While speaking to a small group of students on a Texas college campus last week Rob Curnock said that the reason he would be more qualified and a stronger advocate for veterans than Congressman Chet Edwards is because his father served in World War II. "My opponent has nothing on me there."
As a veteran I can say this will complete authority: when it comes to veterans issues Rob Curnock has nothing on Chet Edwards.
Congressman Edwards has a distinguished voting record on veterans' issues. In 2006 Edwards received voting rankings from the Disabled American Veterans of 100%, the Retired Enlisted Association of 86%, and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Edwards a grade of A-. In fact Edwards has received a perfect vote ranking from the Disabled American Veterans for the last three years. As the Chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee Edwards increased veterans' health care funding to $11.8 billion and because of his seniority in Congress is able to be a strong voice for veterans.
This afternoon if you where on the Texas A&M campus you could have had "Lunch with the Candidates." The event is part of the Texas A&M Student Government Association "Gig the Vote" campaign.
Congressman Chet Edwards was there, and so was his opponent Rob Curnock. Other Democrats that where there included Mark Thompson, who is a candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner, and Susan Strawn, who is a candidate for Judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; Representative Rick Noriega, who is a candidate for Senator, and District Attorney Bill Turner both had representatives there. There was also several other Republican candidates for office represented.
The purpose of the event was to simple give a forum for students to interact with the candidates and ask them questions; and throughout the afternoon all the candidates where available to students and fielded questions and listened to concerns.
The Young Conservative of Texas (YCT) took advantage of the forum, the point of which was for candidates and politicians to interact with the students, to ambush Congressman Edwards.
"It's precisely the pursuit of ideological purity, the rigid orthodoxy and sheer predictability of our current political debate, that keeps us from finding new ways to meet the challenges we face as a country" -Barack Obama
From time to time I like to reevaluate myself, and rethink my positions and reflect on my beliefs. What I have come to realize lately that I am much more of a liberal than I ever realized, and that I am also a liberal first and a Democrat second. Although I support the Democratic Party and its candidates I also endeavor to look at politics through both an idealistic and realistic lens.
(Another great post in this series on HD-17, and important open Democratic seat we need to hold. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
In many ways it is easier to be well informed about national political candidates than it is local candidates, and that is especially true of some Texas State House of Representative candidates. How the electorate judges candidates is many times based off of their records in public offices. Many times candidates that are campaigning for state offices have served at the local level, such as city council or as mayor. This type of political hierarchy is not uncommon, as candidates will move up from local to state and many times national public office.
However, in the 17th State House District of Texas none of the candidates running have ever held a position as an elected official in public office. Then the process of determining the most qualified candidates and the candidate that best suites each voter's preferences and ideals becomes more complicated. When a state house race is in a largely rural portion of the state, the exposure to the candidates becomes limited. However, many times voters may actually have an opportunity to meet the candidates face to face, and word of mouth becomes very important.
So who are the candidates campaigning for the State House Representative in District 17?
This is an unofficial part of our "Shattering Blogger Stereotypes" series. The myth shattered -- that bloggers hate the traditional media. The following is a report on an extensive study I completed as part of my coursework at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University. -- Phillip
In the early twentieth century, five Russian-born Jews living in Manhattan passed out some leaflets denouncing President Woodrow Wilson. They were accused of violating the Espionage Act. They were arrested for criticizing the government, and ultimately -- in Abrams vs. the United States -- the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the arrests.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his dissent, wrote that the leaflets created no real danger, arguing instead that they embraced one of the central tenants of the constitution: a "marketplace of ideas"
[...] The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas...that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution.
Today, in the early twenty-first century, information consumers seek a free trade of ideas much broader than what the market has traditionally offered. Print and television journalism competes with online journalism, where electronic leaflets travel much farther than the streets of Manhattan. YouTube videos, blogs, and Facebook messages are all relevant players in today’s marketplace of ideas.
Texas’ newspapers are adapting to the new online medium in noticeably different ways, especially when it comes to political reporting. An examination of the nearly 1,000 blog posts featured on the respective political blogs of the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, and Austin American-Statesman during the month leading up to the Texas primary shows that formal conventions of journalism often do not make their way from the paper pages to the web pages of Texas’ leading newspapers.
For those of us counting on the successful adaptation of Texas’ political reporting in the rapidly expanding realm of web-based media, the loss of formal convention may be a very, very good thing.
Introduction: About the Study
The purpose of the study wasn’t to determine which paper had the best online coverage – it was to examine what kind of coverage is out there in the first place. Reporters from each of these papers were interviewed for the original study; however, their quotes and input will not be directly attributed here, since the original study was conducted for academic purposes and to ensure their anonymity is respected.
The study examined at length the methods and attitudes of three of Texas’ major newspaper political blogs, focusing on the time period after Super Tuesday (February 6) through just before the Texas primary (March 3):
It should be noted that the Chronicle maintains several political blogs, including Texas on the Potomac, which has a national focus. For the purposes of the study, only the posts on Texas Politics, which has a Texas focus, were tracked, since most of the print reporters that cover Texas politics only blog on the Texas Politics blog. The study was completed for the Harvard Kennedy School of Government course, “Press, Politics, and Public Policy,” as taught by Professor Tom Fiedler, former Editor of the Miami Herald. As the general election approaches, similar studies will be conducted for comparison. Finding an Online Voice: The Choice between Formal and Informal Language
In 1961, Theodore White’s book, “The Making of the President: 1960” set the standard for political and campaign reporting. Ever since that time, political journalists have used White’s model – along with the very traditional “who, what, where, when, why, and how” formula – to create and sustain a formal language in their writing. The use of traditional, non-changing formal language signals a context of objectivity and authority for most readers.
