John Courage has been endorsed by The Daily Texan newspaper. In their Editor’s Note, the editors state that they attempted to endorse in as many races as possible where the race outcome might affect students. John is very honored to have the endorsement and he looks forward to representing the student population across UT and the rest of the district.
The Austin American Statesman reports this morning that Lamar Smith is not attending the League of Women Voters candidate debate set for Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006.
The Crashing the States team is going across the country talking to key races in dozens of states. Last week they spent some time down here in Texas and highlighted John Courage's race. Read the full report in this Daily Kos entry (and Recommend it too!)
News 8 Austin is broadcasting interviews they filmed with John Courage and Lamar Smith, candidates for Congress CD21 today. These interviews were filmed earlier this month and were done separately. Video and a transcript of the broadcast is available at the News 8 web site.
Here's a short 15 ad that will be rotated in district TV thanks to the new Courage Communication Director who has been able to get some great TV rates. Longer more message oriented ads will be available in a few days.
You may recognize the "honesty and integrity" line which is aimed at Republican leaning types who are open to an alternative. For Courage, the Nov 7 date is all about taking votes out from Lamar Smith to keep him under 50% which we now know is possible if we do this right. The ad was shot in Kerr County, recently added to the district but was in the old 21 that John ran in back in 2002.
One of of the most suprising things has been the stength of John Courage's fundraising ever since the re-re-redistricting of August 2006 (Yes, I counted it up, this is the 4th District 21 since 2000). From what I'm told, the campaign has raised over 275,000 to date which is simply amazing and the National Netroots endorsement has certainly helped. For me, that's an accomplishment I'd never have dreamed of 4 years ago when I was sitting at the County Fair for Courage out in Fredericksburg. (notice that huge yellow blob that was then District 21...)
A poll commissioned by the John Courage campaign and now released shows some very good news for central Texas. After redistricting, TX-21 shifted in population towards San Antonio as well towards the GOP. The goal of the Courage campaign since August has been to get Republican Lamar Smith under 50%, forcing a December runoff in a field of seven candidates.
Well now, believe it or not, that may be the case.
This is supposed to be a district that gives Lamar Smith over 60%. John Courage hasn't even started his mail and TV campaign as of yet (an aside- the new Comm director is getting TV at great rates and the campaign is producing a handful of commercials which will be released later this week to BOR).
Now what's even more impressive (and I can attest to this first hand) is that this poll takes into account the typical undersampling of students who use cell phones and skip landlines. I helped purchase the UT database and over 30,000 phone numbers were thus made available to the sample pool. As such, a student subset was pulled out from the poll (higher moe though of course).
UT-Austin students registered in district
Smith (R)
22.7%
Courage/Kelly (D)
59.1%
Strohm (L)
9.1%
The Indies (I)
9.0%
That's shocking. Smith got between 35%-42% of the campus precincts in 2004 when he ran against an unknown Democrat also named Smith. Good thing that thousands of students have been registered recently to vote.
Tonight I'm meeting with the Courage Student Initiative Workgroup to nail down some really cool plans for the next 3 weeks. John Courage is also tomorrow's University Democrats guest speaker. He will also be camping out this Sunday night on campus as part of the University Democrats 24 Hour Vote-A-Rama before the start of Early Voting next Monday. Students can vote early for 2 weeks on campus- a major aid for Courage's efforts to keep Lamar under 50%.
I've been remiss to mention that Democrat Bill Moody (endorsed by the Dallas Morning News no less) was in Austin a couple weeks back as he walks across Texas in his campaign for the Texas Supreme Court. He wrote some journals about it here. I had a chance to talk with his son while they were in Austin and I have to say I admire the work they are doing because Moody is totally qualified to hold the seat he's running for. Plus, I have a certain degree of respect for 20 somethings that run their fathers' campaigns.
The Kerrville Daily-Times does a great story on John Courage- a great shift from 4 years ago when they basically ignored him. Times have changed...
On one hand is the well-financed front-runner, state Sen. Todd Staples, a Republican who has taken a public leadership role in preserving the train. "For 12 years I have been an ardent supporter of the Texas State Railroad," he says.
But on the other is his Democratic opponent, Hank Gilbert, who says that although Staples may talk a good game, as a state senator he sponsored a measure that could have literally sunk the rail line. "It's all a sham, and it's politics, and the people are tired of it," Gilbert says.
...
Staples, the Republican from Palestine, says he's committed to protecting the railroad. "In order to chart a course for the future, I have worked with the local officials and helped establish the Texas State Railroad task force; I have assembled an advisory committee of people across the state," he said.
He also has helped sponsor fundraisers, including one scheduled for Saturday at the Palestine Depot.
That's all well and good, says Gilbert, but what about Staples' sponsorship of a resolution last year supporting the creation of the Fastrill Reservoir on the Neches River? The reservoir, which would provide water for Dallas, would also wash over part of the tracks - effectively shutting down the railroad.
At least that's what Gilbert and local activists say.
"The economic impact of that railroad is huge to his hometown - and the fact that it's a state park, and a historic monument - and he was willing to sacrifice it for a reservoir; that's unacceptable," said Gilbert, 48.
Hank has the support of locals in rural areas across the state and I remain convinced that he'll be the highest vote getting Democrat on the ballot. Be prepared for a major endorsement to come his way this week, too...
Prominent bloggers Gary Abramson (Reality Bites Back) and Dante Atkins (Hekebolos) have chosen the John Courage campaign as one of the subjects of their blog and film documentary project, Crashing the States.
I recently attended a candidates forum in Dallas to hear Chris Bell and other Texas Democrats talk about their plan for victory. The message was driven home that in order to break the Republican stranglehold on our state, we're going to have to get the word out about these great candidates to our friends, our families, and our co-workers. Not only that, but we're going to have to get them to get the word out to THEIR friends, families, and co-workers.
They called it winning the Amway Way. I think of it as ripples in a pond. Use whatever metaphor you want, it is the basis of any winning political ground game.
I've diaried about Will Pryor before. As many of you know, Will is running against incumbent Pete Sessions (R-Corruption), who was recently named one of the most corrupt members of the 109th Congress by the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Needless to say, we desperately need a change in the 32nd district.
