for Texas can be found on his website.

(Ed. Note: There was briefly a post up saying that Chris would not run. That was merely a mistake on my part. I was preparing multiple posts.)

(Ed. Note: We then ran into some database and comment issues which should now be resolved. -KT)

Knaupe Not to Run

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

One of the candidates that has grown on me in his time actually not running for anything, Gregg Knaupe (of City Council Place 3), appears to now be more or less officially out of the running for HD 47, Keel's open seat.

Austin sources tell me that Knaupe, after spending a year on the trail away from his family and especially his two young kids, plans to not jump into this one for what are actual, honest family reasons (the traditional 'out' for many candidates). I respect Gregg more than he knows and certainly feel that he will be well received at some future point here in Travis County should he set his eye on some other race.

Thanks for what you have brought to the table Gregg. Our party is grateful for sure, and I know that your children will be even more so to have you around as they grow up in these most amazing of times. Our inbox is always open to you, stay in touch.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Weekend

By Damon McCullar

TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls!

Chris Bell
Chris Bell is a former US Congressman who is exploring a run for Governor. Tonight, Chris will be at a Happy Hour and Update Fund Raising Event in San Antonio. The event will be at The Wurzbach Estate, 8542 Wurzbach Rd. This event is a fundraiser and ticket are $35 at the door.

John Courage
John Courage is running for Congress in the CD-21. He is inviting his friends and supports to a working meeting on Saturday, July 23rd, from 2:30pm until 5pm at The Wimberley Senior Citizens Activity Center. It is located at 14050 Ranch Road 12, Wimberley (Behind Thrift Shop at light at River Road). Call 512-496-2902 for further directions.

David Van Os
David Van Os is currently running for Attorney General. On Friday, David and Rachel are traveling to Granbury for the Texas Democratic Women's Retreat. The Retreat is being held at The Lodge, 201 E Pearl Street. Further information can be found by clicking here. On Saturday, David is going to strike out for Linden, Tx where he will attend a public hearing conducted by the NAACP on the beating and abuse of Billy Ray Johnson. The story of can be found here

That's it for this week folks. Stay tuned for next week were I hope to have information up from Nick Lampson. He is running against Tom DeLay in CD-22. I spoke with a representative from the Lampson Campaign this week and will be bringing you developments from that race. If any of your other 2006 Democratic Hopefuls would like to have your events featured in this weekly post or on Burnt Orange Report, please contact me or via email with your schedules or any campaign announcements.

Some Kinky Numbers

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

First off, did anyone else notice that of Kinky's 301k he raked in, John McCall, who made a fortune as a shampoo distributor, has ponied up $160,000 so far, more than half Friedman's total?

Also, that Kinky's blog is actually running off Blogger which may be why my calls for an RSS feed have gone unresponded to? Though I do have to admit, I like his Trust for Texas Heroes idea to fund pay raises for teachers, police and fire fighters. One, Trust instead of Tax is excellent framing, two, it's out of the box but sensible and a grassroots idea that the candidate embraced. Something I'd kind of expect from the land of Fuchsia and Cream.

Feeling Blue and just a bit Kinky

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I'd like to clear up some conceptions that seem to have been created with my recent series of posts about the Texas Governor's race. I have been told, from various sources, that my commentary is direct, confrontational, and seemingly Anti-Bell in nature. Well, two out of three ain't bad.

I don't pretend to think, not do I believe most bloggers think, that they or I are the definitive voice on the state of affairs in Texas politics. It'd be nice to think so, but honestly we are just a team of players with some technology and an audience with an interest to broaden the discussion of party politics, scandal, and highlighting news and commentary that in any other case would be left to the backrooms and dustbins of day to day Texas happenings.

That said, and as I have said before in some of my posts before, my interest first and foremost is to be a Burnt Orange Reporter. That means I'm going to cover the campaigns, all campaigns, from the high level Perry v. Strayhorn battle, to the Invisible Democratic Primary, to our Independent friends Kinky and Jennifer Gale. Why? For one it's damn entertaining for me as well as you the readers (I hope) even if it does cause campaigns a bit of a headache at times. But that's the nature of campaigns, you put yourself out there, try to do the best job you can controlling how people perceive you, and sometimes hope for the best.

I do not envision Burnt Orange Report to ever be a puppet or promoter of any campaign just because that is conventional wisdom or they happen to be the Democratic nominee (or at least I will not strictly enforce a requirement on any of the writers here to blindly accept a candidate at my or the Party's bequest). I see little interest, for example, in being forced to promote Marty Akins against Carol Keeton McClellan Rylander Strayhorn in 2002 say, when I and many Democrats that did end up voting for Marty had to find some of the biggest damn clothespins to hold our noses while doing so.

I'm a supporter of the Democratic Party, have been, and plan to be on into the wild Blue yonder. I have every interest in supporting our candidates, building our party, and devising new ways to grow the Texas Blogosphere- allowing our thousands of readers to become the newest insiders to the party. That's why I'll promote Step Up Texas as much as I can, because it's inventive technology that enables the grassroots to help build the Party. It's why I spent 4 hours at a technology meeting last night that brought people together to envision the integration of the state party's voter data with new campaign tools that are being built by the Strama Tech Guru for the coordination of at least 4 campaigns. It's why in an upcoming post I'll have to ask what the hell is going on with our state party and how can we help fix it, before I blindly encourage people (like was done at the SDEC meeting) to shovel money into the hole that was created this last reporting period.

As a blogger I dissect and discern, promote and dismiss, and sort and investigate to the best of my abilities within the boundaries of the time and money I have as a third year student at The University of Texas at Austin. It's not because I know best- hardly. It's because I believe in the concept of Texas political blogs being the open source media for an open source Democratic Party where news, ideas, and activism are born, bred, and bringing us to Victory on E-Day.

Money in Texas

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

From hotline, just so you have the numbers in place if you haven’t been reading the comments.

Gov. Rick Perry (R) leads in fundraising, but Compt. Carole Keeton Strayhorn (R) "isn't far behind." Perry has $8.8M CoH and raised $2.3M from 6/20-6/30.

Strayhorn raised $1.5M in the same period and has $7M CoH. Univ. of TX prof Bruce Buchanan: "It says she's a player. ... My guess is that where she stands right now is better than Perry would like" (Rodriguez, San Antonio Express-News, 7/16).

Two of Perry's biggest donors were named to state boards 5/05, "not an unusual happenstance" a veteran GOPer said. Strayhorn raised money from trial lawyers, gambling interests and the oil patch.

Ex-Rep. Chris Bell (D) raised $153K and spent $128K from Jan. to June. Bell spokesperson Jason Stanford, on the GOP totals: "That money will be gone after the March Republican primaries. Bell is not worried about that."

Author/musician Kinky Friedman (I) raised $300K through 6/05 and had $17K CoH (Selby, Austin American-Statesman, 7/16).

Now a couple things to note and I will make a more detailed post about Bell in just a bit. Perry and Strayhorn will raise as much as they feel they need to win the primary. Granted, they will spend most of it, but by no means should we think that will leave the GOP drained of cash. There may have bitter feelings towards the winner and not volunteer as much or reconsider their vote, but the cash will still flow as needed. But their nominee will be damaged.

Bell hasn't announced. We are all quite aware of this but sometimes we forget how that changes the dynamic. Many donors refuse to give to someone who isn't actually a candidate. Why would you or I want to spend $5,000 on someone who will end up dropping out of the race? Imagine how all the donors to the Jim Stork for Congress campaign in Florida felt when mid-race, he dropped out due to health with little explanation? No one likes to feel used or burned. That said, $153k is paltry. If it was from an announced candidate, I'd say yes, they'd be through. But he's not.

Kinky. Kinky is an interesting case. As an announced Independent, he's somewhere in between. Independents don't have regular donors to go to. Since he's not on the ballot, a certain amount of funds simply aren't going to come to him because as mentioned before, people don't want to waste their dollars. But at least he is an announced candidate which can give people a certain level of confidence. A short look through his report filings was interesting to me as there was about $10,000 raised from my hometown of Fredericksburg, 2/3 of that from one person.

