State Representative Richard Raymond held a fundraiser Wednesday night in Laredo where over 400 local elected officials, community leaders, activists and voters crowded into the Monte Carlo ballroom.
The majorities of both school boards, the city council, the county commission and other local electeds were all front and center.
Looks like Richard was going to bring in close to $200k. He actually mentioned to me that, save one person, he had personally spoke to and invited every person in the building. Impressive work.
This morning, Larry Joe and I drove his '57 T Bird to Hempstead to be in the parade that opens the Waller County Fair. We took our place in line according to our assigned number-right behind the Waller County Republican Party's parade entry. We stopped to shake hands. "We are really mad at our party right now," said one. The others nodded their heads. "I say anybody but Cornyn. What a wimp, and Kay Bailey Hutchison is not much better. Don't get us started on President Bush." Behind them, their SUV was decorated with red, white and blue signs reading "lower taxes," "limited government," and other Republican slogans.
Holy Milton Friedman! I knew the Republicans were in trouble, but I did not know it was this bad. The great conservative experiment has failed utterly, and the grand theories lay dead on the ground beside these former true believers.
"What about Mike McCaul?" Larry Joe asked them. Said one man, "Oh, he sits on committees. He is always telling us about the committees he is on, but we ask, 'What have you done for us?' Nothing, that's what."
The collapse of the conservative movement leaves a huge opening for the Democrats to take control of the country, and mold progressive policies that will carry this country successfully through the challenges of the 21st Century. Do Democrats have the nerve to make the most of this opportunity? The first thing Democrats must do is demonstrate they are worthy of trust.
Yesterday, I caught on C-Span Steny Hoyer's electrifying speech to the National Press Club. He talked about fiscal responsibility with an energy and passion we have not heard in a long time. He discussed Democratic efforts to establish fiscal discipline in Congress, the upcoming battle with the president over spending bills, and long-term economic challenges facing the country. Getting control of spending is basic to implementing reforms such as health care, clean energy, and real protection against terrorism.
Right now, some Democrats want to join Republicans in a BRAC style commission to implement tax and entitlement reform. This is their way to get the tough job done, and duck the backlash:
September 26, 2007: Congressmen Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) today introduced legislation requiring Congress to address the nation's looming fiscal crisis before spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid bankrupts the federal government. The SAFE Commission Act of 2007, H.R. 3654, would require Congress to vote up-or-down on a plan to overhaul spending and revenue, as drafted by a 16-member, bipartisan commission made up of members and outside appointees of the legislative and executive branches. http://www.cooper.ho...
Larry Joe Doherty supports fiscal solvency. He can ignore the lobbying by special interests and tax loophole grabbers. Larry Joe agrees with John Kerry, who said, "If we can't pay for it, we're not going to do it."
Back to our Republicans in Waller. "What would you do to solve our country's problems?" asked Larry Joe. "We need to put machine guns at the border, and kill Mexicans as they try to cross." came the answer. Holy Abraham Lincoln! The conservative movement is so dead.
I've finally had a change to get ahold of some Internet access out here to give everyone a short update on what has been going on.
As Matt mentioned earlier, turnout has been light. Matagorda County only cast 436 Early Votes total, even though around 90% of ID'd Democratic Primary voters are from there. This is due in part, though, by the fact that there was only one voting location for the entire county for EV last week. The DiNovo campaign has apparently been working on calling and contacting folks out there to push them to vote on Election Day instead.
In Brazoria County, home to fast growing Pearland, insterest seems to have been higher. (All 4 candidates are from this part of the district.) Through last Thursday, 2,223 voters had come out to vote here. My guess is there was about 3,000 when you include Friday. Over half of that is coming from East Pearland, with Alvin following in second before West Pearland in early vote showing. From what the person I'm staying with says, East Pearland is more Republican turf, but to note, it used to be the only early voting site until this year so many people aren't used to voting on the other side of town.
