After Robby Cook announced he would not run for re-election last night, there is a strong sense that the sky is falling. Before that gets too out of control let's take a breath and a step back for one second.
The current strength of the Democratic Party and successes in rural Texas should give any political naysayer pause.
Over the past 4 years, Democrats have won difficult seats and have learned valuable lessons. Democrats like Chuck Hopson, David Farabee, Joe Heflin, Juan Garcia, Allen Vaught, Stephen Frost, Mark Homer, Jim McReynolds, and others have all won in Republican regions.
In fact, we have seen this scenario play out before. In 2004, Speaker Pete Laney was targeted by Craddick again and won the election 58% to 41% with a tad over 43,500 people voting. When Speaker Laney retired after the 79th session, pundits and activists both wrote House District 85 off as dead. It was a lost cause and the pro-Craddick, pro-voucher, anti-family Jim Landtroop was the heir apparent. Instead, Joe Heflin won 49% to 48% with only 25,000 people coming to vote.
Now the anti-Craddick sentiment has been solidified and the Republican parties schizophrenia and out of touch public policy objectives give Democrats reason for hope in HD-17.
Just one day after Robby Cook announced he would not seek re-election candidates already began to pop up. From Capitol Inside:
Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald is one of the first names to emerge in Democratic circles as a potential replacement for Cook on the ballot next year. McDonald, who's been county judge for almost nine years, considered a race for the House four years ago when Cook appeared to be on the verge of switching parties while being wooed by Governor Rick Perry and other high-level Republicans. But McDonald decided to stay in his current position after Cook spurned the GOP and filed for re-election as a Democrat.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
6:30 to 8:30 pm
Scholz Garden
1607 San Jacinto, Austin
The headliners include Garnet Coleman, Jim Dunnam, Pete Gallego, The Austin delegation, and many others. Attendees will hear the musical styling of the Bad Precedents featuring Jim Dunnam on keyboard and Juan Garcia on guitar.
It is only $25 to attend. HDCC was one of original supports of TexBlog PAC, and I personally encourage you all to stop by and say thanks.
Last night was an incredible success for TexBlog PAC. Over 150 individuals, candidates, elected officials, and bloggers attended the inaugural fundraiser at the home of Austin attorney Amy Clark Meachum. Our friend and fellow TexBlog PAC board member Vince Liebowitz drove in to town to celebrate with us, and there is a lot to celebrate.
TexBlog PAC is less than two months old, and already we can say that it is an overwhelming success.
In less than two months over 5,000 people have signed up to take back the House. We have raised over $10,000 from a little over 100 donors. We have a working coalition that includes our largest supporter to date, the Texas Democratic Party, the Lone Star Project, the House Democratic Campaign Committee (who's board includes Rep. Jim Dunnam, Rep. Pete Gallego, and Rep. Garnet Coleman), and Democracy for Texas. This doesn't even begin to cover the more than a dozen Democratic State House Members that have given generously.
A very special thanks to the 7 Democratic House members who took the time to attend the event last night-- Pete Gallego, Lon Burnam, Elliott Naishtat, Eddie Rodriguez, Tracy King, Mark Strama, Valinda Bolton.
All this and we are just getting started. Not a single person on the board is getting paid for their efforts, and still, every blogger across the state is devoting their personal time and energy to this project. We are uniquely committed to taking back the State House, and it appears you are too.
Last night, my former boss, Rep. Gallego spoke to the crowd and told them we are at a crossroad. In 2001, we had 78 Democrats in the House. In two short years that number fell to 62 because of Tom DeLay and Tom Craddick. Over the past 4 years, we have increased our numbers from 62 to 70 Democrats in the House. It is our turn to join with groups like DFT, HDCC, TDP, and local counties and organizations to help win the next 6 seats.
Texas Bloggers will only be as successful as you allow us to be. Your donations will allow us to build a movement and elect good Democrats next November.
To all of you who made it last night, a huge thank you. To those who have supported us, thank you. We have one year to work together and take back the people's house. Help TexBlog PAC achieve that goal.
Last night we proved we were more than an echo chamber.
When we are fortunate enough to score a touchdown we usually subscribe to the theory of "act like you've been there", rather than dancing like an idiot. However, I think it's important for us to stop for a second and take inventory regarding just how far the House Democratic Caucus has come since 2003.
In 2003, after Tom DeLay's illegally laundered TRMPAC money financed the Republican takeover of the Texas House and the ascension of Tom Craddick to the absolute pinnacle of power, Democrats were bruised, battered, and paralyzed by a 13-seat deficit in the Texas House. The partisan make-up of the house was 62-D and 88-R. For those who were around, it was an accomplishment for the D's to hold 40 votes on anything.
After the courageous and historic party switch of Kirk England this week, House Democrats have shrunk that deficit from 13 to a mere 5 seats. No one deserves more credit for these significant accomplishments than the Leader of the House Democratic Caucus, Jim Dunnam.
When the Caucus was at the lowest point in its history, Representative Dunnam stepped up to the plate and accepted the challenge. No one, friend or foe, can argue with his results.
