Looks like Congressman Chet Edwards just locked this one up! The National Republican Campaign Committee pulled $1.5 million worth of advertising from the race in TX-17 between Congressman Edwards and Republican challenger Van Taylor. From a press release from the Edwards campaign:
According to five television stations in the DFW market, the NRCC on Monday canceled its planned television ad buy on behalf of Taylor. The cancelled Taylor buy was valued at over $1.5 million and was scheduled to run in the last two weeks of the campaign.
This will prove to be a tremendous boom for Edwards, who'd already received endorsements from the papers and maintained an 10:1 fundraising advantage over Taylor.
“Two years ago, the NRCC ran over a million dollars of ads in the DFW market alone in support of Chet’s opponent. Mr. Taylor can spin the bad news any way he wants, but the fact is that after reviewing its own poll last week, the NRCC has pulled the plug on the Van Taylor campaign,” said Edwards Communication Director, Jessica Schafer. “That’s not just bad news, that’s devastating news for a campaign that was already in trouble.”
“With a 21 point lead in the polls and a more than ten-to-one cash-on-hand advantage, we have both the resources and momentum to aggressively communicate Chet’s positive message of effective, hard work for the people of the 17th District and get out the vote across the district,” added Schafer.
Obviously, this would move Congressman Edwards from "lean" to "likely," if not out-and-out solid.
Congressman Chet Edwards received endorsements from both the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this week, as he runs for re-election in TX-17. From the Dallas Morning News:
Central Texas stalwart Chet Edwards is being challenged for his seat in Congress this year by a rookie who's long on cash and slash-and-burn campaigning but short on answers.
The editorial goes on to mention that Van Taylor -- the Republican opponent -- recently moved into the district, doesn't have a good grasp on the issues, and has credibility concerns. Meanwhile, they cite Edwards' seniority, which helped him save a VA center in Waco, and his balanced standing on issues as a key reason why he should be re-elected.
Chet Edwards brings experience, understanding and the closest thing to statesmanship one can find in Washington these days...
What Edwards is not is a party ideologue.
Project Vote Smart, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that collects voting information on elected officials, releases annual evaluations from special interest groups that indicate how often a member of Congress votes with the groups' preferred positions. Edwards' score card makes clear that the Waco congressman thinks for himself and is not a functionary of the party.
We strongly support Congressman Edwards, and recommend any of our readers to visit his website and donate time, money, or anything you can to help him win re-election in TX-17.
It appears Dallas County Commissioner John Price thinks Chris Bell is looking good. Price was one of the first Democrats to endorse Carol Keeton Strayhorn for Governor, but now thinks, “the Strayhorn campaign has failed to pick up momentum. He now suggests that Mr. Bell has the best chance to beat Republican incumbent Rick Perry.”
Rick Perry receives a 2-star rating from Inc Magazine. The magazine says simply, “Some fine achievements are mitigated by mistakes, failures or oversights.”
The Perry campaign responded like any leader would, ““I don't know what they're smoking up there.”
Maybe the rotten score has something to do with Perry’s blind support for bad policy like coal plants. Tom Paine has a great write up on the coalitions opposing Perry’s express plan to pillage the entire state.
Van Taylor is becoming desperate and has started playing the race card to scare people. In the same ad, Taylor criticizes Chet Edwards for giving hungry people food. Interesting tactic...
All the way in DC, the House Ethics Committee is having a closed door session today on disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley. Texas has two members on the committee (one on each side of the aisle)—Republican Lamar Smith and Democrat Gene Green. Smith bought his seat for $10,000 to help protect his buddy Tom DeLay, and it will be interesting to see how our two Texans pursue policies to prevent this from happening again.
(Was just writing a post on this. Nevermind! - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
VP Dick "The Headsman" Cheney showed his face in Texas again - but not to shoot another person in the face. Instead, he was trying to shill money for Van Taylor in the 17th District. But the event wasn't exactly a success:
Republican donors paid $150 to $2,100 to attend the fundraiser, in which they stood while munching on roast beef, shrimp, cheese and crackers. Taylor's campaign said that 150 people bought tickets, but attendance appeared to be fewer than 100.
Yeah, but this is probably one of those districts where people had to drive for ten thousand hours to get there, right? I mean, every Republican would die for a chance to meet the Veep - after they donned appropriate headgear, right?
