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Texas Politics

Greg Abbott’s ‘Debate And Switch’

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In early 2013, months before the HB2 filibuster, and before anyone was seriously contemplating the possibility of a strong Democratic ticket in Texas, I sat down with Lane Lewis, chair of the Harris County Democratic Party for an interview.  One of the things he said was regarding how to turn Texas blue…

Texas is going to turn blue, but it is not going to be an event. It’s going to be a process.

As we enter the Fall of 2014, it’s becoming clear that Mr. Lewis is absolutely correct.  Election nights are what make the headlines, and what go in the history books.  But those events are merely the sum total of an entire process… knocking on doors, making calls, contributing a few dollars here and there, fleshing out major issues, and solid use of the press. All of these things are the process by which Texas becomes a battleground state, and all of them are happening right now. After enduring years of weak candidates, Republican posers running on the Democratic ticket, gross campaign mismanagement and misdirection, Texas Democrats are getting their act together, and much faster than anyone thought they could. As a result of this process, Texans are realizing that we finally have a real choice in 2014.

On Friday, the Democrats were handed a test of their burgeoning strength when Republican Gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott announced that after originally agreeing to debate his Democratic opponent Wendy Davis, he decided to cancel the event due to “formatting issues”. This is after both gubernatorial campaigns had set up the debate on May 28th.

With the Texas Democratic Party of yesteryear, this simple cop-out would’ve worked.  After all, Governor Rick Perry got away with no debates in 2010, only to deliver a Texas-sized embarrassment on the national stage the next year.

But Greg Abbott is not so lucky.  Within minutes of his pathetic reversal, blow back from the Davis campaign, the Texas Democratic Party, Battleground Texas, and a slew of other groups was swift and insurmountable.

Once they realized that Texas wouldn’t stand for such a lame excuse, Abbott’s camp quickly fabricated a new plan… weasel out of the WFAA event (because it was sure to be televised across the state on major media outlets), and instead offer up an alternative on another area station in the hopes of dramatically decreasing viewer exposure. Doing so a month beforehand leaves TV stations scrambling to commit to even carry the event instead of their scheduled programs, and of course ruins all the pre-planned advertising for stations that have been committed since May. Yes folks… Greg Abbott is trying to pull the ole ‘Debate and Switch’.

Just so we’re clear… Abbott does not want a debate with Wendy Davis at all.  If the current trickery doesn’t work, there is no doubt that he and his campaign will concoct some other last-minute stunt.  To put it simply, Abbott is afraid.  Probably not afraid of Wendy herself, and given that he’s been a statewide elected official for a decade, he’s certainly not afraid of politics.  What Abbott is afraid of is that Texans will learn the truth about the him and his TEApublican colleagues.  He is afraid of having to answer the questions that Wendy is going to ask.  How is he going to go on camera in front of millions of Texans, tout the “Texas miracle” and simultaneously justify draconian cuts to education? What will be a “miracle” is if Texans don’t see through the lies.

Abbott’s ‘Debate and Switch’ may hinder an event or two, but it cannot stop the swing state process.  If anything, these tricks should serve as encouragement that the process is working faster and better than most would have previously imagined. Texas Republicans are in for some big surprises this November, and unlike Greg Abbott, that fact is not up for debate.

Off the Kuff and Brains and Eggs have more.

 

Politics, Texas Politics

A Big Deal: Texas’ First Lieutenant Governor’s Debate

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For over two weeks, Texans have been wondering if there would be a Lieutenant Gubernatorial debate this year.  Now we have the answer, as Dan Patrick has agreed to at least one of five debates proposed by Democratic rival Leticia Van de Putte.  Along with the article linked above from the Texas Tribune, here’s an official press release from the Texas Democratic Party…

Austin, TX – On July 28, 2014, Senator Leticia Van de Putte released her Texas First debate schedule. She challenged Dan Patrick to at least five debates, broadcasted across major regions of this great state.

