Is Kesha Rogers ineligible to run for TX-22 as a Democrat?

by: derby378

Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 00:54 PM CST

Money in Politics: Local Campaign Spending and Donations

by: liberaltexan

Thu Feb 04, 2010 at 09:58 PM CST

Local residents have donated over $118,000 to political candidates and campaign during the current election cycle, and over half of those donations originated from two different zip codes. The largest amount of donations came from south College Station, a total of $39,295 in political donations originated from the 77845 zip code. The second largest amount of donations came from eastern Bryan, at total of $23,741 originated from the 77802 zip code. Residents of College Station have donated $63,429 to political campaigns, while residents of Bryan have donated $54,835.

In local Brazos County campaigns County Commissioner Duane Peters, who is a Republican primary candidate for County Judge, has spent $12,451, the most out of any other candidate. Representative Fred Brown has spent the most out of local Texas legislature candidates, spending $9,404 during the current reporting period. In the local congressional district, Congressman Edwards has already spent more than all of the Republican candidates involved in the primary combined; all five Republican primary candidates have spent a total $268,481 during the current election cycle while Edwards has spent $308,832.

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Obama's wasted year & the way forward

by: Robin Cravey

Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 09:54 AM CST

Small change

The difference between Coach Stengel and President Obama is that Obama got to pick his own team.  Yet, after a campaign built on change, he continued in power the same old team:  Gates at Defense, Geithner at Treasury, Bernanke at Fed.  And they're making the same old plays:  big bank bailouts; weak regulations; tepid economic stimulus; troop surge in Afghanistan; persecution of gays in the military; protection for torturers.  The President shrugged off his own deadline for closing the un-American prison at Guantanamo.

After leading the nation in a chant of Yes we can, Mr. Obama has spent his first year in office showing that No, they can't.  Now David Axelrod is offering the excuse that change is hard.  When did they figure that one out?  

President Obama has managed to lose his Democratic base and independent voters at the same time, while gaining not a single friend in the opposition.  When the President should have shown leadership, he stayed on the sidelines.  Where are we going?

Your Help Is Needed Now

by: Dan Grant

Thu Jan 14, 2010 at 03:50 PM CST

I urge you to do the following: text 'HAITI' to 90999 on your cell phone. Ten dollars will be donated to the International Red Cross for relief efforts; this donation will be charged to your cell phone bill. This is completely legitimate, and is being advocated by the State Department. (And the traditional fees and cuts taken by cell phone carriers are being waved by most carriers in this case. -kt)

The capital city of Port-au-Prince has been destroyed. The Presidential Palace has been destroyed, the UN headquarters of the country has been destroyed. Several tens of thousands have died in the initial earthquake, and that number could escalate into six figures in the next few days unless food, water, shelter, and medical aid are brought to the island.

Up to three million people have been injured. A conservative estimate is that fifty thousand people died in the first day; as a comparison roughly the same number of Americans perished in the entire Vietnam War.

The cataclysm for the Haitian people - the poorest country in the western hemisphere - will get worse before it gets better.

But you can help.

For more information, go here:

http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/...

Your help will prevent more death and suffering. As good Democrats, Texans, Americans, and - simply - good people, we must do right.

I urge you to act now.

Brazos Valley Report: Twitter Politics

by: liberaltexan

Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 07:15 PM CST

Congressman Chet Edwards, incumbent Democrat, does not advertise a Twitter account on his campaign web site, although Edwards does maintain a Facebook page that is regularly updated. However, Edwards has tended to be a low profile Congressman, and rarely appears in interviews on cable news and has focused most of his campaign on tradition means such as radio advertising and yard signs. While Edwards might be able to provide some interesting tweets it is doubtful that he would say anything overly partisan or controversial in 140 characters.

Republican primary candidate Rob Curnock, who tweets under the name rob4congress, has focused less on specific campaign issues and more on promoting partisan attacks from Congressman Mike Pence to political commentator Dick Morris. Recently Curnock did promote a list to his 229 followers of "10 reasons why 2010 will be a year to celebrate for Central Texans" that his campaign web site published. Curnock's number one reason was a "Consistent, common-sense conservative message of less government, lower taxes and more personal freedom," and that "this campaign is about ideas and message." Which is interesting because that means that the Curnock campaign in 2010 should be completely different that the Curnock campaign in 2008 when its focus was not on ideas but on negative campaigning and saying the words "liberal" and "Edwards" in the same sentence over and over again.

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Brazos Valley Report: Filing Ends and Primary Campaigns Begin

by: liberaltexan

Tue Jan 05, 2010 at 06:55 PM CST

The campaign for the Republican nomination for Congressional District 17 is much more crowded than it was last year. Last year's Republican nominee, Waco businessman Rob Curnock, is joined by fellow Waco businessman Chuck Wilson, College Station nurse Timothy Delasandro, Houston businessman Bill Flores, and Texas A&M security expert Dave McIntyre. The Republican primary will probably be between Curnock and McIntyre, however, Flores is well funded and will be able to spend more than the other candidates. Democratic Congressman Chet Edwards is going to have a financial advantage over whichever Republican emerges from the primary. How the Republican primary evolves is going to greatly affect the general election in November and whether or not a Republican candidate can serious challenge Edwards.

