Karl-T brings us a very interesting perspective on the state of the Texas Democratic Party from Gary Polland, former chair of the Harris County GOP and current editor of the Texas Conservative Review. Here are a couple of key excerpts, but do read the whole thing:
d.. What is Dr. Richard Murray up to? Murray is smart – he understands the GOP came to power via advancing powerful ideas. At the convention he was circulating plans for a private funded think tank to develop issues, do polling and network to advance the Democratic Party. This means he D’s are going to join the battle of ideas at a time where the state GOP is losing its focus. More on this in a future issue.
e.. What is the mood of the Democratic grassroots? Angry. It’s interesting, four years ago our GOP base had it with Clinton-Gore. Four years ago, the non-fiction best-seller’s list dealt harshly with them, our talk show lines were full of Clinton-Gore haters and our base was highly motivated to get back the White House. If you were at the convention, you would know we are 180 degrees from where we were. Anti-Bush books are best sellers, a Bush-bashing movie is number one at the box office, the Democrats everywhere want to win bad and anti-Bush T-shirts were top sellers at the convention. TCR believes angry voters show up to vote.
[…]
i.. Any closing thoughts? Yes, the Democratic Party reminds us of the GOP in the late 70’s, growing and expanding and eager to get in power. They have a way to go – with pro-gun, pro-life and pro-fair tax and others. There was much more diversity than our convention which may portend a recognition by some Democrats they are out of touch on some issues and need to be accommodating. A Democratic Party that mutes difference with the GOP on core issues, while speaking to its traditional base could be “back” sooner than we believe. The lesson to be learned is we need to work hard to stay on top.
Emphasis mine. We’ll see if Polland is right, and if he is, I’d say that’s a pretty good omen for the Dems.
Here‘s a good background story on Gary Polland and his role in the rise of the Harris County GOP.