| STATE OF THE RACE: Toss Up Candidate Page: Donnie Dippel
Candidate Page: Tim Kleinschmidt House District Map: District 17
District History: 2006 Election Results Click here to return to the Burnt Orange Political Report home page. 30-Day Out Campaign Finance Report: HD-17: Dippel vs. Kleinschmidt
| Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | Democrat Donnie Dippel
| $94,304.83 | $23,012.56 | $79,253.96 | Republican Tim Kleinschmidt
| $106,715.00 | $102,528.89 | $28,988.73 | | Dippel/Kleinschmidt Adv. (Noted) | $12,410.17 (Kleinschmidt)
| $79,516.33 (Kleinschmidt)
| $50,265.23 (Dippel)
|
In the tightest open race in Texas, Democrat Donnie Dippel is trying to hold onto the race left vacant by retiring Democrat Rep. Robby Cook. Kleinschmidt narrowly lost to Cook in 2006. For this race, we actually have several diaries from our readers that provide excellent coverage: The long and short of the race is simple: this is a race where a considerable amount of the vote is in Bastrop County, where Democrats are well organized and poised to over-perform. The remainder of the district is, like Bastrop, very rural -- but Dippel has the expertise: Meanwhile, long-time Fayette County rancher and ag consultant Donnie Dippel (who would the cows really support, Tim?) is running on a sound platform that speaks to the actual issues affecting working families of the 17th District: fully funding our public schools and bringing back vocational training programs(strengthening the rural labor force), support for rural health care services like CHIP and local hospitals, support for volunteer fire departments and rural law enforcement, repealing the Republican-enacted small business tax, (back to those "small town values" again) , protecting our water resources (as Kleinschmidt sells his water out of the District!) and encouraging economic development in HD-17, with it's mix of rural and exurban communities.
It is a close race because of Kleinschmidt's previous campaigning in the district in 2006 and his fundraising totals. But Dippel is running a smart campaign, and at the end of the day he has a much more concrete plan on where to get the votes to win. Here are some other links that previous coverage of the race on Burnt Orange Report: |