And the profile of the Fredericksburg Kinky donors? Odd to say the least. Most hadn't voted in any political primary since 2000. One couple had voted in both political primaries in that time. A couple of others weren't even registered voters as far as I could tell. And a couple others were Republicans. And another was one of the hardcore supporters of my father's city council campaign. All over the map. If I had a state voter file it would be fun to look at the primary history of all the donors in order to determine if Kinky would bleed more support from Republicans or Democrats or if his support would be new people outside of the system.

Of course these rumors about the Governor's race are highly interesting as much as they are suspect. How about Dewhurst v. Kinky v. Sanchez? Hah, right.

Sen. Lindsay to Step Down

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Via QR

Long-time Harris County Senator Jon Lindsay confirmed today he will not run for another term in the Senate. Lindsay, the former Harris County Judge, says he's getting on in years and it's time for him to do other things. Lindsay said he came to the decision about two months ago but decided to go ahead and announce it at the end of this session.

Candidates for his seat include Rep. Joe Nixon, possibly Rep. Peggy Hamric and Ben Streusand, who ran an unsuccessful race for the 10th Congressional District and has expressed interest in the seat.

Don't know about Democrats yet, but maybe you know someone who should Step Up.

Andy Brown Website Launch, sorta

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Andy Brown has a website up now, though it's mostly so we can donate online. Not that I'm complaining. This will be one of the banner races in Travis County as we go for 6-0 in '06.

Visit and donate. Freely.

Granted he may have a primary opponent but things have been very quiet of late and best indications is that he will be left alone to be the nominee. Brown has also committed to being part of the coordinated Tech effort that I'm attending a meeting for tomorrow night.

Matt Glazer for HD 122

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

A personal friend of mine, Matt Glazer, who traveled with me to the Democratic National Convention last summer from SD 25 (and was the youngest Texas delegate all of 15 minutes before I was elected out of SD 24) has announced that he is forming an Exploratory Committee to run against Rep. Corte in HD 122, a San Antonio seat that he hasn't been really challenged in since 1992.

It's one of those 75/25 districts on the surface, but when incumbents sit unchallenged for too long it's hard to gauge what their true level of support is. Personally, I know it's a long shot, but then again, everything in Texas is these days. And though I'm not expecting massive wins in Texas in 2006, I support Matt's effort because by running he helps build the Party on a local level where it hasn't been tended to for a decade.

In addition, 40 Precincts (or was it 40%, have to check) of HD 122 overlays CD 21 where John Courage is running against Lamar Smith so it provides yet another underlying house seat that will have a Democratic candidate active on the ground, (adding to pieces of Strama's seat, Baxter and Keel's challenges seats, as well two of Patrick Rose's counties). John and Matt are well acquainted which is all the better to the both of them.

Included in the extended entry is a letter from Matt about this race. Please leave your thoughts and comments below.

UPDATE: The Jeffersonian has a bit of a profile on the district here and Kuff just weighed in with his thoughts.

Dear Friend,

Matt Glazer

Dollars and Sense

By Damon McCullar

Today is July 18th, 2005. The 2006 election is about a year and a quarter away. Yet many have declared the Chris Bell for Governor campaign (which doesn't exist yet) dead and buried. Come on folks! I've read comments all day about how Chris Bell is this and he's that, he can't do this and he should do that. Lively debate is one thing, but denigrating a guy that is out there pounding the pavement and taking the temperature of the party is quite another. Who knows if Chris will run, and who knows if he can raise the amount of cash that he needs. With Gov. Perry's approval ratings below 40% and no other Democrat out, is there any reason not to at least wait to see if he can put the money together once he announces? This is a guy who has raised seven figures for past races, so it seems ridiculous to read comments that say he has hit his ceiling when he hasn't even announced his candidacy yet.

Another thing that is flying around is "How can Chris Bell be a serious contender when the GOP candidates have upwards of 7-8 million in their war chest?" Gov. Perry and Carol Strayhorn have roughly the same amount of money with Gov. Perry having a slight advantage. Folks, they are both going to use every last penny to bash the heck out of each other from now until the primary. It's true that Chris will have to kick the fund raising machine into high gear, but it's ridiculous to compare his money with Gov. Perry's or Carol Strayhorn's money at this point since they are going to have to spend a large portion of it in the primary race before they even face Chris.

Finally, Chris isn’t playing chicken. He’s sincerely exploring a race for Texas Governor. He’s got some family issues to get past, and he’ll make that announcement by the end of the month. He's either going to run or he won't and nobody know the answer to that question but Chris.

Now it's your turn. What do you folks think?

Chris Bell Rings True in the Panhandle

By Damon McCullar

This weekend Chris Bell addressed a group of around 100 Democrats at a fund raiser in Amarillo. The Panhandle Truth Squad was there to cover the event. The following are exerpts from thier post on the subject.

Likely Gubernatorial Candidate Chris Bell spoke to a revved-up crowd of over 100 Democrats at a fundraising dinner Saturday evening in Amarillo, making the case for new leadership in Austin. Bell, who has been running an exploratory campaign for Governor for the past few months, seemed at ease, and every bit the candidate. His 35-minute speech was interrupted 14 times for applause, and afterward several positive comments were overheard from those in attendance.

Bell was joined by Texas Democratic Party Chair, Charles Soechting, who made an appeal for Democrats to become sustaining members of the state party. Potter County Chair Tim Hoffman also made clear to the assembled that their donations would be sought to support local efforts. Hoffman announced to cheers that the main point of the ongoing fundraising drive was to support a permanent Amarillo Democratic Party office, with a permanent, paid Executive Director.

Bell, a former Channel 7 news anchor in Amarillo, who has since been a Houston city councilman and Congressman, was introduced by former chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, and current director of Panhandle Planned Parenthood, Claudia Stravato. Bell adlibbed that he had been introduced a lot in the past few months, but never before had the word "uterus" been mentioned.

The former Congressman noted that he had gained a reputation as a reformer for breaking the 7-year Congressional truce relative to ethics complaints when he filed complaints last year against House majority leader Tom DeLay. Those complaints ultimately led to three formal admonishments of Rep. DeLay by the House Ethics Committee. He spoke about the culture of corruption both in Washington and in Austin as one of several motivations for seeking the position of Governor. But, he said, all his reasons could really be encapsulated by his opposition to a comment that Gov. Perry made last year, in a statement at the capitol. Bell quoted Perry as saying that "...the government cannot dispense hope."

Bell cited one of his Sunday School lessons, "what we do to the least of us, we do to ourselves," in explaining his position that both the financial cost and the human cost of government policies must be considered. He called himself "a public servant who tries to do the right thing," and said that while government will never have enough money, failing to dispense hope represented a deficit of responsibility.

He reiterated his view that budgets are moral documents, and explained that cutting social services to children, raising state university tuitions, and kicking people off Medicaid, in order to provide tax reductions, primarily for the wealthy, are immoral priorities. He also noted that such priorities have financial costs, railing that credit has been claimed for saving one dollar today that will require ten dollars to fix tomorrow. He cited as an example Gov. Perry's 2003 budget that Perry had claimed credit for because of tax reductions. Bell noted that that budget had cut child protective services, forcing caseworkers to have extreme case loads that, he said, had resulted in the deaths of 500 children due to neglect. Perry's 2005 budget attempted to restore some of those funds, because of what Perry now calls a child care "crisis", Bell said.

Bell concluded by recalling the specific case of a San Antonio 4-year-old, Jovonie Ochoa, who died last year due to starvation, because an overburdened CPS case worker could not get to him in time. Ochoa, Bell said, did not receive hope. "The government must either dispense hope or reap dispair," Bell finished to a standing ovation.

John Sharp RoundUp

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Pardon the lateness of this entry, it was supposed to have been posted last Sunday but never made it out of the queue.

The other week we posted an article about the rumors of John Sharp jumping into the Governor's Race. Since that time, we have learned more information and I have kept tabs on a number of different comments and sources.

The reason for the original post was a comment left by former Sharp Campaign Consultant Kelly Fero on the Governor's Step Up Texas page.

John Sharp has the bipartisan appeal, the experience, and the proven vote-getting record to beat Rick Perry and get Texas back on track.

As State Comptroller, Sharp worked with both Democratic (Ann Richards) and Republican (George W. Bush) administrations to build the largest budget surplus in state history.

Sharp is the real deal -- a popular leader with innovative ideas who can lead the Democratic ticket to victory in 2006 all the way from the courthouse to the State Capitol to the Governor's Mansion.

