There's still one more election to go before we can put 2008 to bed, and that's the runoff for the special election in SD17. Democratic candidates got a majority of the vote on November 4, and Chris Bell came out with a 27,000 vote lead over Joan Huffman, and garnered more votes than Huffman and Austen Furst combined. I see a real sense of urgency among local Dems to finish the job on this race, and I have a good feeling about it going into the race.

We don't yet know when the actual runoff will be - you can put my marker down for December 20, as I'm sure Governor Perry wants this to be as low a turnout affair as possible - but campaign activity is well underway. If you're in Fort Bend, the Bell campaign will officially open its local headquarters there this Saturday from 1 to 3 PM. The address is 869 Dulles Avenue, Ste. E in Stafford, which is where the Lampson HQ was before. Phone banking is going on now, so if you can't wait till Saturday for the pomp, head over today for the work. Let's get that Democratic caucus in the Senate up to 13.