catching up on some election linkage, part 1: Goodman v Pierson

I’ve been a busy girl, but that doesn’t mean the world stops turning. So… let’s get back to work….

The next Representative from HD-93, Paula Hightower Pierson, squared off with incumbent Toby Goodman down in Mansfield a few days ago. They sparred over the Trans-Texas Corridor – which Goodman supports and Pierson opposes – and school funding. Goodman claimed that if the TTC wasn’t built, Texas would have to raise it’s gas tax by $1 in order to pay for new roads. I tried not to laugh out loud over that one. Goodman is using scare tactics in order to hold onto his seat.

Speaking of Goodman, last week the Lone Star Project released TruthAboutToby.com. The truth about Toby is that his firm was deeply involved in enforcing the city of Arlington’s eminent domain orders for the Cowboys stadium. Hundreds of hard working families were forced from their homes in order to seize land for a private corporation. And Toby’s firm played enforcer to the tune of $240,000. If you’re pissed about eminent domain then you must vote for Paula. Toby has shown that he has no problem evicting hard working taxpayers from their homes. Now that Arlington voters have wised up to the boondoggle that is the Cowboys stadium, it’s time to send Toby a message: we will not tolerate the seizing of homes to benefit corporations.

One more thing on Toby…. I’d just like to remind all UTA students that Goodman was smack dab in the middle of the flag flap. Last week the Weekly wrote about it and claimed Toby played middleman. The way I heard it, it was Toby Goodman and Hubert Vo who blackmailed Spaniolo into removing the display. Get it right, FW Weekly!

I’d like to add my personal endorsement for Paula to this post. I have had the pleasure of interacting with her on several occassions. She’s full of grace, charm, and intelligence, and she will do us proud in Austin. She’s raised a beautiful son who I love dearly and I think that reflects on her. Folks have been out in the district canvassing for Paula since early summer, and I will go so far as to predict that those efforts will pay off in 7 days. I’ve been keeping a close watch on the Pierson/Goodman signs wars, too. Paula has signs in places where I have only ever seen Goodman signs: law firms and day spas on Abrams, yards in uber-Republican north Arlington, and in prominent intersections along the Green Oaks corridor. I have seen two Toby Goodman yard signs. The rest of his signs seem to be planted on street corners and empty lots. That doesn’t bode well for the incumbent.

I’ve been discussing this race with a few Austin based activists, and the consensus is that this one’s going to be a nail-biter. Every single vote is going to count, and this race will be decided by the slimmest of margins. But I’m standing by my prediction: Paula by 2%.

star-t on blogging

so last week the star-t called some of us texas lefty bloggers for an interview regarding blogging and blog fundraising. i gave what i believe was the most inarticulate interview ever, and my most vapid quote made the article. vince, on the other hand, nailed it:

“We need to get Texas blog readers to devote their money to turn Texas blue instead of sending money to a guy in Connecticut,” he said, referring to Lamont.

so, so true. sure, it’s fun to observe the national races, but participation and change begins at home. i’ve hammered that message home with a bit more intensity as of late, and i hope it’s sinking in.

next year we’re planning on doing a revamp of the texroots selection process, and we hope to push it more aggressively. but i’m getting ahead of myself.

the texas progressive alliance can claim some credit in the race for tx-14, where democrat shane sklar is now on the dccc emerging races list. texroots endorsee and fighting dem juan garcia has been raking in endorsements and positive press, and i’d like to imagine that the 500,000 extra eyeballs who read about juan’s campaign on the texas progressive alliance has something to do with that.

let me just say this, because i think it somehow got lost in translation. raising money is great, but sometimes positive press coverage can make a world of difference for a campaign that’s struggling or on the bubble.

i don’t think i’ve specifically mentioned the barrier to entry that is created by the corporate media. based on my communications with reporters, the corporate media doesn’t take candidates seriously unless they are raising funds. that’s the criteria. no money = no media… unless of course it’s scandalous.

a candidate’s bank balance should not determine their crediblity. i find it outrageous that the media – especially editorial boards – are so biased in favor of those who have money or incumbency on their side. a politician can have millions of dollars in the bank and still be corrupt and unfit to serve (i’m looking at you, tom delay). the poorest person has the potential to become a great statesman.

yet another reason to support public financing of campaigns.

