(Cross-posted from DK -- taking every opportunity I can to get Ted's name out there)
Here is the position paper by Ted on the issue of the living wage. I'll say it again (& again & again) - this is a great candidate with great ideas, who can take away a Rethug seat. Really. (here's my disclaimer - I don't work for Ted, I live in the district that is "represented" by Michael McCaul) Here's my next congressman's really great ideas on this issue:
Living Wage
What kind of a country do you want to live in? Do you want to live in a Country with people standing on street corners with signs "will work for food"? Do you want to live in a Country where it is better for a father to abandon his children, so that they can get welfare? Do you want to live in a Country that is being overrun by illegal immigrants living twelve to a room because it's own citizens refuse to be exploited with a minimum wage that is practically "slave wages"?
Just happened to run across this from the Round Rock Leader:
Gilbert knows the issues
The race for Texas Agriculture Commissioner is a two-man contest, pitting Democrat Hank Gilbert against Republican Todd Staples.
There is no incumbent in this race. Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs - who was first elected in 1998 - has her sights set on being elected State Comptroller next month.
Gilbert and and Staples each bring their own background, experience and qualifications to the table, but after talking with both men we give the nod to Gilbert.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
I couldn't get the whole thing because you have to subscribe.
Here's some info that has the blogsbuzzing today. Democrat Ted Ankrum commissioned a poll in his district which runs from Travis to Harris County, with results that mirror someotherpolls but are are bit suprising in a rather good way. The poll was professional and hardly biased, seeing as how Paul Burka actually got one of the calls and thought it was from McCaul.
A poll by Forensic Economic Data Consulting, Inc. It was a robocall poll of 500 randomly-selected likely voters in TX 10. The statistical margin of error for this number of responders is 4.4%.
Q1. Are you a registered voter who intends to vote in the election? Only "yes" answers continued with the call
Q2. Michael McCaul is your current Representative in Congress. What are your thoughts on his reelection?
34.7% Would you definitely vote to reelect him 39.1% Would you consider other candidates
26.1% Would you definitely vote to replace him
Q3. The three Candidates for Congress are Michael McCaul, the Republican, Ted Ankrum, the Democrat, and Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian.
50.8% Would you vote for Michael McCaul, the Republican 41.6% Would you vote for Ted Ankrum, the Democrat
7.6% Would you vote for Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian
Q4 In times such as these, should a Representative follow the lead of the President or follow the opinion of voters in their District? In a situation where the two do not agree:
23.2% The Representative should follow the President 76.8% The Representative should follow the voters
Q5. What is your opinion of President Bush' job performance on a scale of 1 to 4, where 1 means you strongly approve and 4 means you strongly disapprove?
Wow. 65.2% of the respondents will consider a different candidate, or definitely replace him. Bush has a 51.4% disapproval rating, with only 23.2% stating strong approval. Combine that with the 3:1 results for "Representatives should follow the voters, rather than the President", and the future does not look bright for Rep. McCaul.
And I've got to say, Ankrum has been all over that district and as a resume that is hard to beat. I know that there hasn't been that much blog attention to the race, but as the coordinated campaign here in Travis heats up, I'm sure we'll have more info as his district overlaps most of Strama's and some of Howard's.
Democracy for Texas will be hosting a public forum to discuss the ongoing conflict in Iraq this Thursday, August 17. The event will be held at the George Washington Carver Museum (map). The event starts a 7:00PM, but show up early to see an informal screening of the invited guests' photos and movies. From the DFT press release:
The forum's panelists include many who have first-hand experience on the issue of Iraq. They include Alan Pogue, a photojournalist and Texas Observer contributor who has traveled to Iraq five times to document the lives of the Iraqi people; Dr. Jason Brownlee, Assistant Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the upcoming book, Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization; Tom Peterson, an Iraqi war vet who has served three tours of duty; John Courage, a veteran and candidate for Congress who is making Iraq an important issue in his campaign; Ted Ankrum, a candidate for Congress who served three tours of duty in Vietnam and was on active duty with the Navy for fifteen years; and Charlie Jackson, founding member of Texans for Peace, who was the lead author of the Baghdad Economic Development (BED) Project, a tactical plan prepared by the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas, and also helped found the Women's Business Center of Baghdad, an ongoing project to assist women business owners and professionals of Iraq.
If you have any questions, please contact Fran Vincent, DFT Executive Director, at 512-468-4127, or by e-mail.
10. Ankrum gets it on poverty – on his website, he talks about how a family of four making minimum wage would have to work 3573 hours in a year to get up to the federal poverty level. He goes on to say: “ A full-time 40 hour per week job is 2080 hours in a year. Since people on minimum wage jobs hardly ever get paid vacations or sick leave, it means that family of four must hold down two jobs. That means that Mom is not home with the children because she's at work, or Dad has two jobs, or some combination of the two. At worst, dad has abandoned his family because if he does, they will be eligible for welfare and Medicaid. This certainly does nothing to further any of the Family Values we hear so much of.”
Republicans talk about how they’re concerned about the middle class, but we rarely hear politicians talking about how hard it is for the poor. It is way easier to use them for a punching bag.
9. He’s smart & he’s got guts. Check out this from his entry on competence & cronyism: “I have no illusions about how much influence a Freshman Congressman, like Mike McCaul, can have on legislation. The answer is "hardly any". But, one thing a freshman Representative can do is show up at Committee oversight hearings and ask questions that get to the heart of whether a Federal agency is doing it's job. To do that, you need to have had some experience at doing something other than being a lawyer, and to be willing to ask questions that might embarrass the White House.” Wow. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a congressional representative (besides Lloyd Doggett) who would go to committee meetings & ask questions the White House doesn’t want asked????
