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TX-17 
Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 04:47 PM CST
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Key Point: The NRCC recruited Bill Flores, a carpet-bagging, wealthy oilman from Houston to run in a district he knows nothing about, and now his incompetent campaign is stumbling as he reaches the finish line. Bill Flores -- the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) recruited candidate for Texas' 17th Congressional District -- is struggling in the final days of the primary campaign. Today, in his latest bumbling mistake, Flores e-mailed his supporters asking them to support an Attorney General candidate in Michigan...several hours before he e-mailed them to ask him to support his own race. Flores' blunder would be more surprising if he was just another Republican, but since it is the recruited candidate by the NRCC and their leader, Congressman Pete Sessions, the gaffe should almost be expected. Sessions has always struggled with this complicated new technology we call the internet. In fact, just last week Sessions attacked one of his fellow members in a fundraising e-mail. From Hotline: In a fundraising letter, NRCC chair Pete Sessions lets donors in AL 05 know their "Democrat in Congress has been falling in line with Nancy Pelosi's destructive liberal agenda." The only problem is the NRCC is backing that incumbent, Rep. Parker Griffith (R).
Now it looks like Sessions & the NRCC are having more troubles with technology. Here's the header of Flores' first e-mail -- sent earlier today at 1:15pm CST -- in support of Bill Schuette, a Republican running for Attorney General in Michigan.
Now here's the header of the second e-mail -- sent earlier today at 3:09pm CST -- where Bill Flores is choosing to support himself. Take note that the "from" and "reply-to" lines are the exact same for each:
Why would Bill Flores think that Texas Republicans want to know about a race in Michigan? Two scenarios come to mind, to potentially explain this very odd turn of events:- Bill Flores is running an incompetent campaign and hired an e-mail client that doesn't know what the heck they are doing;
- The NRCC has given up on Flores' campaign and are using his e-mail list to support other Republican races across the country.
The NRCC first recruited Flores into the race months ago. As a RedState post from December 24th says: Enter Bill Flores … He moved to the district in July 2008, from the Houston area, which is well outside the district. A wealthy oilman, he has close ties to the party machine and in particular Pete Sessions at the NRCC. He also gave nothing and did nothing to try to help win the 2008 race. Last week Flores filed for Congress here, and the NRCC provided him with a supporting quote in his release. The NRCC has put him on their “Key Races” list on the Freedom Project web site, and they refuse to list anyone else in the race. They have listed a story about him on their web site. It’s clear he’s their guy, and the people in this area are fed up with it.
Source: RedState, "The Texas 17th and the NRCC" 12/24/09
Last week, Flores lost the endorsement of The Eagle, the major paper from the Bryan / College Station area, to Chuck Wilson, one of the other four Republicans in the race. Michael Shapiro, a writer of the Waco Tribune-Herald, commented on the significance of the endorsement: The Eagle is the second-largest paper in terms of readership in the 17th Congressional District — which stretches from Aggieland through Waco and up to Burleson — and the largest paper that's endorsing primary candidates. (The Tribune-Herald ed. board is keeping its powder dry for now. Click here for candidate forum story.)
The endorsement may be notable for a number of reasons, but it sticks out to me because Wilson is not from the Bryan-College Station area, while three of his opponents are. The paper's support could give the former CIA agent and now Waco residential developer some help in an area outside of Wilson's backyard.
To recap: - Bill Flores is e-mailing Texas Republicans about an out-of-state race and candidate they know nothing about
- Flores has already lost the endorsement of the largest paper that will endorse in his district
- This is the candidate the NRCC recruited to run in the district
Something tells me that Democrat incumbent Chet Edwards and his $1.3 million cash-on-hand are not going to get much of a challenge this November.
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Tue Feb 02, 2010 at 02:44 PM CST
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I dare you to count to 1,300,000.
Congressman Chet Edwards' bean counters are doing just that. Chet Edwards, known nationally as, the late notice Vice Presidential consideration, officially reported $1,309,661.02 cash-on-hand as of December 31, 2009 in a report the campaign will file with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) on January 31, 2010.
The total represents a record sum for the Edwards campaign and is over $290,000 more than Edwards reported at the same point during the 2008 election cycle. The Edwards campaign raised a total of $274,956 in the final quarter of 2009.
