Breaking news: Halloween Peeps have just endorsed Tom Schieffer for Governor of Texas. This comes as a shocking surprise about face from 2006, when Halloween Peeps endorsed Kinky Friedman.
Peeps could not be reached for comment, per usual, as Peeps don't talk to the media.
We are still waiting to hear about possible endorsements from Treaty Oak and Princess the adorable kitten.
This morning, the campaign of Tom Schieffer, a Democratic candidate for Governor, announced they had received the endorsement of nine South Texas legislators.
The group includes Senator Chuy Hinojosa of McAllen and Representatives Veronica Gonzales of McAllen, Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles of Alice, Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City, Eddie Lucio III of Brownsville, Armando Martinez of Weslaco, Rene Oliveira of Brownsville, Aaron Pena of Edinburg and Tara Rios Ybarra of South Padre Island.
Senator Hinojosa becomes the first Democratic state senator to endorse a current gubernatorial candidate this year.
From the Schieffer campaign press release:
“Tom Schieffer is a lifelong Democrat and proven leader who is addressing issues critical to South Texas and the entire state – stronger public schools, a better health care system and a stronger economy. His focus is on bread and butter issues that will improve the quality of life for all Texans,” said Senator Hinojosa, chairman of the Senate’s Hispanic Caucus and a well-respected Senate leader on criminal justice issues and appropriations.
Schieffer's early support from former Cameron County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa, a current DNC member and county party chair, likely was instrumental in securing the nine endorsements.
Update: Hank Gilbert's campaign has issued a hard hitting press release in response to Schieffer's endorsement roll out. In the interest of full disclosure, Gilbert's communications director is Vince Leibowitz, who has appeared as a guest writer on BOR in the past.
"That Tom Schieffer is releasing these endorsements this early is his campaign's tacit acknowledgment that Hank Gilbert is emerging as a serious threat to his nine-plus month effort. Schieffer's run for Texas Governor is stalled not only in South Texas but all across Texas because he is so closely associated with his friend and business partner, former President George W. Bush. This is yet another futile attempt to jump start a lackluster campaign, especially when the press and political pundits will wonder why he pulled the trigger on his major endorsements way before anyone begins paying attention to the race.
Tom Schieffer will be no better than George W. Bush on issues of importance to South Texas - much less all of Texas. Bush's lasting legacy for South Texas is skyrocketing unemployment, the continued lack of a VA hospital, and a border wall taking citizens' land and separating our communities. George W. Bush did not support the South Texas community when he was Texas Governor. He left this state in shambles before leaving the country divided, at war, and in the worst economic mess we have seen since the Great Depression.
South Texas deserves more than a continuation of the failed Bush/Perry legacy, which is all that Tom Schieffer has to offer."
U.S. Senate candidates Bill White and John Sharp have each announced endorsements from legislators in recent months. Of course, their election date has yet to be set (and is likely to be in May) while the Democratic primary is slated for March 2. The notion that Schieffer's announcement of the endorsements is surprisingly early may not add up given the recent actions of White and Sharp.
Rancher Hank Gilbert, recipient of roughly 1.7 million votes as the Democratic candidate for Agriculture Commissioner in 2006, continued his campaigns media blitz by landing on WFAA's Inside Politics in the DFW market.
Gilbert, in his always so folksy manner, artfully articulated to Watson and Dallas Morning News political writer Gromer Jeffers, why he feels he has crossover appeal:
Hank Gilbert is a guy just like everybody else who is watching this broadcast. I grew up in rural East Texas--the son of two Union parents who owned a farm where every dollar counted. My wife and I sit around the kitchen table a couple of times a month just like most everybody else in this state does--trying to figure out what we can pay that time of the month on bills. I'm no different than anyone else. What I am not is an entrenched politician like most of the people in this race.
That's a powerful, connecting statement from Gilbert. You best believe that hundreds of thousands of Texans sit at the kitchen table on a weekly basis trying to figure out what bill is to be paid and what bill has to wait to be paid. Hank has crossover appeal because he really is like every other mainstream Texan out there who wants answers to the problems we face in our state.
