I spent all day volunteering at the Noriega campaign, and I heard this talked about, so I was excited to read it when I got home. Rick Noriega is the latest candidate added to ActBlue's Blue Majority page. From Daily Kos:

But aside from that, Noriega is the face of a our modern Democratic Party -- pluralistic and multicultural, committed to national service, and competent. There's a reason that Republican Texas chose Noriega (a Democrat) to run the Katrina relief effort at the Houston Convention Center.

These are the races that define us as a movement. We can shy away from tough challenges, or we can meet them head on and build for a future in which the Democratic Party doesn't just govern, but that it reflects the values all Americans hold dear -- values forgotten by not just Republicans in DC, but the Democrats currently in charge of Congress. In 2006, we took out the frontrunner to the GOP presidential nomination (George Allen) as well as delivered a Democratic Senator from blood Red Montana. We kicked out the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee out of the Democratic Party.

There's no doubt that Texas is our biggest challenge yet, but we don't gain anything by sitting back and looking for the easy calls. We didn't get this far by being timid, and we won't advance by retreating into caution and tenuousness. And the Texas progressive community is working their ass for Noriega. Let's give them moral and material support, no matter where we might live.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I'm even more excited about this race than I was before. Bye, Cornyn.