After 15 days of silence, Dan Patrick’s staffer accepted one debate via Twitter.

Will Hailer, Executive Director of the Texas Democratic Party, released the following statement:

“After hiding for 15 days, Senator Patrick has finally agreed to a single debate with Senator Van de Putte through a staffer on Twitter. He dodged the press last week at the Texas Association of Broadcasters and even though he had more than 20 debates and forums during the primary season, Dan Patrick is running scared and has only agreed to a single debate when Senator Van de Putte proposed at least five. Patrick’s team knows that the more he talks publicly, the more Texans will reject his extremism. One debate, Dan Patrick is thinking small for Texas, where everything is bigger.”

UPDATE:  The debate is set for Monday, September 29th.

Gubernatorial candidates Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott will have two debates this fall… September 19th in the Rio Grande Valley and September 30th in Dallas.

Like the TDP, Senator Van de Putte isn’t giving up on the fully proposed schedule.  “I look forward to hearing from Dan on the rest of my proposal. One down, at least four to go. ¡Dale Gas!” Van de Putte’s camp said in a press release.  

This is huge news for the state of Texas, which hasn’t seen a true general election debate in over a decade for the office of Lieutenant Governor.  There also hasn’t been a general election Gubernatorial debate since 2006.  Many people may downplay that a general election debate is really all that important, but it serves an important purpose in presenting both sides of the political argument, especially to low-information voters or those that don’t pay attention to the election until the last minute.  For a very long time in Texas, voters have been trained to believe that there is only one main viewpoint in this state…. Republican.  But now, with at least 3 of these events to look forward to, Texas Democrats have another measure of proof that the party is getting stronger.

Much of the pressure put on Dan Patrick’s camp to debate came from press releases and social media, and Van de Putte’s supporters have not let up.  Could these debates change the scope of Texas Politics?  No one knows just yet.  But this year at least, Texas Democrats have a real fighting chance, instead being locked out of the ring altogether.  Regardless of the final result in November, this is a win for the Party.

 

 

Houston Politics

Texoblogosphere: Week of March 31st

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The Texas Progressive Alliance is glad that so many people will be getting health insurance even if that number should have been much higher as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff pushes back on some happy talk about the voter ID law.

Dos Centavos reviews the biopic of Cesar Chavez and reminds us that the radical fringe in Texas would like to keep his name and others like him out of our kids’ classrooms.

Horwitz at Texpatriate made the case for anyone but Hogan, including Kinky Friedman, in the Democratic primary for Agriculture Commissioner.

The Texas Central Railway, the latest effort to launch high speed rail from Houston to Dallas, made their initial plans public this week and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had the advance (before) and the post-press conference report (after).

Thanks to James Moore at Texas to the World, Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos learned Ted Cruz is a cheapskate who spends more time in Iowa than in the Rio Grande Valley. Libby also discovered Ted Cruz lied about The Biggest Lie in all Politics.

Texas has a woefully inadequate and unfair tax system, and that puts us in a bind when we need stuff. Because as WCNews at Eye on Williamson reminds us Stuff Costs Money.

Texas Leftist is glad Democrats have finally stumbled upon a winning strategy for 2014. The questions now… Can we keep the fire burning through November, and will Greg Abbott/ GOP weasel out of having general election debates??

Reading a book about the settlement routes of Black people in the United States, Neil at All People Have Value wrote about ideas of movement beyond physical migration. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

Join Egberto of EgbertoWillies.com on his new radio show Politics Done Right on KPFT 90.1 FM, Monday at 8:00 PM discussing Obamacare and the 2014 election.

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

The Great God Pan Is Dead wants to know what Rice University has against art.

Cody Pogue asks and answers the question “What is Texas?”

Mark Bennett defines the ethics of decolletage.

Offcite photographs the Alps of Pasadena. No, really, it makes sense once you read it.

Nonsequiteuse has a suggestion for those who think the equal pay issue is no big thing.

