One of my proud feelings about the Texas netroots has been our ability to help money come to our local candidates. Now we have an opportunity once more.
Many of you are familiar with Russ Feingold's Progressive Patriots program. Well, there's now a vote for House Challengers.
And Larry Joe Doherty has a chance to bring 5 grand back to help Texas turn blue.
Gas prices and the economy may be limiting your campaign contributions financially, but there are two easy ways to help a Texas Democrat get elected into Congress in November!
Larry Joe Doherty, Democratic nominee for Congress in CD10, has been nominated for Russ Feingold's Progressive Patriots Fund, which will award one progressive House challenger a $5000 contribution. All you have to do is click here and vote for Larry Joe Doherty.
The other way to give to the LJD campaign is to give your time!Contact the campaign today to phone bank from their air-conditioned offices or, if sweatin' it is more your style, help block walk!
Cast a vote for your favorite House incumbent - which ever candidate recieves the most votes will receive a $5,000 contribution from the Progressive Patriots Fund for their 2008 re-election.
Republican's want to keep energy policy in the news, and I am too happy to oblige them. Mike McCaul has been spotted around town "stumping at the pump". The Observer wrote about his Monday exploration to find voters and the Austin Chronicle has a story today, Mike McCaul is simply going from gas station to gas station talking about the Republican plan to drill as much as possible.
McCaul has been going pump to pump drilling voters about soaring gas prices and our dependence on foreign oil.
Let's go over some facts real quick:
What Republican Congressman McCaul fails to note, however, is that he has taken over $107,000 in political contributions from the oil and gas special interests to maintain and strengthen that dependency.
McCaul has voted against legislation making oil price-gouging a crime.
McCaul has voted against providing tax incentives for the renewable-energy industry.
McCaul has voted against higher average fuel economy standards in the auto industry.
McCaul has voted against repealing tax breaks for the currently highly profitable oil industry
How did environmental groups score McCaul? Here are the quick scores off of Project Vote Smart:
2007 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund 10 percent in 2007.
2007 Based on a point system, with points assigned for actions in support of or in opposition to League of Conservation Voters's position, Representative McCaul received a rating of 10.
2007 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the Republicans for Environmental Protection 20 percent in 2007.
2006 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the League of Conservation Voters 17 percent in 2006.
2006 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the Republicans for Environmental Protection 25 percent in 2006.
2005-2006 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the American Lands Alliance 11 percent in 2005-2006.
2005-2006 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the American Wilderness Coalition 16 percent in 2005-2006.
2005-2006 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the Comprehensive US Sustainable Population 24 percent in 2005-2006.
2005-2006 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund 6 percent in 2005-2006
2005 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the American Wilderness Coalition 0 percent in 2005.
2005 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the League of Conservation Voters 0 percent in 2005.
Representative McCaul supported the interests of the Republicans for Environmental Protection 0 percent in 2005.
He has only received one public score card on energy issues, and it isn't any better.
2005-2006 Representative McCaul supported the interests of the Campaign for America's Future 17 percent in 2005-2006 on energy legislation.
That is a dozen failing scores in a little over three years.
One reader of our site noticed another surprise in the Observer about McCaul's press stunt, it involved a locally elected Republican leader posing as a random person on the street.
One driver was suspiciously on-message. Without prompting, the woman began profusely thanking McCaul and the Republicans for their efforts. She even wrote a snappy note to Pelosi on her receipt: "Dear Nancy, Hope you enjoy your vacation. Get back to work." The local TV guys were eating the made-for-TV moment up. But, as it turns out, the "random" driver was Rosemary Edwards, the chairwoman of the Travis County Republican Party and occasional donor to Republican candidates. Edwards said she just happened to be driving by and saw McCaul.
To recap, McCaul has been bad on both environmental and energy legislation and he has to get the Chair of the local Republican Party to come by just so somebody knows who he is and says something nice about him. Way to lead Congressman.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is using a full court press on the Republican Party this cycle.
A recent Roll Call article focuses on two races we have had our eyes on for a long time- Larry Joe Doherty vs. Mike McCaul and Mike Skelly vs. John Culberson.
