Thought everyone could use a break from all the drama today. This came to me when I was stuck in traffic a couple of days ago and trying to take a picture of the "Ozone Watch" Billboard with my camera phone to put on my website. Hopefully Bud Light will recognize it as a "tribute" and not a "trademark violation."
Over at MyDD, a call went out for thoughts on candidates to consider adding to national Netroots Endorsed list. What started as a short comment, turned into a very long and detailed post which I have decided to post here in its entirety. Realize that these thoughts are meant for a national scale. Candidate that I don't argue for particular national focus, are ones that I am very much behind for garnering in state attention. So if you want to have some insight into how this blogger thinks, read on...
So let's talk Congressional seats.
Even though it is 2006, this will only have been the 2nd time that we have used the current map as Texas was victim to the DeLay re-redistricting scheme (the 2000, 2002, and 2004 maps were all different). Since 2004, Bush has become less popular in the state, as has the Republican Governor (drawing 2 independents in the race which may alter some downballot turnout).
We have 32 Congressional seats.
-21 Republican
-11 Democratic (counting Cuellar)
There are Democrats running in 31 of the 31 seats (with my hometown district of TX-11 going empty). The only Democrat with any serious challenge is Chet Edwards, last of the Blue Dogs that hung on in the 2002 'DeLay scrubbing' that knocked off 4 other incumbent Dems, which combined with the Party switch of Ralph Hall and the retirement of Democrat Jim Turner give us a list of seats that I describe as "if we can't win with scads of $$ and incumbent Congressmen, we ain't gonna win them with less money and the people put up this year". (which is why I look to areas we didn't fight for as hard last time where we have better candidates, changing demographics, and a less competition for dollars).
Let's look at the 4 seats we lost in 2004 and what we have this year, none of which I'd nominate for a national netroots candidate.
TX-1 Gohmert (Sandlin loss) - Roger Owen (crazy) TX-2 Poe (Lampson loss) - Gary Binderim (Dos has a report) TX-19 Neugebauer (Stenholm loss) - Robert Ricketts (even Stenholm lost by 58%) TX-32 Sessions (Frost loss) - Will Pryor (this was the most expensive race in 2004, over $8 mil, though Pryor is a good candidate and best of this bunch with some actual cash)
Outside of these, there are a select few candidates who have received netroots coverage among the Texas bloggers, then after that a smaller set that have maintained active fundraising in districts that are actually winnable.
Courage and Harris are Band of Brothers members. Harrell has a son in Iraq. Sklar is one of the few Dems to get the Texas Ag related endorsements.
Of these four though, Harrell is on the weak side of fundraising, and as of a couple of weeks ago, was still hunting around for a campaign manager. I fear that the netroots presence over at Kos that the campaign has built is about the only thing built, and little has changed about the district that makes an already difficult seat easier to pick up.
Of the remaining three, Harris (certainly engaged in the netroots as well) seems to have lagged behind in fundraising in comparison to Courage and Sklar as well, though the Net Neutrality issue seems to have raised the profile of his opponent Joe Barton of late, though I'm not sure if that is enough.
That leaves Sklar and Courage, probably our top two netroots targets among Texas bloggers. I will now attempt to run them through the 3 points given in this post. read on...
(Another great post from our candidate in the TX-06. - promoted by Phillip Martin)
It’s interesting when you decide to run for office…the high ideals, the enthusiasm, and the master plan. Those things are all great until you start talking to voters. What really translates well then is none of the conventional stuff that politicos try to stuff down your throat but it’s if you have concern, conviction and a willingness to learn. My favorite question always begins now with, “Well, what do you think about…” I try to have steady discussions and ask for information in order to learn more and ask my own questions. Frequently, I write about things in order to open a discussion, not because I know all the answers. But this week, I realized I have to do all of those things, and more, because of this and this.
For any one that has followed my out-of-the-box campaign thus far, I welcome you to become familiar with our community service efforts. It is difficult running for office for anyone but I was certain that I would use the public forum, while available, to continue something that our family believes wholeheartedly in our own lives every day. If everyone volunteered an hour a week or contributed $20 a month to a charity, I am confident it would change the world.
In a recent article Joe Barton was interviewed by the Corsicana Daily Sun and made mention of several things he viewed as priorities for his district. The title of the article was "Barton: I Support the President on Iraq" and voiced Barton's thoughts on things ranging from Iraq to Identity Theft. Barton supports the President on Iraq....enough said there - staying the party line despite over 2300 dead, no WMD, and no redeployment plan. Yeah, Barton's been to Iraq...for a photo op - not for the issues facing the soldiers and their families that are deployed from the district. "If we don't fight the terrorists over there, we'll have to fight them here." Barton said, repeating the President's misguided approach to the war in Iraq. Cleary Barton is not one make up his own mind and develop his own stance on Iraq - especially since his website doesn't even include Iraq as an issue for him in 2006. He said he believes "democracy will take root in Iraq, provided the new government can be upheld and civil unrest is quelled" - those are some pretty big "IFs", Joe. Clearly Barton is out of touch with Iraq.
If 70% of our ports are operated by foreign companies and we inspect less than 5% of containers coming through those ports, how can we feel save by any measure?
Today is the “official” 3 year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, yet my opponent still hasn’t even acknowledged the importance of supporting our troops during his “re-election” campaign. Over 2,300 soldiers have been killed in action, countless others wounded, and a growing insurgency is gripping the Iraqi countryside and Joe Barton refuses to see the reality of the situation there and here in America.
For any one that has followed my out-of-the-box campaign thus far, I welcome you to become familiar with our community service efforts. It is difficult running for office for anyone but I was certain that I would use the public forum, while available, to continue something that our family believes wholeheartedly in our own lives every day. If everyone volunteered an hour a week or contributed $20 a month to a charity, I am confident it would change the world.
There are 24.7 million Veterans living in the United States. Nearly 23 percent of homeless adults are Veterans and many more Veterans who live in poverty are at risk for becoming homeless. While the war continues in Iraq, many more families are left behind without the help they need when soldiers are deployed or killed in the line of duty. As part of our continued effort to further Veterans causes, we will be highlighting a new Veterans charity in the top spot on our blog page every thirty days for the next year.
Cross posted at Daily Kos
I guess CITGO should have contributed to Barton’s campaign this year. Seems like the good will of Hugo Chavez and CITGO’s CEO Felix Rodriguez to bring lower heating costs to the Northeast has touched a nerve with Joe Barton (R-ExxonMobil) (R-TX). Joe Barton has launched an investigation of CITGO and wants the company to answer a series of questions pertaining to the program.
"In a Feb. 15 letter to Citgo, the Houston-based company owned by the Venezuelan government, Barton demanded that company officials produce by tomorrow all records, minutes, logs, e-mails and even desk calendars related to Citgo's novel program of supplying discounted heating oil to low-income communities in the United States."
This story was covered by many columnists and bloggers a few days ago, but I needed to say something....this is just too easy.
