Texas Democrats: Still Chicken vs. Egg

For all of the buzz that has surrounded Wendy Davis’ candidacy for Governor, eventually Texans are going to have start looking down at the rest of the 2014 ballot. For Democrats, this remains a particularly unsettling task. As Noah M. Horwitz of the Texpatriate blog justly points out, it’s some pretty ‘slim pickins’ thus far.

Todd J. Gillam of the Dallas Morning News voiced the situation appropriately. The root problem for Texas Democrats is that we’re caught in a “chicken vs. egg” scenario. Which comes first… the candidate or the funds to support the candidate? You can’t have one without the other. I’m sure if we had a few mega-rich folks walk up to Trey Martinez-Fischer or Ana Hernandez Luna and say “If you’ll run statewide, I’ll fund every penny”, they’d probably be in with little hesitation. But the problem for Dems right now is we keep asking these people to drink from a dry well. Less than one year ago, former State Rep Paul Sadler decided to walk the plank and run for US Senate, and he did so getting outspent by now Senator Ted Cruz 20 to 1. We see how great a decision THAT turned out to be for the rest of the country, and it all could’ve been prevented with a stronger Democratic apparatus in the state. Did we seriously think Sadler could run a statewide campaign in Texas on less than $1 million dollars?

Part of the reason that Texas is viewed as such a heavily Republican state has much less to do with the low-performing voters, and much more to do with the color of our money. No matter how we may split at the ballot box, our affluent population is deep red. This is the first great hurdle that Texas Democrats face… how to raise enough money to even get close to the Republican coffers. This is why I was pretty sure Wendy Davis would run for Governor after her big June Filibuster. She is the rare exception among Texas Dems that actually has some big-money friends, most notably Ft. Worth oil tycoon Sid Bass. Combine that with a slew of national recognition (and hopefully some national money), and you get a path to viability for Davis’ run. BTW Off the Kuff has done some great writing on this particular subject, so I suggest you check it out.

As mentioned above, the second great hurdle for Texas Democrats is some serious name ID… both inside and outside of the state. You need the outside name ID to generate press attention and money sources. You need the inside name ID so voters will have a clue who to vote for. These are burdens that the GOP side don’t have to bear, as they’ve already got a well-tested apparatus in place. At present, the people possessing this precious resource can all be counted on one hand… Davis, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, his twin brother Congressman Joaquin Castro and Houston Mayor Annise Parker (thanks to the whole ‘1st GLBT mayor of a major American city’ thing). They’re the only ones that CNN will bump a story for.

The final great hurdle? You have to have an army of volunteers in every corner of the state. It’s the only way to connect with the “Silent Majority” in the Texas electorate. Everyone knows that the potential voters are here, but they’re probably not registered, and they likely have no clue that there is an election happening in 13 months, and definitely don’t know why they should care about it now.

I know this all sounds like Politics 101, but to be frank, that’s where the Democratic Party in Texas is right now. While I agree with Horwitz’s sentiment and also hope for a “full-slate” of viable candidates to run in 2014, it’s important to take all of these factors into account before getting frustrated at the lack of movement. Democrats in Texas have to build from the ground up. Even if we were to “sweep” the statewide ballot, there still aren’t enough candidates running just in State House and Senate Districts to actually flip power of the state government, and the filing deadline is approaching fast.

But Wendy Davis’ campaign is a start… and a great one at that. Her election as Governor, even with Republican (possibly even TEApublican) majorities in both Houses of the Legislature could still be a big step towards expanding Medicaid, investing more in Texas schools, and protecting the rights of Texas women to make their own health decisions. So even if we’d have to put all the eggs in one 2014 basket, it’s a lot better than no basket at all.

We Need the REAL Republicans Back

Hopefully you know that this is a Left-leaning blog. On a whole range of issues, Texas Leftist espouses what most would consider to be “Liberal” values, and those values tend to be more on the Democratic side of the current political spectrum.

All that being said, I really miss the old Republican Party. These folks used to be real politicians, and they used to care about actual issues. The Reagan-era GOP had vigorous disagreements with Democrats, but at the end of the day, they got together, laid all of the harsh rhetoric aside, and came up with common-sense solutions to our problems. Sure, both parties have always had extremes, but there used to be enough sanity in the Republican Party to do the real work of government. This is not the case today, as the Republican party has devolved into a phony coalition between scared Republicans and TEA party members carrying the party name, which I prefer to call TEApublicans. Whatever you choose to call them, one thing is clear… the Republican Party as we know it is over. It’s this takeover of the GOP that has led to most of the dysfunction in Congress, and in many ways is the whole reason for the current government shutdown and default. Now that’s not to say that there aren’t still sensible people on Capitol Hill, but those precious few wouldn’t dare oppose the TEApublican caucus.