Kelly Fero @ June 29, 2005, 7:08 pm

In addition, Matt Glazer from San Antonio let loose some information after our post which in other conversations I've had, now seems to be on the mark.

My sources in the lobbyist community have said that Sharp is being pushed by the conservative Democratic community with the hope that Chris Bell will shift his sights on Lt. Governor, and a D will be at every position for statewide office. The hope is that Sharp, who is naturally much more conservative that Bell, will have more appeal to Republicans and independents.

The other concern for some is that Bell will not have the same appeal as Sharp to even Democrats. This is a naive concern say the least, but still the conservative concur. Chris Bell has been working for over a year to garner both name recognition across the state and build lasting Democratic influence.

This combined with other chatter since then, now leads me to put Burnt Orange Report's official statement as Sharp "taking a serious look at running, which office is up in the air, but one way or another, is going to be back in public service".

The dance that Bell and Sharp have been playing isn't just idle tip-toeing, it's because each of them is judging the other's intentions and adjusting and adjusting to those adjustments and so on. This leads me to believe that it may come down to a game of chicken, who announces first and forces the question.

Personally, I don't have a dog in this race yet. I know another of the Burnt Orangers do and almost the entire Texas blogosphere seems to be behind Bell (which is a credit to the netroots outreach, if a bit overboard at times. Remember, there are people out there not on the Internet). I honestly am still pondering this one and will wait to see how this all sorts out, as well as encouraging this blog to be a place for discussion about the merits of each.

Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Weekend

By Damon McCullar

Well folks, its that time of the week again. Time to get out there and meet your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls. Here's the skinny on where who will be, when they will be there and all that jazz.

Chris Bell
Saturday July 16th, 10:00am: Chris will be speaking to the Sharpstown Democratic Club in Houston on the morning of Saturday, July 16. The meeting begins at 10 AM and Chris will speak at approximately 10:30 AM. For more information, contact Alice Bergeron.
7:00pm: The Potter-Randall Democratic Club is hosting a dinner for Chris Bell this Saturday evening in Amarillo. The dinner starts at 7 PM at the Black Cultural Center, 903 North Hayden. State Party Chairmain Charles Soechting is also scheduled to speak at the dinner. Please RSVP to Democratic HQ at 806-379-9230 or to Tim Hoffman's office at 806-376-8903.
Sunday July 17th, 7:00pm: Come join Chris on Sunday, July 17 at the Austin kickoff party for the Campaign for a National Majority! CNM is a national organization dedicated to electing Democrats to state executive offices, and Chris is honored to be the special guest speaker at their Austin kickoff event. Come out and hear what Chris has to say about the future of the Democratic Party in Texas, and how CNM plans to put the Democratic Party back on top! The party will be held at Cedar Door, 201 Brazos, Austin, Texas. For more information, visit the CNM website.

John Courage
Saturday July 16th, 8:30am: - Northwest Democrats meeting Luby's, 6200 Bandera, just outside 410 San Antonio, TX
11:00am: The Yeller Dawg Democrats Brunch
Tres Amigos Restaurant, 1801 S. Capital of Texas Hwy (Loop 360)
Located midway between Barton Creek Square Mall & Bee Caves Rd.
Austin, TX
Sunday June 17, 6:00pm: San Antonio Area Progressive Action Coalition meeting Congregationalist United Church - 500 Pilgrim at Panda (inside Loop 410) San Antonio, TX

David Van Os
Saturday Morning: David will be giving a seminar on Civil Rights and Labor Law in the San Antonion AFL-CIO Union Hall
Sunday July 17th 1:00: Neighborhood Democrats Friendswood picnic, Stevenson Park, 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Barbara Radnofsky
Barbara will be hosting a book signing event for Austin author P.J. Pierce (Texas Wisewomen Speak) with Houston attorneys Saturday, and traveling for major fund raising events.

The campaign will be well represented among Texas Bloggers this weekend, with representatives at a Houston Bloggers lunch on Friday and with Field Director Robert Andrews representing the campaign at an Austin area Bloggers event Sunday.

The Barbara Radnofsky for U.S. Senate 2006 Campaign will be represented by campaign manager Andy Grout at the Fort Bend County Democrats' July 18th meeting, 7:00 p.m., Jane Long Building, 500 Liberty, Richmond. Check www.fbcdp.org for more info.

Combs Rakes in the $$$

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

From the Combs "day early" press release.

Combs raised $838,421.95 in the 10-day period between June 20 and June 30. That’s more than the campaign raised in the previous six-month reporting period. There were 611 individual contributors from 129 counties across the state during the 10 days.

Releasing the official results of her latest finance report a day early, Combs said her campaign has $2,402,660.65 cash-on-hand.

“This campaign is taking off like a rocket!” Combs said. “The financial report is reflective of the broad-based and deep support we have across the state,” Combs said. “We are building momentum week-by-week and securing enthusiastic grassroots and financial help. We will continue to work hard and reach out to all Texans.”

The Combs Campaign has organizational support in all 254 counties and a team of more than 800 volunteers of Republican grass-roots workers.

In addition, the Combs Campaign has been endorsed by 76 state representatives, which is 87% of all the Republican members of the House. The Campaign has been endorsed by 43 members of the State Republican Executive Committee.

There are 104 people on the statewide finance team.

If only we could see numbers like this on our side of the aisle. Would go a long way towards filling the $8,000 hole in the TDP coffers. We'll have a discussion about that later today...

Jennifer Gale for Governor Update

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

You simply must read this Daily Texan story from this week to understand that which is Jennifer Gale. Granted, I am quite sure she'll never get enough signatures to get on the ballot, but I've always had a place in my heart for Austin's perennial candidate.

Oh, and here is the poem that she recited for the article.

Eating an Oreo frosting-filled sandwich, Gale offers me a plastic-wrapped, Batman-frosted cookie. I refuse, and she reluctantly places the cookie in her bag, handing me instead a comic she has torn from a newspaper.

They will remember
The love given them by you
Will always be theirs.

The Radnofsky Report

By Damon McCullar

I got to wondering today what in the world Barbara Radnofsky has been up to lately. So I made a few phone calls, shot off a couple of emails, popped the top on a few Sam Adams and waited for a response.

It turns out that Barbara has been really busy over the last week. She was in Dallas, Lewisville and Fort Worth Tuesday and Wednesday While there she attended a Women's luncheon in Dallas, an evening event sponsored by the Flower Mound Democrats and other Denton County clubs, met with prominent Fort Worth attorneys, and had a private meeting with a prominent moderate Baptist pastor, as well as a personal tour of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth. In the metroplex she met with the County Chairs of Dallas, Denton and Johnson County. Field Director Robert Andrews represented her at Representative Lon Burnam's Birthday Party in Fort Worth Wednesday night and gave Lon a personal gift from Barbara.

Chris Bell Happy Hour and Update

By Damon McCullar

Howdy folks! I went to the Chris Bell Happy Hour and Update tonight. There's nothing a blogger loves more than booze and politics. They go together like milk and honey. I have the details from the meeting on the flip-side.

There was a pretty good crowd at tonight's fundraiser. A few movers and shakers. Joining us tonight were Rep. Elliot Naishtat, Justice Jan Patterson, Judge on the 3rd Court of Appeals; John Courage, candidate for Congress from the 21st Congressional District; and finally Jim Coronado, candidate for the 3rd Court of Appeals.

Everyone, including yours truly, are enjoying the food, drink and great company. Donna Beth McCormick, Treasurer for the State Democratic Women, introduced Chris tonight. She says that she has always respected Chris since he started in public office back on the Houston City Council. Chris took center stage after that. He told us that Gov. Perry has been a inspiration to many folks here in Texas. He has inspired Chris into this exploratory campaign. Chris told us that Texas needs real leadership, but not the type of leadership that Gov. Perry has given us. It seems that the only way that Gov. Perry has been able to lead our state is straight to the bottom in almost every category, but most notably in education. He said that we need a real conversation about how best to deal with our education problems. He promises that as governor he would commission a blue ribbon, bi-partisan panel on how to best deal with our problems with education. He says that we can learn from the successes in both public education and charter schools. He says that our goal should be to have the best schools in the country. The Texas Miracle is more like a mirage. Teaching to the test is ruining our public education. Education needs to be taken out of the special interest of the testing corporations and back in the hands of teachers and principals.

