Category Archives: Show Business for Ugly People

Are you a blogger who plans to go to the state Democratic Convention in Fort Worth and blog about it from there? If so, then read this first so you can get properly credentialled. While you’re reading that, here’s some … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Eye on Williamson, here’s audio and a transcript (Word doc) of Mary Beth Harrell being interviewed on an Air America show called Your Local City. They’re going to have a bunch of candidates stopping by in the coming weeks, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I still don’t know what kind of political fallout there may be from Rick Perry signing HB3 into law, but that doesn’t stop me from writing about it at Kuff’s World. Come see me try to work it all out. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Interesting article about demographic changes in Texas and their effect on the electoral landscape. The Asian-American community, which is approaching the growth rate of Latinos in some parts of Texas, contributes to a shifting demographic landscape that may eventually return … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Vince scores a nice coup by getting an interview with US Rep. Henry Cuellar, who was unsuccessfully targeted in the March primary by many netroots activists, myself included. It’s a good read, and I join Vince in coming away from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The latest 50 state approval ratings for President Bush are out, and they contain some surprisingly bad news for him in Harris County. I’ve got a post on it over at Kuff’s World. Continue reading →

I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time on this Chron story on the Netroots. I just have one question: Why wasn’t anything written about the political blog scene in Texas? There’s plenty of us out here, after … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I just want to take a moment to endorse this response by Utah Democratic Party Chair Wayne Holland, Jr. to Paul Begala’s arrogant and condescending remarks about the 50 State Strategy. I can understand the tactical reasons for wanting to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Two more counties to add to those who’ll be using emergency paper ballots due to software vendor ES&S’s inability to deliver the goods on time: Webb and Williamson. There really needs to be more of an outcry about this. Let’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Some more grist for the electronic voting machine mill: Bexar County will be forced to use emergency paper ballots for early voting in the May 13 municipal and school board elections, because their voting machine vendor cannot deliver a promised … Continue reading → Continue reading →

For those of you who missed them yesterday, Karl-T has the blog coverage of the Sen. Russ Feingold/John Courage event (with a post-event wrapup here), while Perry did the deed for the David Van Os whistlestop filibuster at the Capitol. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s a limited-time-only preview of the latest Texas Monthly cover story, on the rise and fall of Tom DeLay. It’s a good read, and it starts out with a little grist for all of our mills: IT WAS EARLY IN … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Damon writes about moving to Hays County, and how it’s following in Austin’s footsteps in becoming more Democratic. It’s not there yet, but two things that happened in 2004 point out how it’s clearly moving in the right direction. One … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Just in case you haven’t read Amy Sullivan’s piece on how underrated the Democratic leadership and caucus cohesiveness is, I’m going to throw the link here to recommend that you do. One reason why you may not know about some … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Boyd Richie has now responded to South Texas Chisme’s questionnaire, meaning that all three announced candidates for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party have given answers – you can see Glen Maxey’s here and Charlie Urbina-Jones’ here. Kudos to the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Since John McConnell’s account of the State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) meeting was made public, several SDEC members have sent out critical emails about it. The most detailed one came from the wonderfully named Zada True-Courage (wife of CD21 candidate … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Two candidates for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party have responded so far to South Texas Chisme’s questionnaire. Glen Maxey was the first to answer – his responses here. Later on Sunday, Charlie Urbina-Jones sent in his answers, which you … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I don’t know any of the three gentlemen who have announced their intentions to run for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. There’s been a lot of emails whizzing around with this person endorsing that person and so on and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Charles Soechting, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, has resigned his position as of April 22. Andrew D has the letter and some thoughts as a former employee of Soechting’s. I too thought Soechting did a good job as Chair, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I get e-mail (it’s a mass e-mail; I don’t generally quote personal e-mails): It all starts Tuesday night. Get yourself involved and elected as a delegate to your Senate Convention held March 25. Introduce, support and pass as many of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Kevin Drum, progressives now have a new resource for helping good bills get through state legislatures. It’s called the Progressive Legislative Action Network, and it was inspired by a conservative outfit called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). You … Continue reading → Continue reading →

First-time candidate for public office Larry Stallings has a request: Now is the time for some of those bright Trinity kids to actually write a cookbook on how to get elected in Texas – yes, a cookbook, a “take an … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Yesterday when I blogged about James Leininger and his new voucher PAC, there was more to the story at the end, on a different topic. Here it is, from PinkDome: “TRLCC (Leininger’s PAC) also spent $15,000 with Keep Texas Strong. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So what exactly was John Carter doing when he was supposed to be at the town hall meeting he scheduled for his constituents? Why, lunching at DFW Airport with his fellow Texas Republican Congressmen trying to decide which horse to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Didn’t anyone ever tell Rep. John Carter that it’s tacky to schedule a town hall meeting and then not show up for it? I’m sure Mary Beth Harrell wouldn’t do that. Maybe Carter should choose his friends more carefully. Continue reading →

Rep. Joe Barton has been hospitalized after an apparent heart attack. “The congressman is currently negotiating his release date with the doctor,” said spokeswoman Karen Modlin. She expects Barton will be able to go home within a few days, and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I recently remarked that I thought the Pat Robertson/James Dobson types often get a free pass on questions of reconciling their stated religious beliefs with social justice. Turns out the Washington Post has an article on this very topic. When … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Texas Ed Equity comes this remarkable op-ed by former State Sen. and Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff, taken from a recent speech he gave. As opposed to the suggestion that we have too much religious influence on public policy, we … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m really glad I copied the Quorum Report 2006 master candidate list before it went behind their paywall, even though by now it’s likely to be hopelessly out of date. One reason why is because it gives information about the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron returns to the issue of electing judges in Texas, which first came up during the recusal merry-go-round in the DeLay money laundering case. I’m still not convinced that the popular alternative of appointments followed by unopposed retention elections … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The folks at ActBlue, who did such a stellar job of streamlining the process of making online contributions to Congressional and Senatorial candidates last year, are looking to expand to all 50 states for state races. We made heavy use … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Stace points to this nice article on the tag team of Rick and Melissa Noriega. Rick Noriega is a Houston State Rep, who’s been serving with the National Guard in Afghanistan since last August. In his absence, his wife Melissa … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From Rep. Aaron Pena, Toni Medellin, The Red State, and Latinos for Texas. Stace wasn’t there, but he has pictures, courtesy of his sister, and Karl-T has some additional info. Looks like a good and productive time was had by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Forwarded to me from the DFA-Houston list, there’s going to be a town hall meeting to discuss the Double Secret Illegal Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment tomorrow morning. Click the More link for the details. Continue reading →