In the Senate, slightly more sanity abounds. But even there, most Republican members live in such fear of drawing a primary challenge that even they can’t always do what they know is best for their constituents. So we have to count them in the TEApublican camp too.

But thankfully, there remain a few people on the Right that have both common sense and political courage. In the midst of complete government chaos, Texas Leftist felt it was time to highlight said lawmakers, and remind readers that things don’t have to be the way they are now. One REAL Republican came to mind.

And that Republican is Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski.

To be clear, I don’t agree with Senator Murkowski’s views on everything, but I have often admired her courage on Capitol Hill. She’s on record wanting to repeal the Affordable Care Act… we’re never going to agree with that. But what Senator Murkowski was not willing to do? Shut down the government because she didn’t get her way. Here’s a quote from the Fairbanks News-Miner

“As bad as I believe this health care law is for our nation, shutting down the government means lost paychecks for gas, rent and grocery money for thousands of Alaskans who work for the federal government and vital services for our veterans, seniors, children and disabled,” Murkowski said in a statement late Monday. “My opposition to the Affordable Care Act doesn’t mean we stop legislating.

We need to get work. Shutting down the government doesn’t help anybody — and it has a harmful ripple effect on the larger economy,” she said. “It is time for the president and Senate and House leaders to come together and find a solution to fund the government.”

Again, for the record, I support the Affordable Care Act and it’s implementation… I am not advocating Senator Murkowski’s position here. But I am thankful that she is courageous enough to stand against the TEApublican caucus and speak from a point of common sense.

Of course Murkowski has earned the ability to be independent. The true TEA party faction within Congress is a small number of lawmakers, but most Republicans will not oppose them because they fear a “nightmare scenario” of drawing a Primary challenger for the next election. In essence they care more about their own reelection than they do about what is best for their constituencies, which is why we’re in this shutdown/ debt ceiling mess in the first place. But that nightmare scenario is one that Senator Murkowski has already endured. In 2010, she lost the Republican Primary to Joe Miller, a TEA Party challenger and favorite of Former Governor Sarah Palin. Knowing now that Miller had the full support of the Republican Party establishment, almost everyone concluded that Murkowski’s political future was over. But they were wrong… Murkowski launched an historic write-in campaign to keep her seat, and won the election without even being on the ballot. Instead of being controlled by the voices of extremism, the Senator put her constituents first. Whatever your political ideology, you have to admit that it took some brass to do this. Brass that is decidedly missing from the TEApublicans of the 113th.

We spend a lot of time on the Left painting the GOP with one broad brush… all of them are terrible, all of them are intransigent, all of them are dangerous… and sure, a bunch of that criticism is deserved. But I suspect that if more people in Congress were like Senator Murkowski, the government would not be the train wreck that it is today. Let’s hope more messages like hers start to sink in. If they don’t, we’re all in trouble.

Thanks for the leadership Senator.

Texoblogosphere: week of October 14th

The Texas Progressive Alliance thanks Sen. Ted Cruz for his hard work making the Republican Party more unpopular than ever as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff connects a flap over reduced tuition at UTSA for same-sex spouses of active military members to the 2014 campaign.

Horwitz at Texpatriate reports on the Houston Mayoral debate, noting that, no matter who you thought the winner was, the real losers were Houstonians themselves.

Of all of Greg Abbott’s mistakes, one stands out like a sore thumb: he birthed Ted Cruz. Then again, Democrats should really thank “Poop” for what he’s accomplished recently on their behalf. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs knows you have to take a little bad news with the good when it comes to Abbott and his protege’.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme thinks picking turncoat Aaron Peña to do Hispanic outreach for republicans is ludicrous. Good luck with that.

Though we often take them for granted, streets are vastly important to our communities. They’re the true lifeblood of any community. Whether we’re are traveling to work, visiting friends, or any reason that we need to get from Point A to Point B, that journey starts and ends with our streets. Which is why Texas Leftist was glad to hear of a landmark initiative for Complete Streets in Houston. It’s been a long time coming.

Neil at All People Have Value said this week that the things you had ordered from Amazon have arrived. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw tells it like it is in Deadbeats, Bums, Extortionists and Saboteurs.Give it a read.

And here are some other posts of interest from Texas blogs.

Egberto Willies prints a letter to Rep. Ted Poe from one of his constituents.

The Texas Monitor implores Latinas to run with Wendy.

Letters from Texas wants you to give your money to Wendy Davis.

Juanita shows what real political junkies do on their weekends.

Nancy Sims evaluates the Houston mayoral debate.

Rep. Mike Villarreal explains how to get help with the health insurance exchange.

The TSTA blog observes that the Rainy Day Fund is in excellent shape.

AzulTX reports from the immigration reform rally in Houston.