I see that some people are just full of advice for Rick Noriega now that he's a statewide candidate.
Hidalgo County Democratic Party Chairman Juan Maldonado told the Guardian that the minds of many party leaders in the Rio Grande Valley had already been made up. Maldonado confirmed he had held a gathering for Watts in Pharr, that former Cameron County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa had held one for Watts in Brownsville, and that Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas had held one for Watts in Corpus Christi."It's a difficult one because I have always been one that has always promoted Hispanic/Latino candidates. I think Noriega is a tremendous candidate. I like him and I am going to try very hard to encourage him to run for another position statewide," Maldonado said.
"Those of us in South Texas are committed to Mikal Watts. Rick Noriega is a fine gentleman, a good leader, Latino, we want him. But let's see if we can do maybe Railroad Commission or maybe he might want to step in when Mario Gallegos steps aside. Those are the kinds of things we want to recommend to him."
I guess the main reaction I have to this is why would you want Rick Noriega to run for Railroad Commissioner? I know that the various Commissioner posts are generally stepping stones to higher offices - does anyone think that Todd Staples woke up one day and said to himself "What I really want to be is Agriculture Commissioner"? - but how is the job a good fit for Rick Noriega and his talents and experiences? Obviously, I'd like to get a strong candidate to run for that office next year, but being a great candidate for one statewide office doesn't mean you can or should be able to slot in for any other. Maldonado's "advice" is meaningless; it's a step above simply telling Noriega not to run at all, which I suppose represents progress, but it's no favor to him. It is, however, an indicator to me that Maldonado and his crew are worried that Watts might not be able to beat Noriega in a primary. You'd think they'd have more faith in their guy than that. I think I speak for most if not all of Noriega's supporters that we don't fear a competitive primary. Why should they?
Finally, if we're going to get into the business of suggesting alternate races for our opponents to consider, Hal has a suggestion for Mikal Watts. I see no reason why that's any worse an idea than Noriega for RR Commish; it has quite a bit of merit, in fact. But hey, it's a free country, and as I say, we welcome Watts' presence in this race.
As far as Maldonado's other recommendation for Rep. Noriega, that was not well received.
Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, said he took great exception to comments Maldonado made to a reporter that state Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, should forsake a possible bid for the U.S. Senate and instead announce for the Texas Senate when Gallegos retires."I think Juan Maldonado is full of the Christmas turkey," Gallegos said. "For him to tell Rick to step aside and where to run, and for him to talk about what should happen in Harris County politics, that is strange. I do not tell Maldonado what to do in South Texas."
[...]
Gallegos said he found it "strange" that Maldonado would call on Noriega to stand aside in favor of Watts before either potential candidate had presented their platform or given Democratic primary voters across the state the opportunity of getting to know them.
"I do not know Mikal Watts. I have nothing against him. I believe he is well-qualified. But for Maldonado to tell Rick to stand aside, I find that pretty strange," Gallegos said.
Gallegos said he was backing Noriega for U.S. Senate. An announcement that Noriega is setting up an exploratory committee could come next week.
"I think you are looking at the next U.S. senator from Texas in Rick Noriega," Gallegos said. "Rick has already talked to his colleagues in the House and a lot of people have called him and encouraged him to run. I think he will beat Mikal Watts and anybody else in the Democratic primary and then we will see what goes happens further down the road."
Gallegos said if Maldonado were to look at previous statewide primaries in Texas he would see that Hispanic Democrats do really well. He pointed to the 1996 U.S. Senate primary, when the relatively unknown Crandall schoolteacher Victor Morales scored a stunning upset win over three seasoned politicians, including two congressmen.
Gallegos said that having served in Afghanistan with the National Guard, and with ten years behind him in the Texas House, Noriega had a lot more public service experience than Morales.
"Juan Maldonado ought to look at what Victor Morales did with his pick-up truck and no money. I respect Maldonado but he needs to look at the overall picture and see what Morales did to John Bryant in the Democratic primary. He needs to take another look at what is going on and support Rick," Gallegos said.
UPDATE: McBlogger has more.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on July 07, 2007 to Election 2008On that score, at least, I can see where Chairman Maldonado is coming from.) What I find curious about this is how Maldonado and his colleagues are so committed to the candidate who has never run for public office before.
Yeah, how could any good Dem ever make a commitment like that?
Err, never mind. :)
Good to see you back in the saddle and out of the dang hospital in any case!
Posted by: Kevin Whited on July 7, 2007 3:35 PMTho$e of u$ who have had to deal with Juan Maldonado in the pa$t know exactly what hi$ motivation$ are.
Posted by: Marie on July 7, 2007 3:52 PMKevin, as I said in this very post, I personally have no qualms about a first-time candidate running statewide. I am, however, surprised that so many county party chairs are OK with it.
And thanks, it's good to be home!