going beyond raising money, i feel that generating buzz is another important function of networks like the texas progressive alliance. there are so many good examples of this as of late: muse musings leading the charge on john davis’s ethics violations, BOR and kinky’s racist remarks, just another matt and BOR and everyone who was involved in getting john courage onto the national netroots list…

buzz can be almost as important in generating positive media.

unfortunately i don’t think the corporate media gets it. even aman, who asked intelligent questions during our interview, concludes his article by parroting some lame conventional wisdom about bloggers being ideological purists. with all due respect, if that’s true, then why are moderates harry reid, john tester, jim webb, scott kleeb, larry grant, and claire mccaskill such rockstars in the liberal blogosphere right now?

on top of that, the article includes the obligatory slam at howard dean, claiming howard’s some raging liberal. i guess being a fiscally conservative social moderate is liberal in bush’s america. but slams at howard and smears against the liberal bloggers are nothing new. i just really didn’t realise while i was giving the interview that the article was going to take that tone. aman, i wish you would have asked me about *that* instead.

but web hits are web hits, i suppose, so welcome to everyone who pops by here thanks to the star-t. stick around, especially if you’ve got a critical mind and a curious intellect.

video of the day

From the DNC:

Gee… imagine that… Bush using rhetoric instead of substance to gain votes. I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!

fox responds to limbaugh

fuck rush limbaugh, that fat drug addicted peice of human excrement.

watch the video here.

hot dammers! there’s more! TX-04

To what do we owe this blessing? A poll in TX-04 shows kick ass Dem Glenn Melancon nipping at Ralph Hall’s heels:

Hall 48%
Melancon 41%
Other 1%
Don’t Know 10%

MOE +/-5, Likely voters

I’ve never seen Hall’s numbers under 50%. For an incumbent, that’s not quite the kiss of death but it definitely shows vulnerability. Glenn Melancon has been busting his tail and is poised to capitalise on this. He says:

“These poll results are stunning and give us all great hope. With the support of hundreds of terrific volunteers, I have fought hard over the last year to bring my positive message to Texas families, and the people are responding favorably. They’re demanding accountability and a hopeful change. With one mighty voice they’re saying, ‘We’ve had enough already.’'”

He’s right. Enough is enough. And this mostly rural district could hold the key to a Melancon victory. The western end of the district is vulnerable to the TTC land grab, and anyone with their ear to the ground knows rural Texans are not happy about it. It’s home to a demographic who is seeing opportunity for their children slip away; a place where the American dream is becoming more and more unattainable. It’s a district primed for change, and Glenn deserves our support.

If you or someone you know lives in TX-04, please hook up with the Melancon campaign’s GOTV operation. Volunteer or donate here.

p.s. Kuff interviewed Glenn a while back. Audio is here.

hot damn! life in the TX-GOV race?

Houtopia has the scoop:

Word is, the Dallas Morning News will report tomorrow on a statewide poll conducted by Brian Epstein for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. The poll will show Rick Perry is in deep trouble — garnering just 32% support of those sampled — with Chris Bell nipping at his heels at 27%, Carole Strayhorn trailing with 20%, and Kinky Friedman cratering in single digits.

kuff explains the significance:

Wow. A poll conducted on behalf of Kay Bailey Hutchison, meaning even Paul Burka will have to accept that it might possibly be valid. Combine that with the just-released SurveyUSA poll that has Perry at 36 and Bell at 26, plus the WSJ/Zogby poll that pegged it at 37.5/26.2, and we’ve got ourselves a race.

Folks, this is fantastic news. Kinky’s support hasn’t bottomed out yet and I think it’s safe to say that the Dems are coming home. Finally.

As to Strayhorn, if Bell plays this right he can peel off the neccessary support needed to win. Republican voters dissatisfied with Perry need to wake up and realise that if they really want to get rid of the guy, they need to coalesce around the person who has the best chance of beating him. If they really want to save public schools, stop the Trans-Texas Corridor, and restore fiscal sanity to Texas government, they’ve got to vote for Bell. Voting for Strayhorn is a waste of time at this point. She’s not going to beat Perry, and “sending him a message” does nothing if the same corrupt politicans are left in charge.

I know there are enough of them out there who really care – who really want to see balance restored to the government in Austin. Let’s hope Bell can capitalise on this dissatisfaction. I suspect that particular demographic would be receptive to his message.

And for God’s sake, let’s not rest on our laurels or even stop long enough to enjoy those numbers. Do what you can. There’s only two weeks left.