However, many of Texas newspapers’ political blogs have abandoned traditional conventions in favor of a much more informal, opinion-based language. As Chart #1 shows below, the more posts that are written on Texas newspapers’ political blogs, the greater the chance that the language used will be informal.
Chart #1: Type of Language Used from 2/6 thru 3/3
Houston Chronicle
Austin American- Statesman
Dallas Morning News
Total / Average
# of total blog posts
172
304
510
986
Formal
61.6%
46.1%
23.3%
43.7%
Informal
25.0%
50.3%
71.2%
48.8%
Mixed
13.4%
3.6%
5.5%
7.5%
For the purposes of the study, formal language is considered “traditional newspaper” writing, often in 3rd-person. Informal language is considered “conversational-style” writing, which may combine first and second-person language and feature humor and/or editorializing. Mixed language-posts consists primarily of formal language but contain editorializing, humor, or a call for reader response not normally found with the use of formal language.
The Dallas Morning News reporters wrote nearly three times as many posts for their blog than their Houston Chronicle counterparts; not surprisingly, their language was much more informal. Strengthening the observed correlation, the Austin American-Statesman finished in the middle of each category.
(I missed this earlier this week. Neat! - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
The Texas House of Representatives District 17 is on the western edge of the Brazos Valley and the eastern edge of the Texas hill country. The district encompasses the counties of Colorado, Fayette, Bastrop, Lee, Burleson, and a curious part of Brazos. It is a rural area populated with towns like La Grange, Bastrop, Giddings, and Caldwell. It is the countryside that Aggies and Longhorns drive through to watch the Lone Star Showdown at Kyle Field or Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium. However, another showdown for control of the Texas House of Representative may be taking place in that same countryside.
In 1996 Robert Cook, Mayor of Eagle Lake, won 54.9% of the vote in District 28 taking the seat by 3,924 votes against Republican Chip Rayburn. In 1998 Representative Cook won reelection by 64.6% of the vote, beating Republican Michael Franks by 9,451 votes. In 2000 Cook defeated Republican Phil Stephenson with 63.3% of the vote, besting Stephenson by 12,616 votes.
In 2002 Representative Cook won District 17 with 56.4% of the vote as the Republican challenger Jean Killgore finished 5,608 votes behind. Two years later, in 2004, Cook won with 53.7% of the vote as the Republican challenger Jean Killgore finished 5,247 votes behind.
In 2006 Representative Cook won by just 415 votes capturing 48.9% of the vote with 19,640 voters while Republican Tim Kleinschmidt took 47.9% of the vote and 19,225 votes. A Libertarian candidate, Roderick Gibbs, may have been a key to the Democratic victory as he took 1,283 votes (3.19%) that many of which may have gone to the Republican.
Democrat Robby Cook is retiring after twelve years as the Representative for House District 17, and now the seat is up for grabs. There are three candidates grasping for the open seat: Democrat Donnie Dippel, Republican Tim Kleinschmidt, and Libertarian Alan W. Duesterhoft.
This morning the Advisory Committee on the Texas Democratic Party Convention/Caucus System met at Austin Community College to, according to an email from the Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd L. Richie, "studying the current convention/caucus system. Furthermore, based on the testimony taken at these meetings, the committee will then consider this feedback and possibly make recommendations for changes."
This has been a difficult issue for this blogger to take a firm position on, in part because that the caucus system is one of the reasons that I became involved in Democratic politics. However, it would be disingenuous of me to ague a position without honestly examining the system and giving an honest assessment. Which has led me to this position: the Texas Democratic Party primary system of caucuses and ballet voting is a flawed misstep.
How money and influence decided for Governor Perry that ethanol and renewable fuel standards are not in the best interest of Texas.
According to an article in the Houston Chronicle Governor Rick Perry is requesting a federal waiver from renewable fuel standards, because the Governor believes that ethanol production is driving up the price of feed corn. Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim and other livestock lobbies are pushing Perry to seek the waiver, after donating $100,000 to the Republican Governors Association chaired by Perry. According to Texans for Public Justice, Pilgrim contributed $216,500 to Perry's campaign from 2004-07.
On Tuesday Harvey Kronberg and Ross Ramsey came to the University of Texas to share their great knowledge on the state's political climate. Here for the Government Department's Texas Politics Series, the two journalists (Kronberg with the Quorum Report and Ramsey now with Texas Weekly) discussed the 2008 elections, how the presidential race would effect them, and what impact there might be on the Speakers race in the House.
When Mr. Kronberg began talking, he said there were 3 "prizes open for the Democrats right now." He listed the Texas Supreme Court seats, Harris County, and "gaining a couple seats in the Texas House."
Only two or three? That caught me by surprise. Ya, I know that it is unlikely that we repeat our feat of the 2006 elections, but only a couple as a prize?
Both Harvey Kronberg and Ross Ramsey clearly stated they don't think Democrats will gain the House of Representatives this year. Ross Ramsey even mentioned the possibility of new turnout changing hte map in Texas, but he still didn't think we would win.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think most of you remember Democrats' success two years ago. I think with some good work, it would be feasible to do it again. Take this as motivation. Let's take back the House. The media doesn't think we will do it. But we can. We just have some work to do.
You can started by learning more about and donating to the TexBlog PAC.
With the Iowa caucuses four days behind us and New Hampshire primary two days from now, it's fairly likely that we'll soon know who the Republican and Democratic nominees are for president. It's not difficult to find a surplus of commentary on the presidential race generally, but aside from Republican predictions of easy victories across the state if Hillary Clinton is at the top of the ticket, there hasn't been a lot of Texas perspective.
Looking at Texas, what effect do you think the respective presidential candidates will have on downballot races in our state?
