According to the DCCC there are 67 House Republicans who voted against the stimulus package. But when these no voters are back in their home states they like to brag and swagger about bringing home the bacon. On a different level, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison joins these ranks. She voted against the stimulus bill and yet she criticized Rick Perry for turning down federal funding for extended unemployment benefits.
Texas has its fair share of outstanding hypocrites. Check the list below to see if your U.S. House Rep. is included in the GOP Hall of Hypocrites. I must admit that I am not shocked to learn that my U.S. Rep., John Culberson, is among them. I betcha your U.S. Reps are too.
Does Texas Congressman Michael McCaul support the segregation of buses? Because on of his biggest friends -- the infamous Rush Limbaugh -- called for just that today during his radio program.
Then Rush took a caller who said the local police investigating the bus assault said today the attack was not racially motivated. Rush responded to these developments put out by the local law enforcement:
LIMBAUGH: I think the guy's wrong. I think not only it was racism, it was justifiable racism. I mean, that's the lesson we're being taught here today. Kid shouldn't have been on the bus anyway. We need segregated buses -- it was invading space and stuff. This is Obama's America.
Call Congressman Michael McCaul, and ask him to denounce Limbaugh for calling for segegating buses!
Brenham 2000 S. Market Street, Suite 303 Brenham, TX 77833 979-830-8497 979-830-1984 (fax) Office Hours: Monday 1pm – 5pm, Tuesday and Thursday 8am – 5pm CT
Katy 1550 Foxlake, Suite 120 Houston, TX 77084 281-398-1247 Office Hours: by appointment only
Tomball Rosewood Professional Building 990 Village Square, Suite B Tomball, TX 77375 281-255-8372 281-255-0034 (fax) Hours: Monday – Friday, 8am – 5pm CT
Last May, Governor Perry honored Rush Limbaugh as an "honorary Texan" -- and the following video (which we originally posted on BOR) was shot:
Call Congressman McCaul today! Demand that he denounce Rush Limbaugh for asking us to return to the days of segregation! Tell him to end his communications with Rush immediately -- that he must denounce him and never appear with him again.
Has anyone read the latest posts about the Jack McDonald vs Michael McCaul race for the Texas 10th District? We deserve a strong, progressive Democratic candidate in a district which is trending Blue. Increasingly, it looks like McDonald has the same "I'm not really a Republican" problem plaguing Tom Schieffer's candidacy.
I have found a few documents that I find very surprising and require some answers. A short ten years ago, Jack McDonald was registered as a Republican in New York City where he worked for a prominent Wall Street law firm. See the link below:
Okay, so he was once registered GOP - I'd like to know why and what changed his heart and I'm sure I can accept those answers. What deserves a little more explanation is why he was repeatedly donating to George W Bush - one big contribution coming as late as 2003. See the link below:
Our last TX-10 candidate, Larry Joe Doherty recently put his support behind Jack McDonald, but is anyone asking any questions about McDonald's past political affiliations, his donations, and his positions on key progressive issues? I think it is very important that we know who he is, what he stands for, and where he is going to lead our Congressional District, if elected.
In Texas, we have a distorted view of what a "swing seat" is for Democratic targeting. Given our multiple rounds of redistricting, true marginal seats in the traditional sense are hard to find. Texas Democrats either hail from incredibly safe districts, districts that are safe due to demographic trends but not ideology, or Republican districts where great Democrats make an exception (Chet Edwards).
That said, it's encouraging to see not one, but two Republican Congressional seats listed among the top 10 potential "dark horse" breakout races that are causing buzz in the Beltway. And not only that, but they are at the top of the list.
McCaul was technically a lower-tier Democratic target in 2008, but that was really only because his opponent, former TV judge Larry Joe Doherty (D), was raising money like gangbusters. Doherty really didn't have the right profile, and he wound up losing by a pedestrian 11 points - the exact margin of the presidential tally in the district. Now, Democrats have another big-money candidate, with businessman Jack McDonald raising $300,000 in the first quarter. We'll see if he has the right profile, but the fact that he is vice chairman of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce suggests he might. The party has already put McCaul near the top of its target list.
4. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas)
Democrats tried to mount a late charge in 2006 against National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), and they could do it again in 2010 against current NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) only took this suburban Dallas district 53-46 in the 2008 presidential race, and the heavily Hispanic areas have grown at a faster pace than the white areas. Sessions's district is actually probably more fertile ground than McCaul's, but Democrats might not have as good a candidate. Attorney Grier Raggio (D) has an exploratory committee, but it's not clear who else might emerge.
In TX-10, Democrat Jack McDonald expressed earlier today that there is good reason to be paying attention to the 10th yet again, having raised over $634,000 to date with over half a million on hand, even while in exploratory mode and having yet to roll out campaign staff or field. While there isn't a equivalent Democratic response in TX-32 up in Dallas as of yet, the more competitive nature of the district and county coordinated campaign there provides a bit more breathing room for a top notch candidate to get settled.
Last week I reported on Texas Republicans embrace of Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich (or at least their money) even as these far-right players made racial attacks on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. I made reference to Limbaugh's attendance at a fundraiser for Rep. Michael McCaul where he was made an honorary Texan by Gov. Rick Perry.
I know a number of local Democrats were interested in seeing video from that private event which McCaul was hiding the location of until the last minute. Well, Gov. Perry was so kind as to have his staff take video of the event and posted his speech and shoutout of "God Bless Rush Limbaugh" to his campaign's YouTube channel. And McCaul? He's standing by the entire time clapping and grinning at the whole scene. Watch it for yourself.