As far as ethics go, Chris thinks that the revolving door that has been installed in the Governor's Mansion needs to be removed. The state government needs to become more transparent, without (D)eLay.

Democrats need to reclaim their stake in the moral debate. It's unforgivable that democrats have let ourselves be seen lacking in moral courage. Budgets are moral documents. Kids die when you cut funds from Child Protective Services. One in five kids in our great state live in poverty. Texans can do better than that. We can have a better, more prosperous state.

As Chris has travelled around the state, he has seen great support West Texas, out in East Texas, and his own stomping grounds down in Houston. In order for him to run for governor, democrats are going to need to have the stomach for fight. As Chris has travelled around the state, he has seen that democrats are ready to fight.

When asked about when he will announce, Chris said that he will be announcing toward the end of this month. He says that the support he has gotten thus far has got him leaning strongly on running for Governor for the State of Texas.

Step Up Texas

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

It's been mentioned here in passing in a number of posts and comments before, but for all of you who aren't sure what it is, I'd like to introduce you to Step Up Texas.

Step Up Texas is... Well, let me let them say it for me...

We're Texans. We talk big. Now we are asking Texas Democrats to put their big talk to action. It's time for everyone in the party to step up and take Texas back. We believe success in the voting booth will be found by recruiting and running strong candidates in every race on the ballot in 2006. And we believe the conversation to find and encourage good Democrats to run should be expanded to include all Texas Democrats.

HOW?
Conversation - An open forum for Texas Democrats to discuss their potential candidates.
Nomination - The opportunity for anyone to suggest a good Democrat run for any office.
Persuasion - Inspire nominees to run by endorsing those Democrats with concrete pledges of support.

Built by some of the same people that are now working on the coordination of a number of Central Texas campaigns (who I have a meeting with in an hour), this powerful tool enables the grassroots to take control. We can encourage people to run and let those up and down the ladder of the State Democratic Party know of people and opportunities in some of the most obscure areas of the state. It broadens the base of those "in the know".

So go create an account, leave comments, nominate people, and see what others have said. 2006 will be the year where grassroots and technology come together and Texas Democrats will pull some surprises across the state.

Now it the time to Step Up Texas.

Fero Goes Indy?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

An odd piece from QR today, stating that "long time operative, consultant and press guy Kelly Fero is severing his ties with the Texas Democratic Party this month."

We of course have mentioned Mr. Fero's name here before in regards to stories related to John Sharp. Why this happened and why now I'm not sure (I'm not rich enough to have QR subscription) so thoughts, theories, to the comments we go to hear them...

She's Got a Huge War Chest, But Very Little Support

By Damon McCullar

According to a press release today by Carol Strayhorn for Governor, the campaign has raised over seven million dollars and 1.5 million of that has come in the first ten days of June.

However, according to a recent poll conducted by Montgomery and Associates, an independent research firm based in Austin, Gov. Perry is favored in the Republican primary by a 2:1 margin over Carol Keeton Strayhorn.

Since the summer of 2001, Montgomery and Associates, an independent research firm based in Austin, Texas, has been running surveys tracking statewide political issues and elected officials. This survey was conducted from June 27 – July 1, 2005 and tested 905 Texans who had voted in at least one out of the past two Republican primaries. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.3%. Montgomery & Associates conducted the survey independently, and has not been paid by any candidate or party. In partisan political races, the firm works for Democratic candidates.

Former House Speaker Pete Laney Getting Drafted for the Governor's Race??

By Damon McCullar

It's summer in the Hill Country and as temperatures soar, the ground becomes ripe for wildfire rumors. Today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram
is abuzz with rumors straight from the floor of the Texas House of Representatives. Rep. Senfronia Thompson is selling T-shirts that advertise Laney as governor.

For those of you unfamiliar with Pete Laney, he was Representive from the Panhandle from 1973 to 1993 when he was elected as Speaker of the House. He served in that capacity from 1993 until the Republicans took over. He was the only Speaker under Governor Bush, who praised him as the model of bipartisan leadership.

The T-Shirts that Rep. Thompson is selling say "Save Texas, Laney for Gov -- 06". She says that 50 were sold in the first ten minutes. When asked by the Star-Telegram about being whether he would encourage or accept a draft for the governor's race, Laney repiled, "It'll take a lot more than a T-shirt."

Where to See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This Weekend

By Damon McCullar

Howdy Folks! I hope you had a great 4th of July weekend. I hope you had a chance to get out and see your 2006 Texas Democratic Hopefuls. If you didn't, then you are in luck! You can meet them this weekend. Here's a rundown of who will be where and when.

Chris Bell

12:00: Chris will be with us in Austin this weekend as he addresses the State Democratic Executive Committee at the Radisson downtown.
6pm-9pm: On Saturday evening, the Texas Young Democrats will be throwing a party at Lucy's Boatyard on Lake Austin. They've invited Chris to come and speak at the event, so come out to the lake for the evening and hear what he has to say. More information available on the TYD website.

David Van Os
Saturday Morning: David will be giving a seminar on Civil Rights and Labor Law in the San Antonion AFL-CIO Union Hall
1:00pm: David will be in Austin to address the State Democratic Executive Committee at the Radisson on Town Lake.
Approx 4:00pm: David will be attending a function hosted by the Texas Progressive Populist Caucus.

John Courage
Friday
6:30PM: John will be attending the Capitol City Young Democrats Meeting at Opal Divine's, 6th & Rio Grande (probably upstairs). Contact Brook Heller if you are interested in attending.
Satureday1:00pm: John will be addressing the State Democratic Executive Committee here at the Austin Radisson.
Approx 4:00pm: John will be attending a function hosted by the Progressive Populist Caucus

Barbara Ann Radnofsky
1:00PM: Barbara will be represented at the State Democratic Executive Committee meeting here in Austin at the downtown Radisson.

Diane Henson

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Long-time Austin attorney, Diane Henson, has announced her candidacy today for Justice of the Third Court of Appeals, Place 3. This position is presently held by Democrat Bea Ann Smith, who has announced that she will not seek another term on the court. Henson ran for the 3rd Court of Appeals last fall and lost by only a couple percentage points in this expansive district where Travis County provides tens of thousands of votes for a margin to offset the rural parts of the district.

From her Press Release: "Henson brings 26 years of experience in various capacities, as a prosecutor and as a civil litigator." The Third Court of Appeals encompasses 24 counties in central and west Texas.

She is working with well known Austin consultant David Butts.

Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals District, Place 6 (Unexpired)

R- Bob Pemberton(I) / 386,274 / 51.55%
D- Diane Henson / 362,955 / 48.44%

College Tuition and the Race for Governor

By John Pruett

This past Thursday, Strayhorn got on the stump to deride Perry and deliver promises. The event was the state VFW convention in Corpus Christi and her first speech since announcing her candidacy for governor. It took place at Omni Bayfront Hotel, owned by UT Regent and “Bush Pioneer” Robert Rowling. Oddly enough, Rowling has contributed over $150 thousand to Perry’s campaigns during the past four years according to the Texas Ethics Commission.

Besides promising more benefits for veterans, Strayhorn also focused much on education. The Caller-Times reports:

Convention-goers gave Strayhorn standing ovations as she outlined her TexasNextStep Plan, which would offer Texas high school graduates the opportunity to attend two years of college or technical school with tuition, fees and books paid for by the state.

Strayhorn first proposed TexasNextStep in 2002. It was originally designed to decrease the state’s high school dropout rate by providing incentives for students to continue their education. Every student would be guaranteed 90 credit hours at a community college or technical school plus $30 per credit hour for textbooks.

The concerns addressed by Strayhorn’s plan are well-founded. Texas lags far behind in national education levels and more jobs in Texas now require some college. However, TexasNextStep has a flaw. In 2003, the legislature deregulated tuition for all Texas public colleges and universities. Since then community colleges have increased tuition by a state average of 55 percent. Given this new climate, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the state to project the cost of Strayhorn’s plan without the ability to control tuition rates.

Perry and most Republicans in the legislature have consistently ignored the plight of those unable to afford a college education. Instead, they have pushed for deregulation, cuts in financial aid, and weakening the Top Ten rule. A Scripps Howard poll from earlier this year revealed that a majority of Texans oppose tuition deregulation, and Strayhorn is smart to appeal to middle- and lower-income class voters who were the most affected by higher tuition costs.