This will be followed shortly by a "Top Ten Good Things About Ted Ankrum", but I wanted to get this out first.
10. Nonexistent constituent service. Write him a letter, even from his own website. Tell me if you hear back with so much as a form letter, because I never have. And I write him a lot. E-mail, paper, polite or not; makes no difference. Zero, zilch, nada. Even Senator Breck Girl at least acknowledges my existence.
9. Voted against limiting the Patriot Act with regard to library and book sale records. My congressman things the government should know what I’m reading. Please make him go away.
(John's in the top five! Let's keep voting him, and keep him there. Remember: order matters now folks. Let's keep 3 Texans in the Top 5 by voting the strategic ballot below! Voting is closed end of today... - promoted by Phillip Martin)
Let me just first say thank you for all you have done.
You have been part of a spirited contest for Party Chairman and now stories are being written across Texas about the unity that has resulted with Chris Bell hiring Glen Maxey to manage Field.
You have been part of the Texas Progressive Blog Alliance push to Activate ActBlue in Texas so every candidate can fundraise online and we can help them.
You have been part of Mark Warner's MapChangers contest and while we are not done yet, you have helped get Chris Bell and now Barbara Radnofsky into the Top 5!
In the next 2 days, you can show how 'relevent' Texas Democrats are, again, by helping to bump John Courage up a notch and into that 5th spot on the Map Changers contest.
The unified support of Texans across campaigns has made this happen at each step. Please vote and take information like the following into consideration.
Dear Fellow Texans,
Many of you have received emails or seen blog posts asking for votes for the Texan slate of candidates in the Mark Warner Mapchanger contest.
Thanks to the Texas Unity ticket, Chris Bell and Barbara Radnofsky have gotten into the Top 5, and appear poised to bring $5,000 to both of their campaigns. It appears they are secure to remain in the top five!
John Courage (TX-21) is sitting RIGHT OUTSIDE of the Top 5. We have an opportunity to bring another $5,000 to Texas if we can get him into that 5th slot. We also want to ensure that Chris and Barbara stay where they are. If John gets into the Top 5, we will have a unique "Texas Triple Crown" with not only having three candidates in the Top 5 of THIS contest, but it will make John Courage the Democracy for America Grassroots All-Star, the Feingold Progressive Patriot, and a Warner Mapchanger.
NOTE: This is instant runoff voting. If you don't put these candidates in this order, you can actually push John further down the list instead of into the top five. We are very confident from the rumors we've heard that Bell and Radnofsky are secure in the top five and that John is just below the bar.
The ideal ballot would be in this order (it only takes a second to vote) to show the country that Texas is more purple than it is red:
1st Vote: John Courage TX-21
2nd Vote: Ted Ankrum TX-10
3rd Vote: Mary Beth Harrell TX-31
4th Vote: Chris Bell TX-GOV
5th Vote: Barbara Radnofsky TX-SEN
Please take a minute out of your day and vote THIS all-Texan ballot by clicking here.
Democratically yours,
Glen Maxey
P.S.--You can also make a huge difference by telling your friends. You can easily do this by clicking here:
You can actually cast a Texas only slate in the Western column in round 2 of Mark Warners MapChangers contest (winner getting $5k from the Forward Together PAC) as there are 5 candidates. This was my ballot. I have to give major props to the Warner people, this tech stuff is awesome.
My MapChangers
WEST
TX-21 John Courage
Because Bush needs a brain, Cheney needs a heart, and Congress needs Courage!
As the County Chair for the Democratic Party in Washington County I was quite surprised that Paul Foreman used my name in a manner that infers that I support him.
During the course of this Primary season, I made it abundantly clear to candidates in all the contested races that they would be treated equally and fair and that I would not state nor take a position for any candidate in a contested race. At one time or another I have invited ALL candidates to this county and made every effort to get as many of them in the county as possible. Most did take advantage of this, including Paul Foreman.
However, on another occasion, Mr. Foreman, on his printed material listed another individual in our county as a supporter, and I was present at the time this person requested Mr. Foreman remove his name from his material.
Now that Mr. Foreman has chosen to use my name as a supporter, I have to question his truthfulness and integrity when he uses peoples names without their consent. Since Mr. Foreman has put me in this position I have no choice now but to respond and declare my choice and that is now Ted Ankrum.
I would hope that you will make this clear in your paper as well as your website.
Respectfully
Duane Olney, Chair
Democratic Party
Washington County
The 10th Congressional District, spanning across Texas from Central Austin to the Houston suburbs, currently has a primary runoff between Ted Ankrum and Paul Foreman, the winner facing Rep. McCaul in a DeLay drawn district that is heavily Republican.
Burnt Orange Report endorses veteran Ted Ankrum in this runoff.
He is the most qualified candidate, coming in first in the 4 way primary, and is actively campaigning for the vote in the district. While TX-10 is on few people's short list of targeted races or anywhere near potential pick-ups, it is important to head into November with candidates that can do the best to improve Democratic performance in their districts. TX-10 still covers a large part of Democratic Travis County, and having Ted Ankrum as our nominee will aid us in turning out votes for countywide office, as well as in Mark Strama and Donna Howard's districts.
Ted Ankrum has a statement over at Off the Kuff for reading.
(Democrats ignored TX-10 2 years ago and UT Prof. Lorenzo Sadun put up a write-in campaign that earned him 6% of the vote, behind a Libertarian with 15%. McCaul took nearly 79% of the vote in 2004.)