Phone Bank from Home
Donate
Volunteer in Tarrant County

p.s. Here’s the SUSA poll that came out this evening:

36% – Rick Perry
26% – Chris Bell
19% – Carole Strayhorn
16% – Richard Friedman

UPDATE: Kuff has the goods on the mysterious DMN/Hutchison/Bell poll. It never happened. But as he says, it would not have been suspicious to see Perry polling at 32%, which would have been within the MOE on the SUSA and Rasmussen polls. My most sincere apologies to everyone – we all got bit in the ass with that rumor.

this is a damn shame

so i’m browsing the star-t’s page and i see that finally they’ve decided to give some local democrats some coverage. is it favorable? hell to the no, but it does contain a few gems. this is one reason why i have a love/hate relationship with the star-t.

they’ve posted an article about the race in tx-26, which pits incumbent republican bush rubber stamp michael burgess against democratic challenger tim barnwell and libertarian rich haas.

the article starts with the premise that the war is the issue nationally (i’d agree with this), then goes on to explain that tx-26 is “solidly” republican and not susceptible to the national agenda. again, probably true *at this point*. overall, i think it’s a pretty neutral article, but slanted slightly towards star-t-endorsee burgess.

what truly irritated me was this:

As of Sept. 30, Burgess had raised $714,378 and spent $734,824, according to reports filed by his campaign with the Federal Election Commission. Burgess gave $64,000 to fellow Republican candidates and GOP organizations.

His largest contribution was $15,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. He also gave $4,000 to former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who dropped his bid for re-election.

based on this passage, i’m going to jump on on my platform for a moment.

what we have here is evidence of atrophy and apathy. in this part of the country, our political institutions are in dire straits. from the party leadership down to the lowliest precinct chair (of which i am, so don’t get your panties in a wad ok?), the entire structure has been allowed to rot and decay.

when this happens, a party loses it’s ability to raise funds. they lose their ability to mobilise and GOTV. they lose their ability to recruit candidates and build the farm team. they just lose.

it’s gotten so bad that it’s difficult to care. or perhaps for a while, they actually stopped caring.

but tim barnwell cared enough to step up and challenge the status quo. unfortunately, he ran right into the biggest barrier to entry into government: money. without it, it’s hard to play the game. and many wonderful, capable candidates are finding this out the hard way this year.

so we have two problems here, both structural in nature. and they’re so bad that rubber stamp do-nothings like michael burgess are not only gauranteed re-election, they also have enough resources to throw at races around the country.

how do you fix it?

the obvious answer to the money problem is public funding of campaigns – NO EXCEPTIONS. NO OPTING OUT. everyone has to play fair and square. re-establish the fairness doctrine and give candidates equal time on the airwaves. level the playing field with real electoral reform.

yea, it’s obvious but it’s huge. i know.

in the immediate, we have to try and fund our people. that’s the whole point of the “use it or lose it” meme.

beyond that, you have to fix the structural issues with the party itself. by “the party”, i mean the national, state, and county parties.

the reason i supported howard dean for dnc chairman is because he gets that. the 50-state strategy is nothing if not a plan on rebuilding and reinforcing our party structure. it’s about turning it into a well oil machine. as you probably have read by now, this 50-state strategy is poised to pay dividends in 15 days.

and naturally, there’s work to be done at the county and state level. that’s the hard part, really. and that’s a nuts and bolts conversation i don’t feel like getting into right now. when i consider the work to be done, i refer to Fudd’s First Law of Opposition: Push something hard enough and it will fall over.

these underlying structural issues aren’t going to be fixed overnight, and it’s why i remain skeptical of the polls saying we’re ahead by this or that amount nationally. i know how hard it still is right here in my own backyard, and i won’t be satisfied till the party’s rebuilt in every state. until then, more candidates will find themselves in tim barnwell’s shoes: underfunded, undersupported, and rarely taken seriously by the corporate media.

Radnofsky debate online!

thank you to youtube user conradallen2!!! the BAR-Hutch smackdown is online now.