Chris Bell has also made the cost of college one of his concerns as he explores his candidacy for governor. Last week, he attacked Perry’s support for tuition deregulation and called it a “failed” plan. He rightly believes that Texas must re-regulate tuition to keep it affordable.

However, both Strayhorn’s and Bell’s proposals are only partial solutions. Ensuring low tuition ultimately depends on the legislature adequately funding colleges and universities. Once tuition is under control, then the legislature could consider something like TexasNextStep.

Higher education has the potential to be an important issue during the 2006 statewide elections. The current Republican majority has indeed “failed” on higher education and average Texans are paying the price. Furthermore, Democrats have traditionally held an advantage when it comes to education and should make the most of it.

My guess is that Strayhorn will most likely lose in the Republican primaries. At that point, Bell or whoever becomes the Democratic candidate for governor should nail Perry to the wall on higher education. Texan’s are broadly in favor of affordable tuition, and Democrats would fair better with typically-conservative, middle-class voters by focusing on it. More importantly, all Texas families deserve as much.

A Note From Barbra Ann Radnofsky

By Damon McCullar

"This exciting week allowed us to send our first press releases and deal with media attention, fundraise towards our goal, and continue our day-to-day activities, including travel, much research, review of the Congressional Record on key issues such as education, health care, and veterans' benefits.

"I've given speeches and engaged in outreach to clubs and media, and have continued practicing law, including mediation this past week.

"On June 30th thanks to the generosity of many donors across Texas from all walks of life my campaign exceeded 500,000 dollars in money raised."

Where To See Your 2006 Hopefuls This Weekend

By Damon McCullar

So it's 4th of July weekend and you're sitting at home asking yourself, "Where can I go to see my 2006 Democratic hopefuls?" Well I'm glad you asked! Here are some events occurring this weekend. Get out there and meet your candidates!

Chris Bell

Chris has busy weekend. Tommorrow he will be at the Mid-Cities picnic in Hurst. Event starts at 10am and is located at Chisholm Park, 2200 Norwood Drive, Hurst. Go to the Mid-Cities Dems website for more info. Then he heads over to Dallas for a meet and greet at La Madeleine Oak Lawn, 3906 Lemmon Ave, Dallas. Please RSVP for this event with Sally Garcia

***UPDATE***

John Courage

Saturday July 2nd
8:30 AM – 9:30 AM Northeast Bexar County Democrats Club Meeting Luby’s Cafeteria Loop 410 at Nacogdoches RD. San Antonio
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM: WimDems and Dem Friends Get together Wimberly, Hays Co. Across from the Market Days Fair Grounds
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM: Cong. Charles Gonzalez Town Hall Meeting on BRAC John Jay High School Auditorium 7611 Marbach Rd.San Antonio
Monday July 4th
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Hill Country Democratic Women -July 4th Parade Startzville/Canyon Lake
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Travis Co. Democratic Party Salute to the Bill of Rights Zaragoza Park 2608 Gonzales Street
Austin
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Election Reform Protest Austin State Capitol south steps

Barbra Ann Radnofsky
Barbara Ann Radnofsky, candidate for Senate in 2006, will be spending the Fourth of July in Colorado Springs. Barbara and Ed are traveling to Colorado Springs for a speech she has been asked to give with an Air Force General on Alternative Dispute Resolution in both the allied expeditionary setting and to resolve private disputes. The speech is entitled "ADR at War and Peace." Barbara will also attend a fundraising reception in her honor while in Colorado on July 4th

Barbara's campaign will continue to have a significant Texas presence over the holiday weekend, with Robert Andrews advocating for Barbara at the Mid Cities Democrats Picnic in Hurst on Saturday and at the Travis County Democratic Party Picnic in east Austin on Monday. Volunteers will be distributing material at events across Texas..

That's all I have for now folks, but if there are any events that you 2006 Democratic Hopefuls have planned, please contact me...stay tuned for more developments!

For Whom Chris Bell Tolls...He Tolls For Thee

By Damon McCullar

Taking up where Karl-Thomas left off...

It's not of question of liberals vs conservatives within the party, or a question of the political establishment versus the grassroots organizers. It's more of a a question of new vs. old. John Sharp has been a fixture in Texas state politics for awhile. It's time to bring new faces to the table.

Although Chris may have started this campaign at a disadvantage in name ID across the state, he has represented most of Harris County since 1997. He has solid base in the state's biggest city...not too shabby!

It seems that my esteemed colleague thinks that a priamry fight is pointless. He states that a primary battle will leave the eventual winner damaged. I respectfully disagree. What the party can't afford is to choose one side over the other, rather the party needs a candidate that has credibility with both camps. Bell's commitment to grassroots outreach here in the early stage has won him a lot of support from the state's progressive grassroots but he also has a moderate profile and history drawing crossover support in his city council and congressional races.

If we're going to run a reform campaign against Perry and the
Republican establishment, we need a real reform candidate, not our own version of the same establishment figure.

John Sharp to Enter Race

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

A fellow 21st Street Co-oper got back from a meeting downtown this afternoon where he heard some of the most important political rumors more or less confirmed.

Through the grapevine of tech people and political consultants, BOR now feels comfortable filing this initial report that John Sharp, former candidate for Lt. Governor against Dewhurst in 2002, will be entering the race for Governor against Perry. Word from our source has it that a "key Texas consultant has offered his endorsement of Sharp for Governor, an action this particular consultant wouldn't do unless there was a campaign and they were on board with it."

I should have more information on this tomorrow, hopefully the name of the consultant or consulting group (should it be a team effort).

If true, the question will soon become, for whom the Bell tolls? I see a primary battle as slightly pointless and one that will inevitably become a progressive grassroots v. establishment powerbrokers battle that will leave our Party wedged, if not the eventual candidate damaged.

Yes, contested primaries would help us get some free media and coverage, but only Bell needs that, not Sharp (because of name ID issues). Of course, Bell's recent press releases have seemed to be more urgent in nature, almost asking for Sharp to just make up his mind one way or the other. And he still has a painless out due to family medical concerns, which may have come into play regardless of Sharp.

Stay tuned for updates. And send us your tips if you have them...

Robert Francis for Court of Criminal Appeals

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Getting in on the action that Rep. Terry Keel has already stated an interest in, Republican Robert Francis, a former Dallas Judge is making the race for Republican incumbant Charles Holcomb's seat a threesome. Why the big interest in this particular spot when there are so many statewide goodies to go around? The Statesman says...

“Being a politician is different from being a judge,” Francis said. “If we hold a press conference, the only people who show up are our parents.”

Francis joins a Republican Party field consisting of Terry Keel, the Austin state representative who announced his judicial bid last week, and the incumbent, Judge Charles Holcomb of Wimberley.

Francis said his experience as a judge will matter to voters. Keel has never served as a judge. Francis said he also expects “temperament” to be an issue.

...

Holcomb, a former member of the 12th Court of Appeals in Tyler, said his challengers likely are aware he cannot legally serve a full six-year term if he wins re-election. Holcomb, 71, would be required by law not to serve as an active judge after he turns 75 in September 2008.

Chris Bell Rails Against Tutition Deregulation

By Damon McCullar

According to today's Houston Chronicle:

Texas A&M University students will pay 12 percent more to attend classes this fall, continuing a statewide trend of escalating tuition rates. Students will pay $137 per semester hour, up from $122.50 a year ago. The increase should generate about $12.5 million for the flagship College Station campus, officials said. Soaring costs have alarmed students and parents since the Texas Legislature deregulated tuition rates in 2003. Some lawmakers sought to regain control of tuition during the session that ended last month, but their efforts failed.

Today former Congressman Chris Bell, who is exploring a run for governor, says that tutition deregulation has failed Texas.

“When tuition rises four times faster than inflation, we need to admit that tuition deregulation has failed,” said Bell. “One of my top priorities as Governor will be to put that genie back in the bottle. There is no better economic development program in the world than higher education, and the moms and dads in Texas deserve a Texas Governor who gets it.”