Chet Edwards represents one of the most Republican seats with a Democratic congressman. That's why Rob Curnock, Timothy Delasandro,
Bill Flores, Dave McIntyre, and Chuck Wilson all think they can be competitive.
Curnock was Edwards' opponent in 2008 and lost by 7.58%.
Bill Flores was recruited by Pete Session and the NRCC. After resisting the initial round of courting, Flores decided to announce his candidacy in mid-December.
According to Politico:
Businessman Bill Flores will be announcing his campaign tomorrow after initially resisting entreaties this year from the National Republican Congressional Committee earlier in the spring. He sent a letter to party leaders and colleagues last weekend informing them of his decision.
Keep in mind this district voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in a big way. McCain garnered 67% of the vote, and yet, Edwards won a 10th term. His re-election campaigns are always close and expensive, but Edwards has made a name for himself as a conservative Democrat who will break with Democratic leadership on issues.
That is why Flores has already loaned himself $250,000 to play catch up and has hired professional political marksman Matt Mackowiak.
Flores reported close to $369,000 cash on hand, far less than Edwards fundraising totals. Edwards had $1,125,907.89 cash-on-hand. Since that time he has added an additional $183,000 in cash-on-hand and has raised a total of $1,389,828.59 for this election cycle.
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Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 11:53 PM CDT
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While the NRCC may be targeting Congressman Chet Edwards, he's just fired back a direct shot with his 3rd quarter fundraising report. Congressman Chet Edwards’ campaign will officially report $1,125,907 cash-on-hand as of September 30th. The total represents a record sum for the Edwards campaign and is over $200,000 more than Edwards reported at the same point during the 2008 election cycle. As of June 30th, the FEC’s last reporting period, Edwards had $869,464 cash-on-hand. Since that time he has added an additional $256,443 in cash-on-hand. “As of the June 30th FEC report, Chet had a huge $855,000 cash-on-hand advantage over his closest potential rival. If Chet’s potential rivals have not significantly increased their fundraising, it will certainly raise questions about their inability to gain grassroots traction for their campaigns,” said Elizabeth Connor, Edwards’ campaign spokesperson.
2010 should be a better electoral environement for Chet than 2008 where Edwards is the federal race on the top of the ballot, not the Obama-McCain matchup. Also, Edwards is now a more powerful incumbent in a Democratic majority where he can get more done for his district as one of the few senior members of either party left in the Texas Congressional delegation. "As Chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, he championed the building of a much-needed, new $927 million hospital for Fort Hood soldiers and families and worked with the Veterans Administration to bring 224 new jobs to the Waco VA hospital. That is an impressive record of accomplishment in just one year,” commented Connor.
Chet isn't a liberal Democrat, but he is a Texas Democrat and one that we are proud of each time he defeats a Republican. He's well on his way to doing that once more.
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Thu Oct 12, 2006 at 10:59 AM CDT
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Congressman Chet Edwards received endorsements from both the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this week, as he runs for re-election in TX-17. From the Dallas Morning News: Central Texas stalwart Chet Edwards is being challenged for his seat in Congress this year by a rookie who's long on cash and slash-and-burn campaigning but short on answers. The editorial goes on to mention that Van Taylor -- the Republican opponent -- recently moved into the district, doesn't have a good grasp on the issues, and has credibility concerns. Meanwhile, they cite Edwards' seniority, which helped him save a VA center in Waco, and his balanced standing on issues as a key reason why he should be re-elected.
From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Chet Edwards brings experience, understanding and the closest thing to statesmanship one can find in Washington these days...
What Edwards is not is a party ideologue.
Project Vote Smart, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that collects voting information on elected officials, releases annual evaluations from special interest groups that indicate how often a member of Congress votes with the groups' preferred positions. Edwards' score card makes clear that the Waco congressman thinks for himself and is not a functionary of the party. We strongly support Congressman Edwards, and recommend any of our readers to visit his website and donate time, money, or anything you can to help him win re-election in TX-17.
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Sun May 28, 2006 at 06:21 PM CDT
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(As a party in Texas, we have to think and plan beyond any given November. So use this as an open thread for discussion on the next two state cycles. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
There's an open discussion thread over at Swing State Project that evolved from a discussion about interest in '06 races to races in '08. One of the races that sparked several comments was the TX Senate race in 2008.
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Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 02:14 PM CDT
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