Roll Call over simplifies to the two races saying:
Culberson's 7th district encompasses much of Houston's western suburbs and is among the most conservative in a state that remains a Republican stronghold. But Culberson's opponent, businessman Michael Skelly, has attempted to position himself as a conservative Democrat and has vowed to spend $1 million of his own money on the race. As of June 30, he had nearly doubled the incumbent in cash on hand.
McCaul's 10th district, stretching from greater Houston's solidly conservative Harris County in the east to the Austin region's Democratic-leaning Travis County in the west, has the potential to be politically problematic for Republicans.
The Republican Party and President Bush are incredibly unpopular (even in Texas), and both McCaul and Culberson like to highlight their close ties and friendships with this administration. The Republican's are losing control of the Texas House. They are losing more down ballot races than ever before. Their most vocal advocated tell voters their economic woes are all in their head.
Democrats on the other hand are better funded than they have been in nearly a decade. There is more passion and focus on the Democratic Party than there has been in years.
Maybe that is why "Republican operatives who follow Texas Congressional races concede that neither the 7th district nor the 10th will be the easy ride they've been for the Republicans since being redrawn in 2003 as part of the redistricting of Lone Star State House seats engineered by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas)."
While Julie Shutley, the spokes person for the National Republican Congressional Committee argues that McCain helps McCaul and Culberson, I am at a loss to figure out how. Barack Obama received more votes in the primary than John Kerry or Al Gore received in the 2004 or 2000 general election. We have more candidates running down ballot in both districts, which will encourage Independents and disenfranchised Republicans to vote for one or more Democrat and prevent them from voting straight ticket.
"Even in Texas, one of the reddest states in the country, people are fed up," DCCC spokeswoman Kyra Jennings said. "Combine this desire for change with the strong campaigns both Michael Skelly and Larry Joe Doherty are running, and it offers Democrats unique opportunities in Texas this year."
[...]
But Skelly's team believes a district whose economy relies heavily on the energy industry will respond favorably to a candidate with his background, and they predict that fiscal conservatives disappointed with Congress' record on spending and the deficit could help him win an unexpected victory. Skelly, on cable television with his second ad, is already courting voters; Culberson intends to wait until after Labor Day to launch his air war.
At the end of that sentence, read, "Skelly is already on TV because he has the money, support, and network to be able too... Culberson doesn't so he is forced to leave Skelly on TV by himself."
While CD-07 is decidedly moderate or leans conservative, the 10th district is one of the Tom DeLay fajita strip districts. It is a "classic gerrymander" district drawn up as a "majority Republican seat by cobbling together a collection of conservative-leaning rural counties and anchoring them on either side by portions of growing counties."
The district is less Republican today than it was yesterday and is probably the most rapidly trending seat in Texas.
Doherty's optimism is [anchored in] the increasing number of Democratic voters in Travis County, which is a liberal enclave in an otherwise sea of red, and the fact that McCaul's Democratic opponent in 2006 garnered 40 percent of the vote while being outspent by the incumbent $1.1 million to $65,000.
Doherty's strategy is to court moderate voters who are most interested in a change in Washington, D.C., while maximizing turnout in Travis County and working for a split in the rural counties. His campaign believes McCaul has not developed a close relationship with his constituents, and it plans to exploit that. McCaul's campaign vehemently denies that contention.
Again Roll Call gets it wrong. Travis County is not a island of blue in a sea of red anymore. Hays County, Williamson County and Bastrop County are all purple counties turning rapidly blue. People are fed up with Tom Craddick's pay to play model and Tom DeLay's unconstitutional Republican protection plan. Texans understand that the do nothing Culberson and Mike McCaul, the son-in-law to Clear Channel mogul Lowry Mays, don't represent them.
While Roll Call thinks it can't be done, it is clear that together, we can win two more congressional seats in Texas.
Mike McCaul has taken some bad votes, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and Larry Joe Doherty have been keeping a watchful eye.
Here are just a few of McCaul's horrid votes.
