Well, this is sad. I've been hoping that Pete Sessions would leave Congress "to spend more time with my family," but, apparently, I'm out of luck. Pete Sessions and his wife of 27 years are separating.
The 56-year-old Texas Republican issued a statement Friday:
"After a great deal of thought and discussion, a decision has been made that my wife and I are separating. I am grateful for many years of marriage, and the blessing of two wonderful sons. I ask for respect for my privacy and for that of my family, and I do not intend to comment any further."
Of course, he can't be reached for comment, and he dumped this news on Friday night. So there's no news on what's behind this--maybe she got tired of him running off to fundraisers at strip clubs or just got tired of him being so damned stupid.
Whatever the reason, he's got some splainin' to do--like it or not--to his right-wing followers who've been lapping up his "family values" message all these years.
When the GOP picked Pete Sessions to chair the NRCC, residents of the gerrymandered 32nd congressional district wondered, "Has the Republican Party completely lost its mind?" We broke out the popcorn, sat back, and waited for the GOP to implode. Pete Sessions' latest lapse in judgement: backing a candidate who likes to dress up as a Nazi.
This post is an attempt at analysis, explanation, and an appeal for help. The complexion of the country's leadership may well depend on the elections in Texas. I ask your indulgence to follow my perhaps incomplete research, my not-all-filled-out logic and the conlusions I draw from them. Perhaps I can make the case to help head off a real disaster. We here in Texas may understand this, but this is as much for visitors from elsewhere.
The thesis
Texas elections for US congress seats, and for State House and Senate seats, matter not just to Texans, but the whole country, perhaps for a decade or more. One of the major actors, Rick Perry, and his larger aspirations, are of concern. It's his power base, donors, and where he wants to take us that we need to pay attention to.
Some corollaries The Texas Governor's race sets the tone in our state for an off-year election, and voters are tuned in to this race. Folks are generally not paying as much attention to the state House and Senate races, nor to the US Congressional races. But the governor's race may greatly influence the down-ballot races. Turnout of loyal supporters is the key.
After the 2010 Census, Texas will add 3 US Congressional seats, possibly 4, depending on how the math comes out. The outcomes of these state races will matter because of redistricting which will be done by the Texas Legislature in the 2011-2012 session.
Let me share some thoughts, and see if you agree, or challenge my point of view.
Let us take Texas back from these GOP "leaders" who will take us to ruin, perhaps even more than W did, if given the chance. Let's not give them the chance.
The Lone Star Project put the video together. They ask an essential question:
Why is Pete Sessions Getting a Pass?
Republican National Committee Chair, Michael Steele, is struggling to hold his job after it was learned that the RNC paid almost $2000 to a Los Angeles adult-themed club. (Source: Washington Post, March 29, 2010) At the same time, no one is pressuring National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions to resign or even fully explain his fundraising at Las Vegas strip clubs. Sessions has held at least two fundraisers at adult-themed clubs and made no apologies.
Pete Sessions has never hesitated to spout moral platitudes when it serves his political purposes (Source: Family Research Council, 2008 "True Blue Award Winner") He also doesn’t mind stepping off his moral high horse to raise money using a sexually charged atmosphere featuring near-naked women as a lure for political money. (Source: Washington Post, May 4, 2009)
As I noted in a post on Pete Session's lackluster NRCC efforts last Friday, many of our incumbent Texas Republican Congressmen are facing primary challengers this cycle, from Tea Party folks. Let's take some time to get to know the folks who are doing their best to make Congress even less functional, and think about what this means for the Republican party.
Ralph Hall vs. Jerry Ray (Tea) Hall, TX-4
Hall faces tea party challenger Jerry Ray Hall (no relation to Ralph or Mick Jagger's ex), who submitted his ballot application with the word "Tea" after his middle name. Challenger-Hall also has been passing around a photo of himself with Rep. John Culberson as an implied--and erroneous--endorsement. That link is also entertaining because "Jerry Ray (Tea) Hall" mixes it up in the comments... With himself.
Also interesting about this race: Congressman-Hall is the oldest member of the House, at 86 years. He would take over the Science Committee should the Republicans regain control of the lower chamber. Notably, would-be Science Chair Hall is actually older than the Big Bang Theory, the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle, penicillin, the material nylon, radiocarbon dating, treatment for leukemia, the radio transistor, and the polio vaccine. I'm not trying to imply anything... Well, really, I'm just saying, the dude is too old to be in charge of the Science Committee.
Michael McCaul vs. Joe Petronis, TX-10
Michael "#7 Water Waster in Austin" McCaul is facing a primary challenge from the self-proclaimed "RINO Hunter" Joe Petronis. In fact, he has an entire page on his website dedicated to his RINO Hunting. Click on the link. You need a giggle.