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on July 7, 2007 5:12 PMMarie, you took the wor$s righ$ ou$ of my mou$h.
No finer candidate then Rick for U.S. Senate to make Texans proud.
A few problems with this point, Kuff. My thoughts ...
You express surprise that so many county party chairs would "be ok" with a first-time candidate running statewide. I'm having a hard time fitting that within the context of the "run everywhere" concept. Should they have led the outage over Radnofsky running?
It stands to reason that an out-party with a short bench of elected officials would have superior choices. I don't recall a great deal of qualms about Paul Hobby back in 1998. Likewise, I'm not sure even Lloyd Bentsen's experience as a congressman in the 40s was all that critical to his 1970 Senate race.
Given the nature of Rick's safe district, is one-time primary election experience (granted, he did run in other primaries with less success before) really a game-breaker compared to the work Mikal did for Juan Garcia in September and October? I mean, if I'm going for a baseball comparison, which means more: experience in April or October?
Secondly, you offer a "you tell 'em Mario." Presumably this covers his assessment that "Juan Maldonado ought to look at what Victor Morales did with his pick-up truck and no money."
Does that not cede a point to the Royal Masset theory that Hispanics will vote en masse for an Hispanic candidate blindly? If Mario's point re: Morales' 1996 nomination is valid, why is his omission of Morales' 2002 defeat not?
Posted by: Greg Wythe on July 8, 2007 12:21 AMYou express surprise that so many county party chairs would "be ok" with a first-time candidate running statewide. I'm having a hard time fitting that within the context of the "run everywhere" concept. Should they have led the outage over Radnofsky running?
But the point is that here that have a real choice, which was not the case with BAR. What's the rush?
Given the nature of Rick's safe district, is one-time primary election experience (granted, he did run in other primaries with less success before) really a game-breaker compared to the work Mikal did for Juan Garcia in September and October?
Yes, I think there's a big difference between being a behind-the-scenes guy and being the actual candidate that people have to vote for. You wouldn't make the same argument for Christian Archer, would you?
Does that not cede a point to the Royal Masset theory that Hispanics will vote en masse for an Hispanic candidate blindly? If Mario's point re: Morales' 1996 nomination is valid, why is his omission of Morales' 2002 defeat not?
I think Mario's point is that Noriega is a much better and more exciting candidate than Morales was in 1996, when he came out of nowhere as a fresh-faced outsider. Morales in 2002 wasn't nearly as successful because he didn't offer any reasons to vote for him beyond what he had done in 1996. (He also had a 1998 Congressional defeat under his belt by then, which took a little more luster off his shine.) So quite the reverse: I think that demonstrates that Hispanic voters will not just go for a name. And obviously, Noriega will have a lot more to offer than just a name.
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on July 8, 2007 3:54 AMYou wouldn't make the same argument for Christian Archer, would you?
Depends on who he ran against, in all likelihood.
One point eluded me in my midnight commenting, though. Your comment regarding Fred Head, specifically:
We might have actually had a stronger ticket, top to bottom, instead of a few serious candidates mixed in among the Fred Heads and Dale Henrys.
Fred Head, of course, spent 14 years in the Texas House of Representatives. That gives him more experience than Rick Noriega. It's not clear why the calls for experience are so sporadic.
Isn't the argument against Head (or anyone else, for that matter) really one of quality? Why make a proxy war over experience when the real debate hasn't been heard much of yet?
Posted by: Greg Wythe on July 8, 2007 6:54 AMPoint taken about Fred Head. Obviously, not all experience is good, and not all experienced candidates are good.
And really, I'm not trying to make experience a proxy. It's a factor, but there are plenty of others as well. I'm just noting that these county chairs have made up their minds pretty damn quickly, well before the "real debate", as you put it, has been had. I also note - and perhaps "experience" factors in here - that their response seems to be to try to push Noriega out of the race, rather than to tout their candidate's merits. As I said before, what are they so afraid of?
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on July 8, 2007 1:30 PMI see Kevin has a very short memory or doesn't read up on his history very well (and having to describe someone with a poli. sci. degree, much less a terminal one, like this, this is rather disheartening). Neither John Tower nor Bill Clements had any electoral wins before winning top offices statewide. Same with Dubya in slightly more recent memory. Dubya's pop never won statewide until he was elected vice-president (and only one term in Congress), and that wasn't for lack of trying. But, of course, it doesn't matter because they were Repubs, right?
That being said, there is something to be said about having a voting record and experience in the real world, rather than jumping in and asking people for faith that you'll do what you promise. But we sometimes have to take our statewide candidates as we can get them, for both parties when they're in rebuilding years (and I can pretty well promise that our time in the minority won't even rise anywhere near the 120+ years the GOP spent in the minority in Texas). And run everywhere; we might get some surprises before the rest of the wave arrives.
Posted by: souperman on July 8, 2007 5:43 PM