McCaul Blocks Immediate Relief at the Pump for Working Families
Yesterday, McCaul voted to block the temporary release of 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
The final vote was 268-157, with 37 Republicans joining 231 Democrats in voting for the bill. However, the measure failed to pass the House under suspension of the rules which requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
The Consumer Energy Supply Act, HR 6578, would temporarily release on the market 70 million barrels of oil from the SPR, to immediately expand available oil supplies, send a strong message to oil speculators, and help reduce the record prices that are helping push the economy toward recession. Specifically, the bill will potentially raise over $750 million in revenues by exchanging more than 70 million barrels of light sweet crude oil for more than 70 million barrels of heavy crude - which is currently $12 per barrel cheaper than light crude. In May, Congress and President Bush passed a new law that stopped the purchase of oil to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the remainder of the year unless oil drops below $75 per barrels for 90 days. The SPR is currently 97 percent full, a record high of 701.3 million barrels of oil. Continuing to fill the SPR takes 70,000 barrels off the market each day.
Each time the SPR has been tapped or suspended, there was an immediate impact on oil prices. Similar actions were taken in 1991 and in 2000, and oil prices dropped by 33 percent and 19 percent respectively. Unlike drilling, the relief is immediate and real.
Representative Michael McCaul Opposes Property Tax Relief
Two days ago McCaul voted against legislation that would provide mortgage refinancing assistance to keep at least 400,000 families from losing their homes, protects neighboring home values, and helps to stabilize the housing market at no cost to American taxpayers.
The American Housing Rescue & Foreclosure Prevention Act (H.R. 3221) represents Congress's most comprehensive response yet to addressing America's worsening mortgage crisis (H R 3221, #519 , 7/23/08)
The measure provides $15 billion in tax benefits, including a real property tax deduction for homeowners, who do not itemize their federal income taxes.
The measure will give taxpayers, who claim a standard deduction, with a deduction worth up to an additional $500 ($1,000 for a joint return) on their 2008 federal income taxes.
This property tax deduction will benefit nearly 30 million taxpayers, who do not itemize their federal income taxes. (Bloomberg; July 11, 2008)
"As the cost of gas, groceries, and health care continues to rise, it's hard to believe that Representative Michael McCaul would add to the pain of middle class homeowners by voting against lowering property taxes," said Jennifer Crider, Communications Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Representative McCaul talks a lot about lowering taxes but McCaul's actions speak louder than his words for nearly 30 million American homeowners. Middle class homeowners, who pay their taxes on time and are still struggling to make ends meet, deserve better than McCaul's empty rhetoric."
Mike McCaul Votes Against Teachers and Students
McCaul has repeatedly voted to cut financial aid for working families trying to send their children to college. Last year, he voted to gut the College Student Relief Act (HR 5, 1/17/07, Vote #31), which would provide lower college interest loan rates for working families. He has also voted for the largest cuts to federal student aid programs in history (HRes 653, 2/1/06, Vote #4).
Republican incumbent Michael McCaul has voted to strip $806 billion in vital funding from the program (HR 3010, 6/24/05, Vote #321).
Don't let Mike McCaul fool you. He is not a moderate, and he won't stand up for the citizens of the 10th Congressional District, Texas, or Americans. These are just three areas were Mike McCaul has had the chance to make people's lives easier and he chose not to.
Larry Joe Doherty announced Wednesday the endorsement of the largest state and national educators organizations-the National Education Association (NEA), Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
"Our nation's educators are the the backbone of ensuring our children receive a world class education," said Doherty. "We can no longer neglect to fund our education system, and must provide our educators with the tools and resources they need to prepare our kids to compete in this growing global economy."
According the the Larry Joe Doherty press release, McCaul received an 'F' rating from the NEA due to his lack of support for 'quality public education in 2007.
CQ Politics has done a run-through of some of the key races in the nation (and at least in Texas), and they've decided to change some of their prediction-ratings.
First, the good news:
• Texas' 7th(New Rating: Republican Favored. Previous Rating: Safe Republican). With more than $1 million in his campaign account as July began, Democrat Michael Skelly, a wind energy executive who is taking on four-term Republican Rep. John Culberson , is among the best-funded challengers in the nation. Skelly has ample personal wealth, though the vast majority of his campaign funds have come from individual donors. Culberson, who was re-elected in 2006 with 59 percent of the vote, has significantly ramped up his fundraising this year.