This is interesting, because unlike some of the districts mentioned here (the 4th, 11th) which are mind-numbingly Republican, the 10th (and Sessions' 32nd) have the potential to flip. Unfortunately, the highly-anticipated challenger to McCaul, Jack McDonald, did not file for the race, leaving 2006 challenger Ted Ankrum to pick up the slack. It will be interesting to see, however, what effect the primary challenge has on a Republican base that doesn't have too much to praise in the lackluster McCaul's performance in D.C. After all, McCaul is clearly better at wasting water at home than he is fighting for jobs or hewing to "conservative principles" in D.C.
Mike Conaway vs. Chris Younts, TX-11
Conaway, from Midland, is a big-time Bush crony, working for Bush's various failed business ventures until being appointed by then-governor Bush to the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. He later had the luxury to run for a district again redrawn by DeLay to include Midland and Odessa. TX-11 is widely considered to be one of the most Republican, with a PVI of R+28. (Only the 13th, much of the Panhandle held by Mac Thornberry, is more Republican, at R+29.)
Conaway is being challenged by Chris Younts, an insurance salesman from San Angelo. Of his candidacy, Younts stated, "Contrary to opinions on both sides, the Tea Party movement was never intended to play the role of an infatuated, doting cheerleader of all players with an 'R' on their jersey, regardless of past indiscretions."
Kenny Marchant vs. Frank Roszell, TX-24
Marchant will face a primary challenge for the district he basically drew for himself during the 2003 Congressional gerrymander, during which time he was a member of the Texas House. He is squaring off against Roszell, a developer and tea party supporter from Grapevine. Roszell may win the "best quote on a campaign website" contest, which is pretty stiff amongst the Tea Partiers: "No one will jerk my chain but my wife." Unclear how his views on chain-jerking relate to partisan line-drawing.
Pete Sessions vs. David Smith, TX-32
As I noted last Friday, the head of the entire NRCC is facing a primary challenger in the form of David Smith, a corporate financial analyst and tea party activist determined to rid the Republicans of the D-minus Sessions.
Smith expects to receive significant grassroots support from the Tea Party denizens, telling TPM "I anticipate that those will be the most active supporters of my campaign, those are going to be the people who will go out for my campaign and wear out shoes, and make phone calls to people in the district."
This ought to be interesting. While pundits and political "soothsayers" are already predicting death to Democratic victories this cycle, there's clearly a fomenting Tea Party movement on the Right that sets the stage for post-primary strife, and may enable third party or independent candidates to step up to the plate and capitalize on this discontent.
Let's also not count out the role of Debra Medina in this, whose gubernatorial campaign may draw out Republican primary voters who seek to support the "Tea Party" challengers in their local Congressional primaries. However, the national Republicans seem largely unwilling to address the growing frustration amongst Tea Party activists, suggesting that everyone will mend fences after the primary and work for the status-quo Republican incumbents that are likely to survive the vast, vast majority of their primary challenges.
A New York Times piece on the recent Republican retreat to their favorite foreign nation of Hawaii illustrates this. Michael Steele, RNC chairman, stated:
"If a Republican incumbent or a Republican candidate is running and a Tea Party candidate is in the race and the Republican wins, my expectation is that the Tea Party guy is going to support the Republican. ... Because we would support the Tea Party guys."
Ok, let me get this straight: RNC Chair Michael Steele says that his party would support Tea Party activists should they win a primary. However, that's the exact opposite of what happened in NY-23, where moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava endorsed Democrat Bill Owens over certified nutjob Doug Owens after Tea Party folks pushed Scozzafava out of the race for being insufficiently ideologically pure. The comments of the challengers above suggest that this might not be so true, and that Tea Party activists may not let themselves be taken for granted by the Republican Party.
This should also be a huuuuge warning sign to moderate Republicans and independents, that the RNC establishment says publicly that they're willing to get on board with Tea Party extremists should they win the primary.
However, former Texas Congressmember and one-man Dick Armey seems to see the handwriting on the wall:
"This is not a situation where the grass-roots activists are saying, 'What can we do to make ourselves attractive to the Republicans?'" he said. "It is 'What can we do to help the Republicans understand what they must do to be attractive to us.'"
Armey admits it: the Tea Party is the new activist base of conservative politics. To win over their support and enthusiasm in November, Republican candidates may have to swing even harder to the right to pacify the folks who are currently holding the megaphone in the Republican party. What this will do to moderate and mainstream voters remains to be seen, but thanks to the Tea Party this may shape up to be a more intriguing election season than we expect.
Dallas-area Republican Congressman Pete Sessions continues to suck it up as head of the NRCC, turning in another lackluster fundraising quarter for the Republicans' Congressional campaign efforts. Even the pro-GOP Daily Caller failed to put a positive spin on the GOP's numbers:
The Republican fundraising arm for House races this year raised $3.2 million in December and paid off their debt, but still lags far behind their Democratic counterpart in cash on hand. The National Republican Congressional Committee, which released its numbers Friday morning, has $2.67 million in its war chest, compared to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's $16.7 million. The DCCC outraised the the NRCC with a total of $3.8 in December.