On Jun. 22, 2003, Rick Perry signed HB 3015, deregulating college tuition after lobbying for it. Since then, tuition at state colleges and universities has risen at alarming rates. In 2003, the tuition at the University of Texas at Austin rose 37 percent, the highest jump of any school in the country according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Rick Perry says he balanced the budget without raising taxes. Well, he balanced it all right. He balanced it on the backs of every mom and dad who’s struggling to send their kid to college, not to mention the students taking out huge loans just to pay for Rick Perry’s balanced budget. Tell them that the largest tuition increase in the country isn’t a tax increase,” said Bell.

But never fear, prepaid tuition plans are here...
...but 2003 Carole Keeton Strayhorn suspended the program "for the foreseeable future … to safeguard the plan's financial integrity."

So now what?

Keel Announces for Statewide Office

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Rep. Terry Keel, of HD 47 in Southwest Travis County, has officially filed his paperwork to run for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, setting the stage for a primary battle with incumbant Charles Holcomb.

An Austin lawmaker who was instrumental in the failure of a bill that would have given judges a pay raise said Friday he will run for a seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Republican Rep. Terry Keel said he is seeking the position currently held by Justice Charles Holcomb, a Republican.

Holcomb began his term with the court in 2001, and his term expires in 2006. His office said he will seek re-election.

The Court of Criminal Appeals is the state's highest court on criminal issues, and justices are elected by a statewide vote.

In a statement, Keel said he believes he can bring a unique background to criminal law, including his experience as a prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, sheriff and lawmaker.

Keel passed up a chance to run for a lower level, closer to come court such as the 3rd Court of Appeals anchored by Austin, where Democratic Justice Jan Patterson won by a few thousand votes last year and Democrat Diane Henson came up a few thousand short of gaining a seat. It would be a competitive district, but Keel probably recognizes that a Republican primary statewide would be easier. Plus, as competitive as the Governor's race may be, it is unlikely that Democrats will win any of the Statewide judicial seats, as they are more or less simply decided by the base vote of each party. Dems are gaining a point or two a cycle for those, but they are mostly out of reach for now.

Fine by me, it just opens up HD 47 for being a top tier target in Central Texas, where Dennis Speight, Gregg Knaupe, Son of Laney, Son of Earle, and probably others are all 'considering' it. If someone announces, please let us know in the comments.

Confirmation for HD 47 Challenger

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Quorum Report is a bit behind of us on this one, but has some background info to add to the mix.

Add Dennis Speight to the list of Democrats considering a run for Terry Keel's (R-Austin) soon to be open House seat.

Speight served as the finance director for the Partnership, an apparatus designed to help Democratic House members. Speight helped raise $1.3 million for the 2002 campaign. He now serves as the vice-chair for finance of the Texas Democratic Party. He also serves as Rep. Chuck Hopson's (D-Jacksonville) legislative aide. Speight was also president of the Texas Young Democrats for three years and has lived in the district for four years.

Over in HD 48 against Baxter, Democratic candidate Andy Brown is already starting to lob press releases at the incumbant. In addition, he's hired much of the campaign staff that he needs at this point as well as a top notch Austin fundraiser. The campaign staff met with one of the same tech people that met with John Courage this Wednesday. Look for integration of various components and coordination of technology and volunteers in HD 50, HD 48, and CD21. We're hoping to get HD 47's nominee into the same system, whomever that may end up being. So please don't tear each other aparty down there in a primary guys.

For whom does Chris Bell Toll?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Chris Bell has a new Podcast up. Which give us an excuse to talk about the Governor's race on the Dem side. Comments heard by this BOReporter this week suggests that John Sharp is giving the race serious consideration.

Let the flame wars ensue. This is an Open Thread for the Governor's Race.

Land Commissioner set for Re-Election Bid

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

In the category of Great Shakes and Stunning Announcements comes Republican Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson's declaration that he's running for re-election and that he would "like to have an opponent." To which Mike Lavigne of the Texas Democratic Party responded, "He will".

Of course, who is still totally unknown continuing the TDP's strategy of "Mum is the Word" on what we are up to. Let's just home the word doesn't stay mum much longer. Any of you want to break your mumness in the comments?

No Primary Interest

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Hutchison didn't want to challenge Perry, this we all know. But the big question is why. We assumed that she felt she couldn't win the primary, or would damage the political capital that she has. The latter would have probably ended up true, but the Statesman shows us today that the former wasn't true at all.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would have been a strong front-runner among likely Republican voters if she'd challenged Gov. Rick Perry one-on-one next year, according to a survey conducted by a firm hired by her campaign.

A memo summarizing the April survey and obtained by the Austin American-Statesman says that, at the time, about 59 percent leaned toward Hutchison, with 33 percent favoring Perry.

The numbers might dampen speculation that Hutchison avoided running against Perry out of concern that he'd steeled support among GOP activists. It likewise leaves in question why she didn't try and suggests that Perry has ground to cover with voters.

Only 15 percent of the surveyed voters said they would definitely re-elect Perry, though another 23 percent said they would probably prefer him over a new Republican.

So Perry isn't popular with voters, but for Perry not to be popular with Republican Primary type of voters by that kind of margin... that's something to give hope to the likes of Carol Keeton McClellan Rylander Strayhorn who can run on simply "not being Perry". While I still lean towards those that say Perry wins the primary due to his ownership of the base, I sincerely believe that as the Perry camp realizes how vulnerable it is, it will lash out negatively, harshly, and without forgiveness.

Oh, and there are rumors of none other than Lance Armstrong running for Texas Governor. Though not in 2006. Good thing, we wouldn't want the race to get any more weird than Perry, Carol 4-Names, Chris Bell, the Kinkster, and Jennifer Gale. And Sheryl Crow as first lady? Anita would throw a fit.

Is Perry a Lock? The BOR Betting Thread

By Jim Dallas

Pink Dome says "no"; I'd be tempted to agree with them if I didn't still believe I was correct when I told a reporter recently that the answer is probably "yes".

So let's make a deal - 3:1 odds on Perry winning in an average-or-low-turnout primary; slightly worse if turnout goes higher.

(By "open" primary I meant a Louisiana-style primary, but I think that was lost in translation.)

Madla to Run of Not?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

A very interesting Express News article gives us some hints as to what is happening in Senator Madla's seat. The first question is, will he even run for re-election?

State Rep. Robert Puente said Madla told him this week that he will announce his re-election campaign June 28 at the Holiday Inn Downtown.

But Madla backed off that Friday because of the likely announcement that Gov. Rick Perry will call a special session of the Legislature as early as Tuesday.

"There are a lot of variables," Madla said. "Am I going to run again? It's possible.

"But it's also possible that my heart could tell me to get on my horse and ride toward the sunset."

I'm hoping that he rides off into the sunset, but barring that, the second questino is raised. Primary Challenge and by whom?

Assuming that Madla does enter the March Democratic primary, the question remains: Will someone from his own party oppose him?

Gallego said flatly, "I would never challenge him."

Puente, who admitted he likes to kid around with Madla "about the great retirement package he would receive if he retires," was also matter-of-fact.

"In my opinion, that's Frank's district until he retires," Puente said.

That leaves Uresti. And unlike his colleagues, he left the door open.

"It's too early, I haven't really given that much thought to it," Uresti said.

Those who follow South Side politics say Uresti is serious about a Senate bid. Uresti is said to believe his name identification is strong coming off the effort to reform Child Protective Services after several child deaths.

But fundraising will be his challenge, as Madla will use his decades-long influence to cut off major funding sources in Austin.

Momma's Boy

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Strayhorn didn't ask her son, Bush's Press Secretary to come home to manage her campaign. Though some may say that the White House is in a bit of a hard place with wanting to support Perry ideologically but having family ties to Strayhorn, I think this is more of a case of Mamma just knowing not to push the issue. From the Statesman...

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan says he loves his mom but he is not planning to leave his post to return to Texas to work in her gubernatorial campaign.

...

"I don't have any plans beyond what I'm doing right now," said McClellan, who has been the chief White House spokesman since July 2003.

McClellan has worked in three previous campaigns for his mom and takes credit for creating the "one tough grandma" theme she uses.

Asked about the difficulty in choosing between the president and his mother, McClellan joked, "Well, the president always says listen to your mother, so I heed his advice."

McClellan said his mother had not asked him to leave his White House post to sign on with her campaign.

...

