They made it official in the midst of the Kinky Friedman storm but I really liked this picture of Valinda Bolton and Parent PAC director Carolyn Boyle.
This morning they endorsed Demcorat Allen Vaught in HD-107 in Dallas. I've received a media advisory putting us on notice for a pending endorsement in San Antonio. Assuming they are going to keep with this Democratic string, that probably means one thing- Joe Farias is next up in HD-118. Faris is running to retain Carlos Uresti's seat now that he's the next Senator from SD-19.
Also, word has it that Parent PAC will be making a suprise Austin area endorsement tomorrow. Of course, that can mean only one thing and I think that thing is called Valinda Bolton.
Good news from the Valinda Bolton camp which held a kickoff fundraiser at the home of Bettye and Bill Nowlin last week.
Supporters cheered as Congressman Doggett handed Bolton a check for $1,000 and praised the breadth of her knowledge on the issues facing Texans. "I am honored by the out pouring of support not only from voters, but also from our sitting officials," Bolton said. Thousands of individuals, Kelly White and Annie’s List, Teacher’s Unions, Neighbor to Neighbor PAC and many others have all given their support to the Bolton Campaign.
Valinda Bolton’s campaign is considered one of the top tier campaigns in Texas. Insiders across Texas are whispering…she's going to win. Given that Rep. Mark Strama, Rep. Donna Howard, Rep. Naishtat, Rep. Rodriguez, Honorable Kirk Watson, and Congressmen Lloyd Doggett were among those hosting the event- the whisper has turned to a roar.
The fundraiser exceeded expectations by 90%. With the addition of HD-48 (Howard) to the Safe Democratic column last month, support in terms of volunteers, interest, and money have been moving over to help in the demographically and geographically similar HD-47 in Southwest Travis County.
It's rumored that the campaign will announce a high profile endorsement this week as well.
Our ongoing look at the latest C&E reports takes us to two of the main races here in Austin -- HD 47 (Bolton vs. Welch) and HD 50 (Rep. Strama vs. Fleece).
Valinda Bolton, the Democratic candidate for House District 47, outraised her Republican opponent, Bill Welch, during the last reporting period.
As you can see, Bolton has a clear financial edge at this point in the race:
Bolton: $67,795.87 raised, $22,758.33 COH, $10,000 in outstanding loans Welch: $61,843.17 raised, $3,159.49 COH, $ 164,551.53 in outstanding loans
Meanwhile, in HD 50, Rep. Mark Strama has a demonstrative fundraising lead over Republican challenger Jeff Fleece, who has a paltry $128.03 cash-on-hand:
Either Fleece is banking on James Leininger throwing $500,000 or even $1,000,000 into his race towards the very end, or he's spent too much time campaigning for the wrong office, as his recent flyer for a fundraiser in HD 118 would suggest.
Maybe Fleece and Bentzin ($20.33 COH) could get together for a pizza party...
So we've hit Election Day, and it's time to sum up our BOR endorsements. We already have Barbara Radnofsky for Senate and Ted Ankrum for CD-10.
The following are written after consulting the full BOR writing crew. Among those that responded, the general feeling was divided, but hardly out of strong opinions (different in each case). So weighing those, here are the remaining Burnt Orange Endorsements.
Marked by a lack of campaign news a notch above Gene Kelly and a level of caring among activists about as high, our endorsement of Ben Grant is hardly one of a hard-line nature. A teacher, Grant has served the state in public service as a State Rep for 10 years, six of those as Chair of the House Judiciary Cmte., District 71 Court Judge, and 17 years as a Judge of the Sixth Court of Appeals. A member of the Dirty 30 Reform group, Grant can add to the ethics message for November's election. He's also been endorsed by the Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and other state papers.
Simply put, Grant can stand up to Dewhurst in experience as a candidate, having already served the state, bringing a certain level of credibility and fundraising ability to the race, something lacking in his opponent Maria Alvarado, the remaining candidate of a pair of Alvarado's, one of which never made it on the ballot. While some feel that we should toss away the Lt. Gov position in order to aid Bell in the governor's race with a Hispanic candidate to aid turnout, we disagree with the notion. Alvarado, while a fine woman with a noble calling to service, cannot match Grant or Dewhurst in background or experience and with little to no money will have a marginal effect on any race. It will only be seen by the media and most Texans as feeding the narrative that Democrats "gave up" this year in state elections as viewed by our slate of nominees.