• Texas' 10th(New Rating: Republican Favored. Previous Rating: Safe Republican). Democrat Larry Joe Doherty, a trial lawyer, has had success raising money for his uphill campaign against Republican Rep. Mike McCaul, who is in his second term representing a district that stretches from eastern Austin to the suburbs west of Houston. CQ Politics was also swayed to re-rank Texas 10 as Republican Favored in part because McCaul's 55 percent showing in 2006 was not overwhelming. Like Skelly in Texas' 7th, Doherty is running in a district with a generic Republican lean and will need to attract split-ticket voters who prefer John McCain to Obama in the presidential race.
This news, in large part, stands testament to the strong campaigns of Michael Skelly and Larry Joe Doherty. The development is also result of several years of aggressiveness by Ted Ankrum, Jim Henley, and others in the past few cycles. Our more recent aggressiveness as a party has ensured that few Republicans are safe, and hopefully we'll see many dividends in November.
CQ Politics did, however, gives some not-so-pleasant news:
• Texas' 22nd(New Rating: No Clear Favorite. Previous Rating: Leans Democratic). Though the strong Republican tendencies of this mainly suburban Houston district are unmistakable, CQ Politics had kept this contest in Leans Democratic since the beginning of this campaign cycle because there was a possibility, however small, that Democratic Rep. Nick Lampson might again face Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. She is the former Houston city councilwoman who lost to Lampson in a 2006 write-in campaign that followed the ill-timed resignation of former Republican leader Tom DeLay. But, in a Republican runoff election in early April, district Republicans rejected Sekula-Gibbs and instead backed Pete Olson, a former chief of staff to Republican Sen. John Cornyn who will be a tougher challenger for Lampson. Olson's background as a military veteran will be helpful to his campaign, and his Capitol Hill ties have helped him raise money. Anticipating a tough race, Lampson is voting against his party far more often than he did when he represented a much less Republican-leaning district from 1997 through 2004.
If Nick Lampson gets through this alive, he might need to study the work of a Mr. Chet Edwards. Their situations draw similar situations.
Until then, however, hopefully the Democratic constituents in CD22 will remember there's a tough race, and hopefully they'll forgive him for the votes he uses to try and save his hide.
All in all; these are probably the congressional races that deserve the most focus this cycle. I've seen the excitement around Skelly's campaign and around Doherty's campaign. I only hope the same energy goes into defending Lampson. For if we can net two seats this November, then maybe no harm would be done if another Texan graces a Presidential ticket.
After a weekend of national netrootsing, I felt somewhat like a fried green tomato sitting in a crowd of about fifty people eating homemade cookies and listening to locals discuss issues that are not exclusively local but are national problems reverberating throughout Travis county.
I have been trying to get to the Travis County Democratic Campaign Headquarters for the last few weeks, but my company's westward offices and a hectic schedule hasn't allowed it. I was impressed by the crowd when I walked in -- a mixed demographic across the board was gathered in a circular-shape, listening intently to David Kobierowski, who is the TCDP Issues Committee Chair. We went through the issues -- one of the people who was in charge of commenting on the energy crisis said "It reminds me of high school debate class," referring to the three-minute timed discussions for each issue -- and then it was time for Larry Joe Doherty to speak.
Larry Joe Doherty, Democratic Nominee for Congressional District 10 of TX, speaking July 21st, 6pm-8pm, Travis County Democratic Issues/Policy Meet-Up
What: We'll network and present the issues and policies important to Travis County, important to TX, including Barack Obama's policy. We'll share, learn, frame, and market the issues. 1st hour is "Democratic Citizen Communication" where you present your issues important to you as a Democrat! 2nd hour Larry Joe is speaking about Veteran's issues and other issues important in his Congressional race!
When: Mon., July 21st, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Where: Travis County Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign Headquarters, 1107 N. I 35, Austin, TX (next door to CVS, in old Safeway Building at 12th and I-35)
Who: Anyone interested in networking with fun, cool, energizing, like-minded Democrats, and learning about the policies and issues important to our city, our state, and our nation heading into the November TX elections. 1st hour is a "Democratic Party Town Hall Meeting".
Cost: FREE
You're welcome to bring food/drinks to share and bring your laptop (Laptop not mandatory).
Best,
David Kobierowski
Travis County Democratic Party Issues Committee Chair
512-413-0286
Cleanair999@yahoo.com