Here’s the hilights:

part 1 @ 1:55 BAR’s Iraq Reality Check *comes out swinging*

part 2 @ 3:30 BAR on medicare and social security
part 2 @ 6:55 BAR on the war

part 3 @ 2:15 BAR on Iran & North Korea **body slam here**
part 3 @ 7:50 BAR on Immigration (continues into part 4)

part 4 @ 7:10 BAR on term limits

part 5 beginning BAR on working families & the minimum wage and fairness in gov’t
part 5 @ 7:25 BAR on earmarks and pork

part 6 @ 1:50 BAR on medicare & the VA & big pharma
part 6 @ 4:08 BAR’s closing statement

It’s a beautiful thing to behold. After 13 years, someone finally confronted the Empty Skirt and held her accountable. Thank you BAR, for speaking for so many of us!

hell hath frozen over: star-t endorses bell

Well ho-lee crap. The editorial board of the Startelgram has temporarily removed it’s head from it’s ass. Not only did they endorse Chris Bell, but they even laid out an extremely good reason:

The governor of Texas does not have much power — just enough to make the Legislature think twice about what it is doing. That’s exactly what today’s monopolized state government needs.

Electing Bell would give Texas a taste of two-party government again, although this time dominated by Republicans instead of Democrats, as was long the case.

What power the governor has derives from the bully pulpit that the office provides, the ability to veto legislation and the power to make appointments — with the approval of the Senate. Used judiciously, these can be great powers. If overused, they can become inadequate and ineffective. Even a speech from the governor can be ignored, and a veto can be overridden — but each still makes the Legislature think just a bit harder before it acts. […]

A veto override takes 100 votes in the House. In the 2005 session, the House had 86 Republicans and 64 Democrats. The November election could change those numbers, though not greatly.

Negotiation is what two-party government is all about. To change public policy, one side has to get help from the other side, either through persuasion about a proposal’s merits or compromise on its sticking points.

I’m sure the editors would be loathe to admit it, but this endorsement touches on a theme that Al Gore spoke out about nearly a year ago: the loss of checks and balances in our system of government. One party domination of any system of government eventually leads to corruption or facism… and we’ve definitely got the corruption thing down pat. So let’s do take care of that balance part okay?

p.s. Early voting started today. Here’s a list of Tarrant county early voting locations. Arlington folks – Kooken is not a voting location this year and that has not been well publicised. Just FYI. And remember, if you go early, you get one of those sexy “I voted” stickers. =) Yep, I’m sporting one right now.

Use it or Lose it

Bowers has the right idea, and Kuff distills it for Texas:

While I agree completely with the goal of this plan, I’m not interested in seeing Texas money go outside of Texas when we have a slew of outstanding candidates, including two DCCC Emerging Races, right here that need our support. I would like to see Texas Democrats help their fellow Texas Democrats, especially this year when the possibility of real gains is more than wishful thinking.

The emerging races are Texroots-Endorsed candidate Shane Sklar and Dallas’s Will Pryor! These guys have run great campaigns and made races close where the GOP was supposed to dominate.

Two Texas Dems are gauranteed re-election, and they’re sitting on fat wads of cash:

Ruben Hinojosa, Tex. (15) TX_15 Token Republican (956) 686-6455 202-225-2531 $349,527 COH
Lloyd Doggett, Tex. (25) TX_25 Token Republican 512-391-2343 202-225-4865 $1,968,471 COH

These guys need to pony up. The netroots is asking these guys to give 30% of their warchests to other Texas candidates. 30% of Hinojosa’s bank is $104,858 and Lloyd’s share would be $590,541. I see no legitimate reason to hoarde that cash when those two guys are assured a victory. Imagine what Shake Sklar could do with 100K!

Now granted, I’ve heard that getting Lloyd to give up his money is like trying to extract blood from a stone, but that’s no reason not to call and give him a bit of a nag. MoveOn has a call template here.

There are also some local dems we could hit up. There’s Royce West (214) 467-0123, although he has already ponied up for some Chris Bell radio commercials. There’s Terri Hodge (214) 824-1996, DILF Rafael Anchia (214) 943-6081, Helen Giddings (972) 224-6795, Yvonne Davis (214) 941-3895, Jesse Jones (214) 375-3773, and Robert Alonzo (214) 942-7104. All of those Dallas county dems should be contacted and asked to pony up some resources in Pryor’s district.

On the Tarrant county side, the obvious one is Lon Burnam (817) 924-1997. He’s going to be reelected, but I don’t know how much cash he’s hoarding. There’s also Marc Veasey (817) 339-1430, who’s not running for re-election this year and is bound to have some funds stashed somewhere. Ask them to help out Terri Moore, David Pillow, Paula Hightower Pierson, Valerie Baston-Young, and all the other dems running in Tarrant county.

These Democrats need to hear from us. We have an amazing opportunity this year and we must take advantage of it. Use it or lose it!