I had a wonderful time last night at a house party for Nick Lampson in Clear Lake. He looks great and is clearly back at full energy, working hard in Congress and meeting with constituents around the district. He's received compliments from Republican electeds - in Fort Bend! - for his smarts on policy. Maybe it's because he's doing what he promised to do when he was on the campaign trail - he's representing everyone in the district and working on issues that are important to TX-22 (for example, increasing NASA's 2008 budget). Maybe it's because everyone is relieved that Tom DeLay is finally, really and truly irrelevant.

From the talk and question and answer part of the evening:

There will be some resolution on the war in Iraq soon, but we'll be fighting terror for a very long time

$$ to veterans programs including health care has been increased by a dramatic amount

This Congress looks ready to have the budget passed by the end of September, unlike the mess they inherited from the Republican Congress who couldn't/wouldn't approve an 07 budget, resulting in a continuing budget resolution in February, keeping 07 funding at 06 levels

He talked about the politicizing of government. He's not too happy with Karl Rove who not only has put Lampson as his number one House target, but has sent his minions to government agencies to make presentations about who is being targeted- can you say Hatch Act? Illegal activity?

There were questions about Congressional oversight on abuse of executive powers. There are a lot of committee hearings on this that I was not aware of, but Lampson admitted that while that effort is very serious and aggressive, it may be going slower than people can tolerate. Special prosecutor? Guests were supportive of that tactic.

Lampson's office tracks every letter, email and phone call and you can find all of his contact info here.

Also at the gathering was one of my very favorite candidates, Joe Jaworski, who is taking on Mike Jackson for State Senator in District 11. Always great to see Joe, who is becoming a rock star due to his fundraising prowess.

And, I met Manisha Mehta who is about to announce for Houston City Council District E. Watch for her.