After pulling of the impossible (Ardmore), Reps. Dunnam, Gallego, and Coleman formed the House Democratic Campaign Committee (HDCC). During the 2004 elections, House Democrats netted 1 seat in the House by knocking off Craddick's Chair of House Appropriations, Talmadge Heflin. In 2006, House Democrats had unprecedented success by picking up 6 seats; 5 on election-day and 1 during a special election to fill Todd Baxter's old seat.
This past week, after months of persistent and skillful negotiations, Mr. Dunnam and other House Democrats pulled off the impossible by convincing a Republican State Rep. (Kirk England) to switch parties and run as a Democrat.
After years of hard work by many folks, we are now only 6 seats away from electing a Democratic Speaker and moving Texas forward. Every step of the way, no one has shown more skill or courage in taking on Tom Craddick and his corrupt right-wing cronies than our fearless House Democratic leaders; Dunnam, Gallego, Coleman, Hochberg, Thompson, and the other good Democrats in the Texas House.
Since Rep. Dunnam chooses not to dance in the end zone, we thought we'd do it for him. Thanks for all that you've done for Democrats in Texas, and go win us 6 more seats next November!
Most of you know by now that the Texas progressive blogosphere has put together and launched TexBlog PAC. The inaugural fundraiser is September 24th in Austin and the sponsors are a who's who of Texas luminaries from all over the state.
With sponsors like Jim Dunnam, Pete Gallego, Lon Burnam, Eddie Rodriguez, Valinda Bolton, Mark Strama, the Texas Democratic Party, House Democratic Campaign Committee, and Texas Progress Council PAC, blogs are taking online action offline. We are ready and prepared to shake up the '08 election cycle.
What does the Republican Party think of this? In a Fort-Worth Star Telegram article out today, Hans Klinger the political director of the Texas Republican Party dismisses anyone working to take back Texas.
Hans Klingler, the political director of the Texas Republican Party, is not convinced. Texas voters have not elected a Democrat to a statewide office since 1994, and Republicans have been steadily whittling down the Democrats' advantage at the county level, the one stage in Texas that they still control, Klingler said.
Klingler also suggested that the Democratic bloggers are less of a grassroots movement and more of an echo chamber, where the handful of writers and readers talk almost exclusively to one another.
"Maybe they're a majority in the virtual world," he quipped.
When September 25th hits the number one question bloggers will get is, "so how much did you raise?" There is no way we can let the Republican Party get away with calling us an echo chamber and a virtual majority. In the last four years we have worked for candidates like Carlos Uresti, Juan Garcia, Valinda Bolton, Boris Miles, Ellen Cohen, and many many more.
House Democratic leader Jim Dunnam already knows we are an agent of change.
"I think the blogosphere is giving voice to what a lot of ordinary Texans are thinking, and that is that we need a change of leadership in Austin," said Dunnam, of Waco. "I think they are really helpful in spreading the message that it's Democrats who are going to be the agents of change in 2008."
Prove Jim Dunnam right and come by the home of Kurt and Amy Clark Meachum on September 24th. We are going to be celebrating the beginning of TexBlog PAC's journey to help win back the Texas House at 5103 Cedro Trail Austin Texas 78731 from 6 to 8 p.m. and saying thank you for your support.
November 7, December 12, December 19. Three elections, six weeks.
In that time, Democrats across the state have celebrated picking up 6 House seats, holding on to every incumbent seat, replacing Tom DeLay with Nick Lampson, and the return of Ciro Rodriguez to Congress.
Not bad for a months work, but we have one more race to watch and work on in HD-29. The Texas Democratic Party, House Democratic Campaign Committee, and our very own KT are all working tirelessly to overcome the districts red nature to elect Dr. Anthony DiNovo.
Currently there are 5 TDP staffers on the ground in HD-29 (one of which has been in the district since December 3). The other 4 staff members were reassigned once the November and December 12 congressional election passed in order to maximize the effort on the ground and elect as many Democrats as possible.
One TDP staff member has been put on the ground to work on a GOTV effort that focuses on the usually disenfranchised Hispanic community and the others have been directed to do, "whatever the campaign needs done."
With the sudden passing of Glenda Dawson, the swift turn toward this unique opportunity has been interesting to watch. The possibilities of runoffs in the 5 congressional seats gave campaigns and the party time to get resources together. Unlike those races, this came suddenly.
Because of this sudden special election, former State Representative and Democrat Tom Uher was able to recruit convince Republican Mike O'Day to enter the race. O'Day has been artful in hiding his strong conservative ideology and frame himself as a moderate.
Interestingly Matagorda has only had 436 people vote at its only early vote location and Brazoria has had nearly 2,223 voters (close to 1,200 of which have come from east Pearland).
Amber Moon, spokesperson of the TDP had this to say about the recent string of elections.
The Texas Democratic Party has been working non-stop all year long to elect more Democrats to more offices across the state, and we've seen from Democrat's electoral success on November 7th and December 12th that the hard work is paying off. The TDP is channeling that momentum into the HD-29 race because we remain committed to supporting Democratic candidates in every area of the state. The Party is proud to be involved and lend support to the Anthony DiNovo campaign.
There has already been a discussion by HDCC about what can be done to maximize the campaign efforts in a runoff. This includes the use of targeted mail, paid phoners, and other parallel campaign activities.
Watch here tomorrow for the result, but in the mean time, phonebank using True Blue Action today and tomorrow!