Watson and Jeffers, apparently not satisfied with Gilbert's answers, continued to press him as to how a Democrat can win in 2010:
I don't know that the "D" or the "R" at the end of a name is as important as the candidate and the message that they are putting out there. The thing about Texans--we're just like the weather. We change and we change constantly. People ask me about that "D" and "R" stigma and I was in Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas---twice in the past there weeks. And on talk radio shows, Fox shows, and conservative callers are calling in and saying 'hey, I'm a Republican. I put Rick Perry where he is. I voted for him every time he was on the ballot. But next November I'm voting for the guy you have in your studio because he sounds like me and talks like me.' People ask me about that "D" and that "R?" R stands for rancher and D stands for dirt. We're just like everybody else out there. We want to make a difference for everybody in this state regardless of political affiliation or socio-economic status.
It was a good interview for Hank and I encourage you to check out the full deal. I was hoping that Watson or Jeffers would ask Hank about the recent dustup between his and Schieffer's campaign regarding their respective platforms on education. Last weeks catfight, where Gilbert essentially accused Schieffer of plagiarism, was the first such tussle we've had between declared candidates in the Democratic primary. I was curious to see if the feud would continue or if Gilbert would focus instead on the Republicans. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to hearing from my friend Hank Gilbert when he comes to the Mid-Cities Democrats meeting on October 22nd.
Former Travis County District Attorney, Ronnie Earle, appears ready to swell the ranks of the Democratic field vying to be the Party nominee for governor of Texas. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported this weekend that Earle is "leaning toward" running for governor. Should Earle join the field he would be competing with former Ambassador Tom Schieffer, former candidate for Agriculture Commissioner Hank Gilbert, humorist Kinky Friedman, Garland therapist Mark Thompson, and school teacher Felix Alvarado.
In a telephone interview, Earle, 67, said he hasn't set a timetable but will probably make a decision "sooner rather than later." Earle served as Travis County District Attorney for 37 years until retiring in December of 2008. His office came under fire from Republicans for its investigation of DeLay, which ultimately resulted in DeLay's resignation from Congress after he was indicted in 2005 for violation of campaign laws.
In the same report, Earle claimed that because of his "deep roots" in Fort Worth that he feels he can compete in Tarrant County, which former Ambassador Tom Schieffer considers home base. Not only is Tarrant County Schieffer's home base, but he also feels he can compete and potentially flip it if he were the Democratic candidate.
I'm not certain why Earle feels he could gain traction in Tarrant County. The vast majority of Democrats that I socialize and work with here said, "who?" when I first mentioned to them that Earle was considering a run for governor. Many of the movers and shakers in Tarrant County have already quickly lined up behind Tom Schieffer too.
The fact that Earle made it a point to mention his Tarrant County roots indicates that he feels Schieffer is the man to beat early on in this primary campaign. It would appear Earle plans on defining himself as the anti-Schieffer candidate upon entering the gubernatorial race. This is a vastly different strategy than Hank Gilbert, who has entered the race and essentially ignored the other Democratic candidates and has effectively assailed the Republican candidates from day one of his campaign.
Just as a side note, this past Thursday Kinky Friedman made an appearance at the Colleyville-Grapevine-Southlake Democrats meeting. Friedman made a point to plug his book multiple times while he plugged his website zero times. Nor did he pass out any campaign material, ask for money, or ask for votes. Considering this isn't Friedman's first rodeo as a candidate for governor I don't know how much more amateur you can get when you don't at least ask for votes. Then again, perhaps his real motives were revealed in simply plugging books.
Thanks to Nhu Le of Austin, TX for this summary of last night's reception welcoming the DNC Asian Pacific Islander American Caucus to Austin, TX! Cross-posted at APA for Progress and AAA-Fund.
This weekend -- most likely unaware of the other -- two excellent writers posted their thoughts on the state of the Governor's race in Texas. Craigg Hines, former Washington bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle, wrote a piece for the Washington Examiner titled, "The War of the Roses." And Charles Kuffner -- also known lovingly as "The Texas Blogfather" -- wrote a piece for Off the Kuff titled, "The state of the Governor's race."