Of the candidates, John Gorman has the least number of signs up and apparently hasn't been campaigning all that much. (Check out his website linked above. The image has "December XXth whrer the election date should be on it.)
Randy Weber could be said as trying to go hard-right in the race from what I've seen of his direct mail, one of which features a giant picture of 'suspicious Mexicans' paddling an inflatable raft across a river and is all about Immigration.
Weber has been doing a lot of driving, trying to make events in Matagorda and Brazoria counties.
"We've also been calling our voters and doing mail-outs," Weber said. "It's going to come down to turnout and how many voters show up to vote."
Mike O'Day, who has a hardware store down the street, is the prime challenger and if this race is in a runoff it's likely it will be him and DiNovo. Through supposedly the moderate, you wouldn't know it for the campaign lit and local activities.
O'Day's campaign staff has been putting in 13 to 14 hours a day making calls and attending community events, he said. The high numbers of the east Pearland location are a good indication that some voters are paying attention, he said.
Anthony DiNovo's campaign has really kicked up in the last weeks. Volunteers have been making calls from early on until about 7-8 each day. Mostly everything that can be blockwalked has. It's true that voters are pretty clueless about there being a race going on, but in the last day, that seems to have changed. Many voters reported getting multiple contacts today about the race and those that are contacted by phone or door appear very receptive to voting tomorrow.
I spent the morning walking in Pearland's Precinct 63 which actually broke for Chris Bell. I had a higher than average rate of getting people at home. Within this one precinct, there was Democrats of two stripes- suburban upper class voters of mixed ethnicity and then a street of Hispanic mobile homes. One funny story from that part of town was reading the walk list notation of "moved". When we got to the property that was true- the mobile home was literally gone, with nothing but a brown patch of dirt and a lonely set of stairs in the yard.
During the afternoon I called voters with Martha about about 7 other folks at the Democratic Party HQ. Last night we ran into another blogger Hal of HalfEmpty, who was out here doing a lot of work. You should really read this and this post of his to get a better idea of what he's been seeing out here on the ground. The bloggers have really chipped in on this one and Tammy and the campaign staff, most all doing this for free, have been working harder than you can imagine trying to get this over the edge.
My ballpark estimate (which could vary based on tomorrow's chance of rain) is about 8400 votes total to be cast in this election. It's winnable, could go to a run-off (sorry Hal and Tammy), and in any case is something worthwhile to be a part of. Come down to help if you are in the area or call from home.
P.S. A big Thank You to Zada True-Courage for helping to pay over half my ticket cost after seeing this post from Sunday! You're the best!
Campaign HQ
The address for the Pearland HQ 3536 Broadway Pearland, TX 77581 The phone #281 412-0990
One of the most exciting candidates running for State House this year is Juan Garcia. Garcia is running in HD-32, in Corpus Christi. The seat is currently held by Republican incumbent Gene Seaman. Garcia proves to be a formiddable challenge to Seaman, who -- according to the latest C&E reports -- is already losing some proven support to the young Democrat. From the latest Garcia press release:
Among the many former Gene Seaman contributors who are now supporting Garcia are Dr. Michael Mauger of Corpus Christi, and retired Foreign Service Officer and Republican Lynn Lee of Rockport.
Said Dr. Mauger: "It's refreshing to see a young man with his qualifications step up. He'll be a breath of fresh air in the Capitol."
"Communities like Rockport have been paralyzed for years from a dearth of leadership across this district," said Lee. "I admire and share Juan's dedication to public service and am excited to finally send someone of his integrity to Austin."
Garcia has raised more than $200,000 since filing in January, and a majority of his contributions were less than $100, demonstrating a broad grassroots support.
In addition to his fundraising efforts, the Garcia campaign has loaded a 4-minute bio clip of Juan onto YouTube. Check out the video, or look below the jump. You can also find his video in our Burnt Orange Report YouTube group, along with videos of John Courage, Nick Lampson, and others.