Texas State Senator Steve Ogden had announced his retirement and State Representative Dan Gattis appeared to be the front runner to receive the Republican nomination for the vacated Senate seat. However, after Gattis withdrew from the campaign for personal reasons Ogden decided to run for reelection and facing a primary challenge from Ben Bius. Ogden will be campaigning as his experience as a State Senator, but the budget and the economy are going to be central issues in the campaign.  

Texas State Representative Fred Brown is facing a primary challenge form three candidates; former Brazos County Tax Collector Buddy Winn, former candidate for Brazos County District Attorney Rick Davis, and Blinn College professor Blanche Brick. During the 2008 election Left of College Station reported on the almost unopposed Republican, who only faced a Libertarian opponent in the general election. However, during the primary Brown will face a longtime Brazos County  public office holder in Winn, and candidate that will pull no punches during the campaign in Davis. Brown's record as a legislator will be the focus of the primary debate, including the dubious distinction as being named by Texas Monthly as being a piece of furniture.

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Why Progressives Should Be Calling for a Town Hall with Chet Edwards

by: liberaltexan

Thu Aug 20, 2009 at 07:00 PM CDT

Health care is one of the most important issues facing Americans today, and perhaps the most significant problem in the health care system is the number of uninsured people in America. The National Coalition on Health Care notes that "nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under the age of 65, were without health insurance in 2007." According to Health Affairs, due to the economic recession the number of uninsured people in America will increase by 6.9 million by 2010. Bloomberg reports that health-insurance premiums for families have risen 119 % since 1999, and in the last fifteen years America has increased the amount it spends on health care from $912 billion to $2.5 trillion and the amount of uninsured has only increased.

Edwards states that his goals are "lowering costs, maintaining competition and choice, and preserving quality health care." However, the most significant way to lower cost is to provide a public option, without a public option it is unlikely that health care reform will actually be able to significantly lower the cost of health care. Also, the idea that Edwards supports maintaining competition and choice suggests that there is current competition and choice, while for many Americans that only competition is the choice they have to make on whether or not they will actually be able to afford health insurance. It is obvious that "preserving the quality of health care" is important, but the real goal should be expanding access to the quality health care that is currently not available to many Americans. It is often said that the best quality health care can be found in the United States, however, who is that health care actually available to?

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Negative Campaigning in White vs. Sharp, Health Care Reform, Democrats, and Netroots Nation

by: David Van Os

Wed Aug 19, 2009 at 10:15 PM CDT

I agree w/ recent open letters by SDEC member Dennis TEAL and DNC member John PATRICK that there is no point to negative campaigning in a "Louisiana Primary" today, given that (a) there will be a highly partisan run-off and (b) there are both real primary elections as well as an important general election - a decisive general election in Harris County -- next year.

I would add that, in any event, there are much more important matters than battle of the bitch-lists immediately at hand. And, the credibility of every single Democratic elected party or public official is on the line over one of them right now:

Stifling Christian Dissent

by: liberaltexan

Fri May 29, 2009 at 04:57 PM CDT

According to a Liberty press release, the College Democrats are allowed to meet on campus, however the student group could no longer identify with the university and the university will no longer sponsor or endorse the group. The university has stated that this would be a better situation for the student group because they did not have to gain approval for meetings and could endorse candidates that are pro-life. However, this also means that the student group cannot participate in promoting their group on campus, and will not be allowed to invite speakers or hold any other events besides the unofficial meetings.

According to a National Public Radio (NPR) report, the chancellor of the university, Jerry Falwell, Jr., said that ""It's not about Democrat/Republican. It's about protecting the sanctity of life." Falwell stated that the reason the student group is not longer recognized was because of its support for pro-choice candidates and candidates that support gay rights. The College Democrats on campus have not publically endorsed abortion rights or same-sex marriage, and in fact the group's constitution expresses their opposition to those policies. In the NPR report Brian Diaz, the President of the College Democrats, said that "Jesus talked about the poor more than he did about abortion or gay marriage."

According to another article in the Washington Post, Diaz stated that the group's constitution, which was approved by university officials, gives the group latitude to endorse candidates. Both the College Democrats and the College Republicans endorsed candidates. Also, according to the same article the two groups where preparing to organize anti-abortion events this fall.

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Tonight: Meet Bill White at Scholz Garten

by: Texans for Obama

Tue May 19, 2009 at 00:32 PM CDT

Today's news is welcome after eight long years of the Bush/Cheney era, but we must keep pressing forward. In order to pass Obama's full agenda, we need to elect more Democratic Senators who won't filibuster Obama's call for change.

Here in our own backyard, Texas Democrats have a unique opportunity to win the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Houston Mayor Bill White is a nationally recognized leader on alternative energy, and he's announced his candidacy as a Democrat for this Senate seat. Tonight, he'll be at Scholz Garten to answer your questions about his policy proposals. This is an important race with national implications, so we look forward to seeing you at Scholz Garten.

Thanks for everything you did to help elect Barack Obama. Now let's continue the momentum and elect a Texas Senator who will support Obama's agenda.

Our next monthly meetup is scheduled for June 16. The special guest will be John Sharp, another great Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Fired up and ready to go!