Hines' piece focuses largely on the Republican side of the Governor's race, capturing the universally recognized dismal start of the Hutchison campaign for the national audience. He contextualizes the back-and-forth between Hutchison and Perry in a dramatic setting -- one that reinforces their failed leadership by exposing how petty and diminutive the two really are (and throws in a quote from BOR, for good measure):
The Hutchison-Perry race already resembles the plot line of the 1989 vicious-divorce flick "The War of the Roses." A report by KHOU-TV in Houston on the increasing venom of the contest did a quick cut to Kathleen Turner's character in the movie screaming, "I simply want to smash your face in." [Ed. note: watch the actual video from KHOU]
This is a strange, uphill landscape for Hutchison, whom many Texans over the last decade had assumed could waltz into Austin about anytime she liked and claim the governorship. Think "coronation"; Hutchison was. Now it seems it will take a miracle. Think "parting the Red Sea."
Republican angst aside, it will be a great show, if only because you have a former University of Texas cheerleader, Hutchison, challenging a former Texas A&M yell leader, Perry. So, for some Texans, this is serious stuff, verging on blood sport. (The historically minded will recall that the last president from Texas, George W. Bush, who came to the White House from the Governor's Mansion, had been a cheerleader at both Andover and Yale.)
That leaves, observed Burnt Orange Report, a center-left Texas political blog, two cheerleaders "running against each other to see who can get the right-wing of the Republican Party to shout the loudest." [Ed. note: read the origial post here]
Kuffner, meanwhile, looks more closely at the Democratic primary for the Texas Governor's race, reflecting on last week's endorsement from House Democrats of Tom Schieffer and the recent entry of Hank GIlbert into the Governor's race. Kuff takes his a fair look at the whole field -- namely, Schieffer and Gilbert:
I think we’ll have a pretty good idea soon if the fundraising will exists to make one of these people a serious challenger for the Governor’s mansion. I was on a conference call with Gilbert and a number of my blogging colleagues yesterday morning, and one of the things he said was that he’s set a goal of raising $100K online between now and his official launch on September 21. I don’t know if he can do this, but I do agree that if he does, he’ll establish himself as a viable contender, and that it will make it easier for him to attract support from the conventional donors. (Though it must be noted that this doesn’t necessarily follow. Just ask Rick Noriega about that.)
Schieffer’s recent announcement about receiving endorsements from House Democratic leaders may be an indication that the establishment has decided to coalesce around him; if so, expect him to post better fundraising numbers for the third and fourth quarters.
Hank Gilbert will formally begin his campaign for the Democratic Gubernatorial nomination on Monday, September 21, according to a campaign e-mail. Gilbert, the 2006 Democratic nominee for Agriculture Commissioner, plans to raise $100,000 before his official announcement. If Gilbert's campaign meets their September 21 fundraising goal, it will equal the entire amount that Gilbert raised in 2006.
In the e-mail, Gilbert makes what will be part of his pitch to Democratic primary voters:
In the 2006 race for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, we came awfully close to defeating an entrenched politician, garnering 43% of the vote. That was 7% higher than any other statewide Democrat seeking a statewide executive position.
The amazing part: We were the least known at the beginning of the election cycle back then. We were outspent in that race 25-to-1. $2.5 million to $100,000. And in that same election cycle, we actually earned more than 43,000 more votes than did Governor Rick Perry.
This next round of statewide elections in 2010 will be the most critical for Texans and Texas Democrats. The statewide officials that we elect in 2010 will have the task of re-drawing the state's voting districts. If we do not get statewide Democrats elected this cycle, the Republicans will draw the lines in their favor, making it even harder to elect Democrats for the next 10 years.
We can't let that happen.
Gilbert is trying to present himself as a progressive and electable alternative to the likes of Tom Schieffer, Mark Thompson and Kinky Friedman.
Gilbert ran a tough (albeit underfunded) campaign against then-State Sen. Todd Staples in 2006. While he is not very well-known statewide, neither are the other current. Democratic candidates. Gilbert has the advanatge of high name ID among Democratic activists resulting from his 2006 race which included a memorable state convention speech. Gilbert has also had a high profile as a leader in the efforts to stop the Trans-Texas Corridor.
Compared to the Rick Perry vs. Kay Bailey Hutchison primed up bloodbath, attackfest, the Democratic ticket has been quiet and to a lesser degree, boring. Things have been so slow, bloggers and activists have started draft movements for Senators Leticia Van De Putte and Kirk Watson and former Austin District Attorney Ronnie Earle.