In Austin on Monday, Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders said she had turned elsewhere in her family for a campaign manager. Brad McClellan, one of Scott's three brothers, will take that job. Until recently, Brad McClellan worked as an assistant Texas attorney general.

Perry Pushes Back

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

To anyone who doesn't think the Republican Primary for Governor is going to be bitter and bloody I offer you this.

Perry Campaign manager Luis Saenz said:

"It should come as no surprise that Ms. Strayhorn is running for governor because she has been doing that for the last two years as she neglected her duties as comptroller. What is surprising is that she announced as a Republican since she has aligned herself with personal injury trial lawyers and prominent Democrats like Ben Barnes, who partnered with Dan Rather in a nationally televised attempt to bring down George W. Bush's presidency.

This primary will offer clear differences between the strong, principled conservative leadership we have today, and the big spending, Democrat agenda the comptroller has pushed on behalf of her special interest backers."

At the moment I have to say that RickPerry.org looks much better than carolestrayhorn.com

Carol 4-Names Report

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

This report comes from BOR reader Jeremy Boyd...

I attended Carole Keeton Strayhorn's event today, and things seemed impressive. There was a moderate turnout, and people seemed content to stand around waiting in our beloved Austin heat until she took the stage at 12:45. Her most vocal supporters there seemed to be the Anti-Toll/Anti-TTC crowd, though judging from the placement of the majority of the applause -- that is, when she talked about health and education issues -- I'd hazard a guess that there were a few closet progressives present, too.

She said some hard-hitting, mean things about the Governor, which went over well with everyone. She cornered him at one point, proclaiming that no leader should have had to call a special session at this point, that no leader should even consider forcing schools to open late and that threats are no way to get things done in this state. So it looks like she's got two lines of attack for her campaign: If he doesn't call a special session (haven't looked yet to see if he has), she'll say he bowed out on school finance reform, and if he does call one, she'll point out that he had to because he couldn't get Dewhurst and Craddick in line. And if he threatens to line-item veto, she'll go ballistic on him.

Interestingly, there was a scripted, 30-second non sequitur completely independent of the rest of the speech in which she praised KBH. (Can we expect an endorsement from the Senator?)

Also, she said that her campaign will be a time of "sincere conversation, deliberate debate," etc. Given Perry's threats to any challengers -- also mentioned by CKS -- this will be a fun race to watch.

Be There Saturday

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn personally asks you to BE HERE for a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT this Saturday. June 18th at 12:15 - 16th & Congress (Just North of the Capital). Free Hotdogs, Free Drinks and Music. She says to bring the Family!

It's almost enough to want to make me skip out on part of DemFest, but seriously, probably not quite enough. But if you go, let us know how it was. E-mail me and I'll put it up here, or leave a comment.

Jennifer Gale for Governor?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

For those of you familiar with Austin politics, I'm sure you are already rolling your eyes at this point. But in the stragest of places tonight (meaning Kinky Friedman's blog), there is rumor that Gale will make her 18th(?) bid for public office, by running for Governor as a Democrat.

A Jennifer Gale of Austin does plan to run, but I believe in may be on the Democratic ticket.

Watch out Chris Bell, looks like you might be defeated in a few key precincts in Austin, Texas. Gale most recently ran for Austin City Council, gaining 9% of the Place 4 vote. You have to admire her for trying, even if she "don't get no satisfaction".

UpdateThe comments tell us of a News 8 Austin story that says she's trying to get on as an Independent. Ok, that will be a fun race to 45,000+ signatures to watch.

Janette Sexton Takes on Talton

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Off the Kuff brings us an introduction to Janette Sexton, Democratic candidate against Robert Talton (R-HJR 6). I liked her words which I've syndicated below. Rock on Janette!

I am a woman, a mother, and a grandmother. I consider myself an ordinary person who feels called to action during extraordinary times. My three main campaign issues are education, the environment, and affordable healthcare for all, but I also have strong convictions about campaign finance reform, insurance reform, a woman’s right to choose, an increase in the minimum wage, and equality for all Texas' citizens (proponent on all issues).

The bottom line is that my opponent is attempting to legislate his prejudices into law. He was a co-author of House Joint Resolution 6 (HJR 6), the Anti-Gay Texas Marriage Amendment, which would write unequal treatment for gay and lesbian Texans into our Texas Constitution by permanently banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples. It would deny thousands of Texas families access to health care, fair inheritance and survivor rights, and the ability to make medical decisions for loved ones, but I feel sure you are well aware of the details of this amendment.

On March 9, my opponent voted for House Bill 2, the abominable education bill that could have been the beginning of the unraveling of public education in Texas. Companion bill, House Bill 3, did little to mitigate the shortfall in funding for our children, their schools, and their teachers. The bill proposed raising taxes on those who could least afford an increase and protected the wealthy. We are fortunate that the education and school funding bills did not pass.

This was the year Republicans in Texas were supposed to have proved they could govern, but, instead, they failed miserably. We can do better, and we must do better. Our Democratic legislators in Austin need reinforcement. Each additional Democratic vote is crucial. I want to be on the front lines...voting to keep bad bills from passing and, hopefully, putting forth legislation that will benefit my constituents, as well as all citizens of Texas.

I am in this race to win, but it will be difficult to unseat an entrenched Republican incumbent. Talton is in a leadership position, and I believe he is a deacon in his church. If the Republican machine believes Talton is vulnerable--and he is-- it will pour millions into his race. I will need to raise a minimum of $100,000-150,000 to run a credible campaign.

I want to be the voice of the under-represented in my district and throughout Texas: the old, the infirm, the young, and the working poor. I want to be your voice!

Challenge everywhere. Their weak, their leaders, their icons. Challenge it all. And to quote Andrew Dobbs who left the following comment on a different post of Kuff's...

State House Districts that had Democratic opposition in 2004 saw a 5% increase in Democratic performance while districts without opposition had none. Running candidates in every single district is the secret to winning statewide.

Pete Laney for HD 47?

By Andrew Dobbs

No, not THE Pete Laney, but his son-- J. Pete Laney of Austin. According to Capitol Inside (subscription required), we can add yet another name to the growing list of potential candidates for Keel's seat:

By this time next year, however, there's a chance that voters in southwest Austin and the nearby hills to the west might realize that former House Speaker Pete Laney has a son named J. Pete who lives in House District 47 and might be its next state representative. J. Pete Laney - not to be confused with James E. "Pete" Laney - is being mentioned as a potential candidate for the seat that Republican State Rep. Terry Keel plans to vacate at the end of next year. (...)

A possible Laney candidacy could have a significant bearing on what the final field looks like in the 2006 Democratic primary for the House seat in southwest Travis County. The pedigree alone would bring instant credibility in a district that tilts slightly Republican but is still within the Democrats' reach. The former speaker, who still represents the Panhandle in the lower chamber, had been a House member for two years when his won was born 30 years ago. In other words, Rep. Laney has been a legislator every day of his son's entire life. The ex-speaker and his wife, Nelda Laney, also have two daughters.

The younger Laney is a member of an Austin law firm that specializes in defending clients in personal injury lawsuits. Laney, who followed his dad's footsteps to Texas Tech University before getting his law degree at Baylor, practices law with Hull Henricks & Macrae, whose senior partner was a key advisor to the Republican sponsors of medical malpractice liability reform during the regular session in 2003. The legal position might help insulate Laney from being bashed as a member of a party associated with trial lawyers who represent plaintiffs in civil court cases.

So why all the interest in this seat? Because it is Austin. This is a town built on politics full of ambitious people who want to see the other side of the legislative process. As soon as any office that looks like it can be a springboard to something else opens up, there is a mad dash to fill it up. HD 47 will see a very healthy Democratic field, including several (Laney for one) who don't even live in the district yet. Right now the best job in Austin is a realtor with a lot of nice houses and apartments in the HD 47 area, because there's a whole lotta people looking to run in that seat.

Pete Gallego Shows Up in the Big City

By Andrew Dobbs

I have no idea whether or not this will actually be seen by anybody, because this whole "rebuilding" thing confuses and scares me, but I'll give it a shot anyways.

Many people are paying close attention to Southwest Texas right now, as longtime State Senator Frank Madla has worn out his welcome with many. His district, anchored in San Antonio, cuts a huge gerrymandered swath across the Big Bend area of West Texas. Madla has served for years, but many are tired of his status as "furniture" and his bad votes on some key Democratic issues. State Representatives Carlos Uresti and Robert Puente (both key members of Craddick's leadership team) are taking a look at the race, but all the oxygen in the political scene is taken up by one man: State Representative Pete Gallego.