While opinions were more available for this race, many are supportive of the quality of both candidates and cautious to endorse at all, prepared to support either nominee 100% in November. That being taken into account, BOR endorses Valinda Bolton in today's primary over Jason Earle.
Surprising most by becoming the lead vote-getter in March, Bolton made wise use of her more limited funds (1/3 that of Earle) with volunteers, the Statesman and Chronicle endorsements, and TV to get her this far. Having also been endorsed by the Sierra Club and Annie's List (among many others), Valinda has brought the type of ground game to this race which will be needed heading into November to upset either Alex Castano or more likely Bill Welch, avidly anti-choice Republicans in an area similar to Donna Howard's more pro-choice district.
District 47 has also proven to be more favorable electorally to Democratic women, an advantage she can easily press this fall. Her background with Domestic Violence solutions and programs, adds a needed perspective to a House chamber that must realize that funding our social services and health care system are related to healthy and safe families, which make for a more economically viable Texas.
Current Representative Raymond missed winning his primary against 3 opponents outright by less than .2% of the vote. We see no reason at this time to encourage anyone to replace him in representing his South Texas district. In 2 years, he may run against Cuellar (as he almost did this year) and for that alone 2 more years in the Texas House on his resume would be worth it. He has our full endorsement.
Borris Miles finished 2nd to Blogosphere favorite (in a bad way) Rep. Al Edwards, most widely known for his sponsorship of the "Sexy Cheerleader" bill last session. Often named 'furniture' by Texas Monthly and a water carrier at times for Speaker Craddick, it's hard for any of us not to support his ouster, even if it means Pink Dome loses half their traffic. Borris Miles is a fully competent candidate with the backing of local blogger Greg Wythe who has supported him from the beginning. If you live in Houston, this is the race for you. Let's clean up our caucus if we can.
The Statesman has podcast of debated held in the two primary run-offs for state house- HD-47 (D) between Jason Earle and Valinda Bolton as well as HD-50 (R) between Don Zimmerman and Jeff Fleece. Check them out.
The environmental group, Sierra Club, Lone Star Chapter is the latest to endorse Bolton. “The beauty of the hill country has drawn many to move to District 47” Bolton said, “As our district continues to grow we need to be good stewards of our environment.” Also endorsing Ms. Bolton was the Austin Chronicle, Austin Women’s Political Caucus, North by Northwest Democrats and the Capitol City Young Democrats.
Bolton has already been endorsed by the Central Austin Democrats, West Austin Democrats, Texas League of Conservation Voters, AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, Austin Lesbian & Gay Political Caucus, Southwest Austin Democrats and Stonewall Democrats
While the endorsements have split in the HD-47 race, it seems that what could be considered the more liberal groups have endorsed Bolton in the race. Make of that what you will.
Texas Monthy. Preview the next issue online here. Some great work over there (as usual) with their features on our Texas Fallen Heros.
John Courage blogs about recent success in Washington in terms of fundraising and outreach. The unions are coming on board, and Sen. Russ Feingold is coming down for some fundraising. Since he'll be working with UDems, it looks like we very well may be bringing a 3rd US Senator to campus (all presidential candidates).
The New York Times has an article on all the Veterans running for Congress this year and a really cool map. What's that I see in Texas? 8 Democratic Veterans to 1 Republican. Oh yes it is...
The Austin Chronicle reminds us that there will be two ballot referendum for Democrats to vote on. The Republicans have 4: Private Property Protect, Spending Caps, Appraisal Caps, and Voting Photo IDs (because it's never out of vouge to beat Mary Denny's horse). Here's ours.
REFERENDUM 1
Do you support lifting millions of families above the national poverty line by increasing the state minimum wage above its current level of $5.15 per hour?
REFERENDUM 2
Do you support the restoration of Texans' full rights to a trial by jury in civil cases?
I wonder how Bob Gammage will vote on the first one, seeing how that's part of his platform. (Check out the hair in that picture as well!)
We hear that Capital City Young Democrats endorsed Valinda Bolton for HD 47, Elena Diaz for County Court-at-Law #2, Charlie Baird for the 299th Court, and Sarah Eckhardt for County Commissioner Precinct 2.
So we've hit Election Day, and it's time to sum up our BOR endorsements. We already have 
