Now that the Democrats have taken the U.S. House and Senate (possibly), it's time to GOTV for Ciro Rodriguez in the December runoff. The combined Democratic vote in TX-23 was 49%; Bonilla received 48%. Winning this seat is entirely possible!
The egregious opinion of the Supreme Court in the Texas redistricting case should prompt all reasonable and fair-minded individuals to call for a U.S. constitutional amendment that does two things:
1) Sets the timetable for congressional redistricting to once every 10 years;
and 2) Prohibits partisan and racial gerrymandering.
This amendment would partially federalize the redistricting process, I know; but, I believe we cannot allow individual states to trample on our civil rights nor threaten participatory democracy all in the name of states-rights/federalism.
We must demand that our representatives in government act responsibly and not allow partisan politics to ruin our great republic!
Rick Perry (R)- 38%
Kinky Freidman (I)- 20%
Carole Keeton Strayhorn (I)- 19%
Chris Bell (D)- 14%
I'm not one too put much faith in polls, especially when it's taken of 500 likely voters. Rasmussen uses self-reporting of past voting behavior as part of their model. And as I learned in grad school, self-reporting is very unreliable: people often mis-remember:P
"The security of the borders is a right of every state, and so also our German Democratic Republic...the wall will remain for 50 or 100 years if the rationale for its purpose has not yet been eliminated."
I stumbled across this quote today while doing some research on Erich Honecker (a former leader of East Germany). It comes from a speech he gave justifying the existence of the Berlin Wall. Flash-forward 25 years: sounds a lot like the speeches being given by anti-immigrant supporters in the US, huh? Yeah, go ahead and build that wall on the US-Mexican border...maybe we can get President Vicente Fox to do his Ronald Reagan impression, "Mr. Bush, tear down this wall!"
I must first state that I have never been the most fervent supporter of Sen. Clinton's presidential aspirations. However, reading CQ’s April cover story on Sen. Clinton has lead me to question some of my long-held opinions of her.
The article presents some interesting facts: 1) from 2001-2005, Sen. Clinton’s average party loyalty vote percentage stands at 96, 2) Sen. Clinton has led 3 out of 5 years in presidential opposition percentage and 3) she has voted 1,636 times with the majority of Democrats and only 85 times (5%) against the majority. What troubles me the most is that Feingold (who I support in ‘08) has followed consistently behind Clinton in the first two categories. If this information had come from any other publication but CQ, I might have questioned its accuracy.
Generally, the article says that Sen. Clinton may talk a moderate game, but still votes liberally with the majority of Democrats. Say what you might about her, but don’t call her an ineffective politician.
All the hubbub over the TDP Chairperson race has got me thinking: should our efforts (electorally speaking) be focused on statewide races? It is a fact that we Democrats have not won a single statewide race in 12 years. And, unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that 2006 will be no different. When organizations that traditionally support (both with endorsements and financial contributions) Democratic candidates abandon our party for the likes of Carole Keeton Strayhorn, our statewide electoral viability is greatly weakened. It also does not help our cause when popular local officials, like Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, endorse that woman. Both the TSTA and Price should know better! I’m not blowing into the wind here, just look at Bell’s fundraising totals: dead last among the four “people” running for Governor. Don’t get me wrong, I strongly and fervently support our statewide candidates, but get real people.
I almost fell out of my seat when I read this (via Politics1):
"State Senator Robert Hagan (D-Ohio) says he will introduce legislation to ban Republican couples from adopting children. According to Hagan, "credible research'' shows that adopted children raised in GOP households are more at risk for developing "emotional problems, social stigmas, inflated egos, and alarming lack of tolerance for others they deem different than themselves and an air of overconfidence to mask their insecurities." Hagan agrees there is no scientific evidence backing his claims about Republican parents -- just, as Hagan notes, there is none backing State Representative Ron Hood's (R) bill banning gay parents from adopting. Hood claims children purportedly suffer from emotional "harm" when they are adopted by gay couples. Hagen admits he created his proposal to mock Hood's proposed ban on gay adoption in a way that people would see the "blatantly discriminatory and extremely divisive" nature of the bill. The GOP House leadership does not support Hood's proposal."