The Texas Living Waters Project implores you to give your feedback on our state’s water future.

Jen Sorenson, a freelance artist now living in Texas, illustrates her experience with Obamacare.

Texas Vox asks “How many oil spills will it take?”

Texas Vox marks the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez disaster.

And finally, in much happier anniversary news, Amy Valentine celebrates her fifth anniversary of being cancer-free.

Houston Politics

TexWatch 2014: Forcing the Issues

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As was stated in an earlier post, Texas Democrats are facing some rather long odds to win statewide in this election cycle. Most of this has to do with the long shadow cast by 2 decades of losses for the statewide party. To put it simply, Texas Democrats have to start our game way downfield from the GOP. Aside from meticulously gerrymandered Congressional and legislative seats, the Democrats will be out-numbered on the ground and out-spent everywhere else. This is the reality of 2014 politics in Texas. The only way for Democrats to catch up is to formulate a true Texas message, force the issues, go on the offensive, and hit the GOP hard.

Since the Primary election, it appears that this message is starting to be heard by the Davis campaign. After a somewhat rocky start, Wendy Davis’ organization has launched an all-out assault on Abbott’s stance over the issue of equal pay for women and minorities.

At a Monday morning rally before a packed and pumped-up crowd of about 160 at Sholz Garten, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis pressed the issue of equal pay for equal work, challenging Attorney General Greg Abbott to, “stop hiding behind your staff members, stop hiding behind your surrogates.”

“This Texas gal is calling you out,” declared the Fort Worth Democrat to huge applause on an issue that has energized her campaign for the governorship since the March 4 primary.

Davis faulted Abbott for successfully fighting a 2011 pay discrimination case in court — albeit one based on race and nationality and not gender — and presiding over an office which, according to a recent report in the San Antonio Express-News, most female assistant attorneys general make less on average than men do in the same job.

This is a good start for Davis, and will hopefully provide an example for Leticia Van de Putte, Steve Brown and other statewide Democrats to follow. Any successful campaign in the Lone Star state has to be about issues that resonate with people. Texas is not New York or Los Angeles. We’re not the same type of stereotypical “Liberals” that you find on the East or West Coast. Nor are we the other major part of the Democratic Party… Union-workers like you’d find in Ohio or Michigan. There’s not a large “Democratic Party” identity here. If anything, most Texans would tell you that they are Conservative just because that is what they know and understand. But if you dig a little deeper, and connect with issues they care about– safe schools, fixing roads and bridges, access to fair wages and upward economic mobility, health care for their families– the wellspring of commonality is revealed. For Democrats, the key winning strategy simply about pealing back the layers to find the areas where most voters agree. Equal pay has gained some traction, but the bigger issues like Healthcare expansion for the poor (via the ACA’s Medicaid expansion or otherwise) are out there waiting to be brought to the light.

Along with forcing specific issues, it’s also time for Democrats to call for general election debates. In 2010, Rick Perry was able to get reelected without ever facing Democratic challenger Bill White on the debate stage. As a result, many voters (especially those in a last-minute rush to get informed before going to the ballot box) probably didn’t have sufficient information to consider Bill White a credible alternative. Debates are not only important for the moment they happen, but in the world of online search, they can also prove to be a critical resource for low-information voters. We can’t afford for the GOP to go under the radar like they did in 2010. Texans deserve to hear both sides of the political spectrum, and they deserve to have that information in a face-to-face debate. It’s one thing to toggle back and forth with the press, but having candidates on the debate stage can literally make or break a campaign. This must be demanded by Democrats, otherwise it’s not going to happen.

Even in the face of disadvantage, it appears to have been a good month for Wendy Davis. As she and other Texas Democrats move into the next stage, it’s imperative that the keep the momentum going, and continue to pressure their Republican counterparts. Democrats are definitely the underdogs in 2014, but they can win as long as they’ve got plenty to bark about.