In the past 24 hours, there has been movement in the Governor's race on the Democratic side.
Yesterday, potential Agriculture Commissioner candidate Hank Gilbert announced he was interested in the top job instead. Today, Tom Schieffer show significant signs of life in the same place he started his race 6 months ago. Even Kinky Friedman sent an email out to his campaign list for the first time in months today.
State Representatives Garnet Coleman, Jim Dunnam, Jessica Farrar, and Pete Gallego joined Senfronia Thompson in endorsing Ambassador Schieffer.
"I am gratified by this broad base of Democratic support," Schieffer said. "These leaders have long been in the forefront - often fighting against strong Republican opposition - of efforts to improve education, make quality health care available to more Texans, improve our transportation system and lower insurance rates and utility bills. Together, we can reverse this race to the bottom and improve the quality of life for Texas families."
These endorsements represent an interesting cross section in the Texas House. Besides representing diverse parts of the state, each is a distinct leader in the state legislature.
Coleman chairs the Legislative Study Group, a nonpartisan caucus dedicated to the development of sound public policy for Texas families. Dunnam chairs the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding, which played a key role in allocating federal stimulus dollars during the recent legislative session. Farrar is the current chair of the House Democratic Caucus and the founder and vice chair of the Women's Health Caucus and founder and secretary of the House Environmental Caucus. Gallego is a former chair of the House Democratic Caucus and former chair of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus.
When Burnt Orange Report met with Schieffer in July we talked half the time about his Democratic credentials and half the time about policy. The elected officials endorsed him spent the entire time talking about Schieffer's qualifications and drawing a strong comparison between the Ambassador and his Republican counter parts, but the discussion of Democratic credentials were front and center.
"We are proud to endorse Ambassador Tom Schieffer to serve as the next governor of Texas because he is addressing issues and concerns that are important to Texas families - public education, jobs, children's health insurance, rising college tuition, energy, protecting the environment and transportation," Coleman said. "Tom Schieffer is going to be the next governor of Texas because he cares about solving real problems for Texas families."
Jim Dunnam made his statement after Coleman.
"Democrats across Texas can be proud to support Tom Schieffer - a fellow, lifelong Democrat who has never missed voting in a Democratic primary since he was old enough to vote in 1968," said Dunnam, the House Democratic Leader.
"Tom's service to our country during the previous administration doesn't change that," Dunnam added. "Texans deserve better than one Republican who wants to be governor for life and another who thinks the governor's mansion is a retirement home. That is why Democrats across the state will unite behind Tom Schieffer."
During press questions, Rep. Dunnam added, "we aren't a litmus test party. For us to have a candidate who is independently minded is positive."
"Tom Schieffer will be the next governor of Texas because he is a proven leader, not an ideologue," Gallego said. "His successful record as a lawyer, businessman and diplomat proves he will bring people together from across the political spectrum and put the needs of Texas and Texans ahead of narrow partisan and ideological interests."
Of course the question was asked whether Schieffer's Democratic credentials were a concern to any of the endorsers. None of them said it was an issue. Garnet Coleman went as far as to say that he couldn't disagree with any person who voted for a friend and business partner. Senfronia Thompson added her belief many Democrats have voted for a Republican but Schieffer was one of the few to be honest about it. Dunnam followed up with the fact he viewed it as a strength.
Will that stop the question? Only time will tell but now there is a chorus standing behind Schieffer and the backing of the House leaders allowed him to sum up how he will approach this race.
"This is the Democratic Party's first opportunity to win in a long time. The Republican Party has been bankrupt by its leader," Schieffer said. Nobody is entitled to anything. You have to earn it."
Questions may still exist about Schieffer, but with a Democratic primary looming and a campaign being organized, voters and activist may get their answers sooner than later.