This isn't a case of guilt by association or proximity (though I can't imagine wanting to be in close proximity to Rush Limbaugh metaphorically or physically). McCaul has yet to repudiate or distance himself from the racially inflamed comments made by Limbaugh and Gingrich which even RNSC chair Sen. John Cornyn has distanced himself from calling them "terrible" and "not the kind of tone that any of us want to set".
And while Limbaugh is still set to headline Cornyn's fundraiser for the RNSC, McCaul is set to benefit from the House Republican committee's fundraiser with Newt Gingrich the same day, next Monday. The DCCC asks the prescient question.
"For five days, Representative Michael McCaul had a simple choice to make: He could strongly denounce Newt Gingrich's shameful rhetoric or stay silent and just take his money," said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "With five days to go until the fundraising dinner with Gingrich, will Representative Michael McCaul finally speak out against the radical right or continue to remain silent and take their campaign cash?"
Following is the text of a fax I just sent to the office of my Congressman, Michael McCaul:
January 29, 2009
BY FAX: 202-225-5955
Congressman Mike McCaul
United States House of Representatives
131 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC
Dear Congressman McCaul,
As constituents and voters, we are expressing our dissatisfaction with your vote against the economic stimulus package. Making the unanimous Republican vote obviously partisan is the ludicrous proposal by the House Republicans of trying to stimulate the economy with nothing but tax cuts.
Speaking as a business owner and successful investor and as a family who has paid ample local, state and federal taxes, being over-taxed is not the problem. People are losing their jobs. People are losing their investments and their homes. People are losing their capital that in better times might be invested with a certain amount of tax incentive. This is not such a time.
Stop playing partisan games while the country is going down the drain. Your actions and your fellow partisans' actions are outrageous and disgraceful.
Joining me in signing are my wife and son. All of us are registered voters in District 10.
I am focused on serving the people of the 10th Congressional District of Texas for a third term. I am humbled that so many people have encouraged me to run for Texas Attorney General. But as of right now that office is not vacant and I support Greg Abbott for re-election. If it becomes vacant, I will seriously consider whether that is the best way for me to continue to serve the state of Texas.
Of course, if McCaul does opt to run for Attorney General, the Tenth Congressional District, which runs from Austin to Houston, would be an open seat.
Selby lists 2008 primary candidate Dan Grant and Jack McDonald, a CEO of an Austin-based company, as two Democrats considering the race.
Update: Lorenzo Sadun, a former candidate for TX -10, wrote in the comments:
I know (and admire) Dan Grant, but don't know anything about Jack McDonald. Can anyone fill us in?
Dan Grant ran against Larry Joe Doherty in the 2008 primary and enjoyed the support of many Democratic activists in Austin.
I didn't know anything about McDonald, but judging from the biography on his company's website, he could be a formidable candidate.
Jack McDonald is chairman and chief executive officer of Perficient, a leading information technology consulting firm serving Global 2000 clients throughout the United States. McDonald joined Perficient in 1999, led its initial public offering (NASDAQ: PRFT) and built and led a team that has transformed the company from a startup to an award-winning industry leader with $240 million in annual revenues and 1,400 professionals in 19 major North American markets and global locations in Eastern Europe, India and China.
...
McDonald serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations that provide economic, education and healthcare opportunities for Central Texans and work to protect our land, air and water ...
TEC reports show that McDonald contributed $3,000 to the campaign of State Rep. Chris Turner.
If McCaul does ultimately decide to enter the AG's race, expect contested Republican and Democratic primaries in TX-10.
It's not often that Republican incumbents or their staffs muse openly about being worried about their re-election changed. Especially not if they are Texas Republicans.
But that's what's happening in the 10th District according to the Statesman.
The campaign of U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, wasn't exactly thrilled with the first few days of early voting.
McCaul campaign manager Jack Ladd told supporters on Wednesday night that, according to past primary history, Democrats in Harris and Travis counties outvoted Republicans two-to-one in early voting.
"This is very bad news," McCaul campaign manager Jack Ladd said in an email to supporters. "If you think your friends are volunteering, they are not. I know I'm not going to sit down and die, and I know you will not either. There are only 12 days left, and this is not a lifelong commitment, we are asking you just give part of a day or days and help keep CD10 Republican."
For a more in depth overview of the race, be sure to check out this article.
In addition a new Research 2000 poll has the race tightening with McCaul up just 46-42. As was noted in the write up...
McCain wins the district 48-41. Bush won the district 62-38 in 2004. That augurs well for Noriega, and maybe even Obama.
Stretching from north Austin and southern Williamson County along U.S. 290 towards Katy, the 10th Congressional District of Texas is one of the best chances for Texas to regain another Democratic member of Congress. Larry Joe Doherty is trying to make that happen.
After succesfully navigating his way through the primary against Dan Grant, Doherty found himself running a strong campaign against a relatively unknown incumbent. His poll numbers are within reach, the Cook Political Report switched the race from "Solid" to "Likely" over the summer, and the DCCC announced it as an "Emerging Race" to follow in mid-September. And the latest poll shows Doherty within 5 points.
We expect new information every week on the race; be sure to bookmark the tags below, and keep track of BOR for the latest on Doherty's attempts to unseat incumbent Republican Mike Mccaul.
Here are links to past coverage of the race on Burnt Orange Report:
New numbers from a new TX-10 poll: Democrat Larry Joe Doherty has gained 4 percentage points on McCaul in the latest poll. McCaul, meanwhile, has remained stagnant at 43%, while Doherty is now at 38%.
The poll was taken from Sept. 28-30, 2008. Four hundred registered, likely 2008 voters were interviewed.
