A victory in TX-7 in possible... (0.00 / 0)

...but it will take a LOT of hard work.  It was the only Republican district in the state back when there were no Republicans in the state.

It will be tempting for a Democrat to try and do what Jim Henley did (no disrespect to him), and that is to try and turn out the vote entirely in the gerrymandered Democratic part of the district and cede the Republican part of the district to the GOP.

However, it's a trap!

This is a very wealthy district.  (Full disclosure: I went to high school in this district -- though I lived elsewhere).  VERY wealthy.  As in, richest congressional district in North America.  Roger Clemens lives in this district, and he's not even the wealthiest one there (and that's before paying all those legal fees).

That being said, there are ways for the Democrat to win here.  Culberson has not made himself too popular because he's meddled where he should not be meddling.  He started the clusterf*** that is the Katy Freeway expansion project (which will upset a lot of the folks up and down the corridor who now have a whole lot of construction and freeway noise where there used to be none).  Down the Richmond corridor, he's done a bait and switch on the whole Metro light rail idea, trying to stick it down a street that the voters didn't approve it on because of a severe case of NIMBY (not in my back yard).

For the fiscally conservative, the key will be showing how the war in Iraq is fiscally irresponsible.  Hit him in mailers/ads/whatever on how many times Culberson has voted for budgets that aren't balanced or that blossom the federal deficit.  A good tongue-in-cheek ad may be some family sitting in a car stuck in traffic on the Katy Freeway during rush hour, with money flying out the tailpipe.

There are some good down-to-earth progressives in this district, because Tom DeLay stuck the liberal parts of Rice Village in this district.  This is your base.  Mobilize them quickly to do blockwalking...even in Spring Valley/Memorial.  Hell, this is the district where Barbara Ann Radnofsky lives!  There are Democrats who live in that part of the world.  Reach out to them, and your pocketbook will explode.

That being said...it won't be easy.  Culberson has a mighty war chest.  But if the Dem sets the tone of the debate before Culberson gets involved, it will be a whole lot easier.

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by: Michael Redding @ Wed Apr 02, 2008 at 16:42:42 PM UTC