Coming back from Netroots Nation, we've had an extremely busy week talking about statewide candidates. We wanted to take some time this morning to look back at our major stories, both to give everyone a chance to catch what they may have missed, and to put some context around larger stories that have developed recently:
TX-Gov, Republican Edition: Kay Bailey Hutchison Stumbles Into the Governor's Race
Yes, Senator Hutchison's campaign announcement was the most dominant story of the week. But did anything get through? Rick Perry -- who has previously been described as a "cyborg" here at Burnt Orange REport -- stepped on every day of her campaign announcement. Moreover, it's hard to get excited about a candidate announcing, for the twelfth time, that she is going to run for Governor. Even the press started getting nit-picky this week with Senator Hutchison, proving her initial roll-out to be highly ineffectual and raising the question: does she even stand a chance against Rick Perry?
Michael began the week discussing an issue with the Tom Schieffer that goes unnoticed among the general uneasiness of his support for former President Bush -- that is, his actual stances on policy. From Michael's well-written post:
The rate of current events convince me that the basics of a campaign infrastructure will materialize and improve. But I'm not convinced that this will happen with all of the campaign. I worry that a full-blown Schieffer campaign will not offer any true policy proposals to the people of Texas.
Meanwhile, another possible candidate -- Ronnie Earle -- met in Austin with the Texans for Obama group. Katherine was in attendance, and wrote strong reviews of Earle in her post -- going so far as to say that "it appears that he's already considering the shape of a potential bid: a strongly-grassroots, supporter-driven campaign with an emphasis on personally connecting with the voters." However, that didn't make him immune from the same policy concerns Michael had raised about Schieffer, as Katherine wrote:
Earle enumerated several key issues on which this prosperity-push would focus, namely education, jobs, health care, transportation, and the environment. However, he demured from offering specific policy proposals, repeatedly stating that he wasn't a candidate yet.
No one really likes to talk about policy specifics in August of an off-year, and if given the choice, we'd prefer -- right now -- a candidate with a strong narrative that was able to go out and persuade donors that his or her campaign is serious enough to be investing in. But speaking broadly about public education and law enforcement isn't going to be enough -- and we encourage our candidates, our progressive organizations, our readers, and ourselves to begin forcing more specific discussions on policy in the coming weeks and months leading up to the filing deadline.
The U.S. Senate race is about to get serious -- especially now that Hutchison is officially in the Governor's race, and that she's announced her semi-sort-of-maybe-waffle-not-sure-can-I-take-a-rain-check-on-ever-making-a-decision candidacy, we are going to turn our attention not only to exposing her and Perry's horrific records as politicians, but also to the U.S. Senate race. This week, that conversation centered predominantly around Bill White.
Last Friday at Netroots Nation, White met in Pittsburgh with Texas and national bloggers to discuss his candidacy. Katherine's report on the event included the following positive outlook on the race:
Texas should take pride in having sent one of the most engaging and motivated Democratic candidates to Netroots Nation this year. That would be Houston Mayor Bill White...The Mayor came up to Pittsburgh during the annual gathering to address national bloggers and make the case as to why Democrats can and will win statewide in Texas.
Some are pressing for White to switch races. With the momentum of a successful tenure as mayor of the state's largest city, the moderate White appears to be the best thing going for Texas Democrats in 2010.
I want to know who these people are that continue to "press" Houston Mayor Bill White to get out of a potential senate race and get into a gubernatorial race he doesn't want to run in. Who are you? Get off his back! The man you should be "pressing" to get out of a potential senate race and get into a gubernatorial race that needs a serious injection of excitement is John Sharp.
I believe it would be good for the Democratic Party to have more than one person in the gubernatorial race. As we sit right now only one serious candidate, Tom Schieffer, has declared, but former Travis County District Attorney, Ronnie Earle, appears to be revving up his political engines for a statewide campaign too. I think Sharp is better qualified, and in a better position politically, to change the dynamics completely of the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Sharp's campaign doesn't appear to be raising the funds necessary, outside of personal loans, to remain competitive in a potential U.S. senate race. I suspect that is because those donors who thought Mayor White would run for governor versus the United States Senate suddenly found themselves choosing between Sharp and White. Many people, including myself, believe that Bill White is the brightest star we have in the Democratic Party, and donors and grassroots supporters do too. Those who committed to Sharp assuming White would run for governor suddenly switched allegiances upon his announcement that he would run in an eventual special election senate race. White's fundraising numbers prove that is the case. That doesn't mean those donors don't support Sharp, they just don't support him in a head to head race with Bill White.
