When the Democrats controlled the White House and Congress in the 90's, we had balanced budgets. In the 00's, the Republicans controlled the White House and Congress and we are back to deficits. The dollar's dropped relative to other major currencies. The average salary has fallen with respect to inflation. Common sense dictates that a country raise taxes to fund a war. For the first time in history, the Iraq war was accompanied with tax cuts. Fantasy is fun. We all want to believe we can have our cake and eat it too. The fiscal irresponsibility during the 00's has eroded our standard of living.
Larry Joe Doherty has demonstrated an understanding of money by his fundraising and campaign spending. Larry Joe Doherty has spent his career standing up for people in this country who were harmed by greedy people in an under-regulated environment created by Republican administrations. Larry Joe Doherty is the only candidate in CD-10 who has demonstrated the values of the Democratic Party by standing up for people in this country.
Larry Joe Doherty marched the entire 7 miles for the Prairie View A&M students today. Don't you love a sincere candidate who can talk the talk and walk the walk, who cares enough about people to walk among them to show solidarity? Larry Joe Doherty is a Democrats Democrat.
From what I understand, the candidates are not "required" to release their fourth quarter 2007 numbers until 1/31/2008. Also, a candidate can report money recieved in January 2008 as fourth quarter 2007 if the money was "pledged" in December 2007.
Larry Joe Doherty's campaign reported his numbers in the 1st week of January. Dan Grant's campaign reported their numbers 1/31/2008. Here are the fourth quarter fundraising numbers for the two candidates.
So far the information about fundraising is lopsided, as only Larry Joe Doherty has released his fundraising numbers for the last quarter of 2007.
Larry Joe Doherty Dan Grant
2nd/3rd Quarter $125,000 $105,000
4Th Quarter $150,000 ???
The campaign is a candidate’s mechanism to deliver his message. A campaign requires structure, organization and money. Because TX-10 is composed of two media markets, it will take about $1.5 million for a democratic candidate to fund a competitive campaign. Mike McCaul is a two term incumbent who if needed can spend two to three times that amount. So money matters because it is necessary to fund a viable campaign to get a Democrat elected to TX-10.
Larry Joe Doherty has a viable campaign that will be competitive in November. His campaign's fourth quarter fundraising numbers were more than the second and third quarters combined showing the momentum growing in Larry Joe Doherty's campaign. Until Dan Grant’s campaign releases their 4th quarter numbers, the jury is still out on the viability of his campaign
From what I've been reading, most TX-10 people on this site have the ABM (Anyone But McCaul) position.
I just saw the Larry Joe Doherty press release about fund raising. It looks like he's raised another $150,000 in the fourth quarter. It's definitely going to take money to beat McCaul. From the way the district is set up, TV/radio ads are in-efficient. Because the district is a fraction of the total Houston TV/radio market and a fraction of the total Austin TV/radio market. To win this election, the democratic candidate is going to have to have lots of money, an effective strategy for spending that money, and lots of momentum. With this latest press release, Larry Joe Doherty demonstrates he can raise the money while staying active in the community.
Remember, Texas used to be a solid Democrat state. If we are going to bring Texas back to a Democrat state, we need to understand why it changed. Larry Joe Doherty has been active in the state Democratic party longer than a lot of us have been alive. He understands why the Democrats are no longer the majority in Texas and what we have to do to get back control of Texas.
If the thinking is ABM, in the March primary, we need to nominate the candidate that's going to do best against McCaul in the general election. Larry Joe Doherty is demonstrating the fund raising capacity. Larry Joe Dohertyhas an understanding of what it takes to return Texas to the Democrats. It sure seems to me that those of us that hold the ABM position should support Larry Joe Doherty.
I saw an article in the paper "Gates: Secure Iraq within reach". Basically the article says Defense Secretary Robert Gates believes a secure and stable Iraq is within reach. If this is true, I wonder how democratic candidates in 2008 who base their platform on a strong anti-war stance will be perceived.
In 2004, George Bush used the war in Iraq to get re-elected. It was a distraction from the internal craziness created by his domestic policies. In 2006, the democrats were able to take advantage of public dissatisfaction with the war to get rid of many Republicans in congress. It sounds like the Bush Administration is trying to create a scenario where they can declare victory in Iraq before he leaves office. If the voters believe him, I don't think we want to play up the war.
However, the secondary effects of the war leave the republicans vulnerable regardless of what happens in Iraq.
Tax cuts followed by spending close to $600,000,000,000 on the war are fiscal irresponsibility.
The wire taps, increased police forces, and travel inconveniences are increased government interference in personal freedoms.
The "either you're with us or against us" rhetoric has led to increased suspicion of America abroad which decreases our security.
The increase in gas prices resulting from instability in the mid-east lead to a decreased quality of life at home.
The draining of funds from domestic programs to fund the war decreased monitoring of financial institutions which led to the sub prime lending crisis gripping parts of the country.
I met Larry Joe Doherty, the Texas Justice guy, at the Washington County Labor Day Picnic. It's kind of cool to meet a celebrity especially one living here in Washington County. I always loved the Texas Justice Show. I thought it was great to see a judge who was approachable. He was like one of the people. He's the kind of guy that makes me proud to be living in Texas. Texans really are friendly down to earth approachable people who will give you the shirt off their back. Everything I've seen and heard about Larry Joe makes me believe he's the real deal. I see George Bush on TV with his scripted mispronunciations and I cringe. It's obvious the republicans are faking the good ole boy image to "lead" us. Anyway, back to TX-10. Here's what I know about Larry Joe, help me fill in the gaps.
He's an attorney who specialized in legal malpractice and is used to "taking on insurance companies". Wow, isn't that what we need to reform Health Care. I think the last figures I heard about health care was the country spent around $2.5 trillion a year. Insurance companies are the middle men in this industry, hiding the costs to the consumer. Since the insurance companies make money based on the percentage of money they handle, there is no incentive for insurance companies to lower that $2.5 trillion. Insurance companies have to love the talk of universal health care, that's just a higher percentage of the $2.5 trillion for them to handle. Health Care costs have grown at twice the rate of the US economy since 2000. Someone has to take on the insurance companies. Help us Larry Joe.