Gallego was first elected to his seat in 1990 and has served with distinction. The immediate past chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, he also served as Democratic Caucus Leader for a spell. His face is among the most familiar for Texas Democrats who watch the legislature-- he, Garnet Coleman, Jim Dunnam and Scott Hochberg form the core of Democratic leadership in the House. He is eloquent, driven and progressive. And he would immediately make a phenomenal Senator. Many expect him to run for statewide office, most expect that he would do very well. A State Senate seat would be a strong first step in the right direction.

The problem is that Gallego is from West Texas (one of the few remaining West Texas Democratic officials) and the district is dominated by the corner of San Antonio that it takes in. To win he would have to do well in SA. Last night he held a reception in San Antonio where he took down the house. A friend of mine (who asked not to be named, due to the fact that he works in the Capitol) told me that "Gallego was fantastic... I love it when a pol has the balls to walk into the room and call it like it is." I couldn't agree more.

Gallego is starting to look better and better for this race. Let's hope some smart people start pushing him in the right direction.

Strayhorn Rumored to Announce This Saturday

By Andrew Dobbs

According to Quorum Report:

Reliable sources tell QR that Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn will announce her candidacy for the Republican nomination as Governor this Saturday.

We have not yet received direct confirmation from her campaign office but have enough confidence in our sources to run with this story.

Plans may change, but what we have confirmed are that calls are being made giving supporters a heads up about the pending announcement.

This might be the worst possible thing to happen to Kay Bailey Hutchison. I'd say that Strayhorn's chances of winning the GOP nomination are slim to none, but she'll suck off a sizeable chunk of moderate voters and suburban women who are the treasure trove for KBH. KBH is the worst thing Strayhorn could face as she's more popular with that same crowd.

Of course, Rick Perry will likely have to deal with two primary opponents bashing him, an independent and a handful of Democratic candidates all running against him. But with his base in the evangelical community (a sizeable chunk of the GOP primary) and rural voters (another nice demographic to hold) he should be able to make it to a runoff at the very least and will likely win outright. He needs to start attacking now and establishing his credibility. Were I him, within a week of the veto process ending, I'd announce my candidacy and run my first campaign ads.

Things are heating up... stay tuned to BOR for all your 2006 rumors and news.

Bell Conference Call

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I didn't make the Chris Bell Conference Call last night with Texas bloggers as I was still finishing up a late dinner here at the Co-op where I'm living this summer, but the Panhandle Truth Squad was there as well as In The Pink Texas (ITPT as she is going now, total rip off of BOR, IMHO =) ) as well as StoutDem so check them out.

And just to clear things up, I poke fun at Bell's campaign at times, just like I do for everyone else. I believe that the instant politics lacks it's "fun factor" the little hope there is, will be lost forever. Also, while we all make cracks about Bell's perpetual "exploratory phase" one of the primary reasons is due to certain medical issues in the Bell family that won't be fully known/resolved until the end of next month. And because of the respect that Bell has shown for that family member, I think we can offer him that much respect in return by not demanding him to enter officially.

Playful ribbing is still game though.

Borris Miles taking on Al Edwards

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Al Edwards, one of the Texas House's longest serving Reps, and most widely known for his Anti-Booty Bill. Save Texas Reps points out why, other than the obvious fact that it's time for a more Democratic behaving Rep to hold his Democratic seat, it may be a ripe time for us to support a primary challenger, like Borris Miles.

Greg makes the very succinct point that...

"I'm sure that once Borris Miles hits the campaign trail in earnest, there's going to be a fascinating debate over issues, ideology, and public service (ala Wilson v Allen). But for now, Borris Miles gets a good deal of street cred for the sole reason that he is not Al Edwards.

I respect his humble nature, and his fights in past years for civil rights. But I think he's forgotten those days, especially with comments calling homosexuality a "social ill".

But about Borris Miles. A little web investigation tells us that he owns an Insurance Agency, supports Peter Brown for Houston City Council At Large Place 1, and donated to a lot of Houston Dems, including about $3350 to none other than Chris Bell back in his Congressional Days. Barak Obama and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee also got a couple thousand. Now those are some Black Democrats I wouldn't mind hanging with.

Oh I forgot, I already have once.

Adding it Up

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Some fundraising numbers from around the state.

Chris Bell: $25,072 of his $30,000 mini-goal reached so far. Donate before tomorrow night.

Barbara Radnofsky: $450,000 of her $500,000 first quarter goal reached so far. What the heck has that gal been doing? “Trial Dialing” for dollars is my guess. Maybe the rest of the campaign staff will be soon to follow, heh.

Kinky Friedman: $12,000 goal fully reached to build his campaign "hat" trailer.

David Van Os: No idea about his fundraising status, though thank goodness his site is going under a makeover. You can donate here if you please.

Texas Young Democrats: $755 of $5000 for the 5K in June campaign. Please donate!

Thinking about Texas

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

This morning I had a chance to catch some coffee with Chris Bell blogger guy Jason Stanford on the Drag here in Austin. Being a bit late thanks to a cantankerous alarm clock, I didn’t recognize him at first but figured that it was one of the two guys sitting outside by himself.

In any case, it was refreshing to chat with him, about the nature of the Bell campaign, Texas strategy changes in this elections compared to last, and the importance of not taking the base for granted in Texas statewide elections anymore. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m more of a liberal Democrat when it comes to campaign candidates, styles, and strategies. I’m the kind of person that is attracted to campaigns that are innovative, grassrootsy, and maybe odd. I was a Deaniac, the closest thing to a Margot Clarke supporter on this blog, and someone who will sign Jennifer Gale’s ballot access petitions at 1:30 AM in the middle of the Drag for whatever race she may run.

But having spent some time around Byron and Andrew, as well as many of the Austin politicos, I have a greater respect for some of the more old-fashioned Democrats and campaign styles. It’s not that I think they are wrong; it’s just that I think that we keep trying them and losing. (See 2002 as Example A-F) In small local elections, be it out in the Hill Country or East Texas, getting some old LBJ family member or Texas legend to run and win can work and should be done. But the days are fading where we can continue to do that on a statewide level and hope that our never-changing strategy of huge turnout in the Valley and Urban Counties will give us a win over the other 230 counties in the state. Why? Because those two regions would be our base, and when campaigns are set up the way they have been, we offer very little for our base to get out and vote for.

Since the old way isn’t working, and we can only wait around so long for demographics to turn our way (while the GOP eats away into our traditional Hispanic support), why don’t we try something different? Let’s run against corruption in a mainstream to populist way (in a slightly less “Van Os”ian way). Let’s run Bell against Perry (like Kinky is). Let’s run a Courage against Smith. Let’s run primary challenges against turncoat/Craddickrats. On the state and federal Texas elections, let’s run on reform and good government. That’s not liberal or conservative. It’s just Good and Right. Run on that and you won’t have to worry as much about the social politics which always dog us.

To crib from Kinky, Why the Hell not?

Yes We Can!

By Jim Dallas

The Bell team is hoping to raise $30,000 by midnight on the 15th.

The Wong Answer

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Via Quorum Report for the second time today.

Ellen Cohen, the President and CEO of the Houston Area Women's Center has decided to challenge incumbent Republican Martha Wong. Cohen will be filing her papers and naming her treasurer around the first of next month.

Huzzah for that. Just like I belive Kelly White's similar background would have made a great addition to the legislature, I hope that Ellen Cohen will incorperate that into her campaign. This should be an exciting woman on woman battle in which the gay community in that district should be heavily involved.

From the e-mail lists

By Jim Dallas

Kevin Anderson, who collected about 3,000 votes running as a Libertarian for Congress in the fourth district against Republican Ralph Hall and "very, very conservative" Democrat Jim Nickerson, is thinking about running again in 2006... as a Democrat. This could make for an interesting primary race should Nickerson try again (although I haven't heard anything to that effect).

Also, there is the Chris Bell conference call tonight, at 7 p.m. If you blog and haven't gotten the e-mail, zip me a note at jim - dot - dallas - at - gmail - dot - com before, oh, five or so and I'll forward the information.