Because Republican suckitude always looks better in a clear, comparative numerical array, here's a table:
Republicans
Democrats
Advantage
Raised in December
$3.2M
$3.8M
Democrats.
Current Cash On Hand
$2.67M
$16.7M
Democrats. By a factor of seven. Burn.
Total Raised in 2009
$35.8M
$55.7M
Democrats.
"Two million! That's right, we've only got two million in the bank! And there are 435 seats in Congress!"
When asked for a statement on the $2.67M cash on hand, Pete Sessions held his fingers up like Nixon and demonstrated to the illiterate tea-bagging base how many "two million" is. Despite recent success at recruiting candidates, it remains unclear whether the GOP infrastructure will be able to support them. The RNC only has $8.7M on hand. Furthermore, many incumbent Republicans are facing primary challengers from the agitated, further-right-wing Tea Party crowd. If you're that far to the right of the modern day Republicans, you may be at risk of falling off the edge of the flat earth you believe in. If the Republicans are the "Party of NO," what does that make their primary challengers? The "Party of Oh HELL NO," I suppose.
This is a particularly amusing turn of events here in Texas, where three of our Republican Congressmen are facing primary challenges: Reps. Ralph Hall, Kenny Marchant, and Mike Conaway all have primary opponents.
So, for that matter, does Pete Sessions himself, who will face a strong opponent in the general election in Grier Raggio, if he can first get past David Smith, a Dallas businessman active in the Tea Party. From Talking Points Memo:
Will he tap into the Tea Party movement, to power his campaign? "Absolutely, absolutely I will," said Smith, saying that the principles of the Tea Party movement are largely in line with his own. "I anticipate that those will be the most active supporters of my campaign, those are going to be the people who will go out for my campaign and wear out shoes, and make phone calls to people in the district."
Sessions, who somehow managed to convince the voters of CD-32 that he had any skills relevant to serving in Congress, now faces a far-right challenger in the form of a corporate financial analyst railing against the bailout. However, it does seem that Democrats and Tea Party Smith may have something to agree on:
Smith also warned the Republican Party about Sessions' performance as NRCC chairman, in the wake of NY-23: "If this is the performance we can expect from the NRCC nationwide, going into the primaries and general election next year, this is a D-minus -- and that's friendly."
We agree! Pete Sessions gets a D-minus for his performance as NRCC chair. I just hope he keeps it up. Or down, as the case may be.
First, TX-32, formerly held by Martin Frost (D) but lost to Pete Sessions (R) in Tom DeLay's mid-decade redistricting is listed as a Tier 2 "emerging race". Democrat Grier Raggio will be the Democratic nominee in a district that has been trending more Democratic over the past decade but still eluded Dallas County party activists cycle after cycle. Raggio is legitimate candidate and liked by locals so it's great to see the 32nd District make it on the DCCC's list.
The other notable district is TX-10 which is notable for its absence as a targeted race ever since Democrat Jack McDonald withdrew from running last month. Formerly a top target by the DCCC, it appears that Democrat Ted Ankrum will be carrying the party banner in the 10th District without much support from the national committee as expected.
While there are few competitive congressional races for either party thank to redistricting, having a couple dozen targeted GOP seats is a good sign in limiting the overall losses the party is expected have this November.
Despite repeated campaign promises to always be in the District on weekends, Pete Sessions is working overtime today to kill health care reform.
His latest outburst on the House floor drew "a burst of chatter" in the room, kind of like it does in bi-partisan settings here at home when Sessions gets stuck for an answer and says the first thing that comes to mind, usually a tangent about "socialism" or "Nancy Pelosi."
In his latest gaffe, Pete Sessions defended the insurance industry's practice of charging higher rates to women, comparing the practice to charging higher rates for smokers. Transcript over the jump...
(Really? Huh. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Pete Sessions was one of the first members of Congress to co-sponsor John Boehner's bill, H.R. 3571, to cut off Federal funding to "Any organization that has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency."
The bill was intended as a "de-fund ACORN" measure, but Democrats figured out right away that the broad wording of the bill could also cut funds to a long list of military contractors, effectively defunding the "military industrial complex."
Excuse me if I get a bit emotional, but I couldn't be more ashamed that Pete Sessions represents my congressional district (TX-32) than I am now.
It's bad enough that Sessions dishonestly claims that healthcare reform has been rejected by the American people when in fact poll after poll shows the completely opposite conclusion. It's also bad enough that Sessions has opposed anything that represents real progressive change in this country, including the Employee Free Choice Act.
Now Sessions has, in effect, allied with those who have toted guns during presidential events and have made hints of violence in placards seen during last week's teabagger protests.
Folks have a right to express their opinions, including those that strongly disagree with President Obama's policies and those of the Democratic leadership. But when my area's representative who also happens to be one of the main House Republicans made the statements that he did, it requires more than just mere comment. It requires that strong action be made to assure his defeat next year.
More below.
